Elementary Science CD-ROMs

The Science CD-ROMs that were the culmination of a summer project have finally been produced, received, and distributed to elementary schools.

Greater Essex County, in partnership with Bluewater, Lambton Kent, and Thames Valley District School Boards embarked on a project last summer to bring Internet resources to the hands of teachers for lesson preparation. But, it wasn't just any Internet site, these sites were judged and aligned to the new expectations in the Ontario Science Curriculum.

Over the summer, teachers hunted and researched appropriate Internet sites. Once found, the team evaluated them for suitability when aligned to the new curriculum. If they passed this test, the webmaster was contacted for permission to use the site (or parts of it) as part of this project. If approval was received, the site (or part of the site) was captured and eventually found its way onto a CD-ROM along with the actual link so that the site could still be visited "live".

If permission was not granted, but we still really wanted to reference the site, a bookmark to the actual site was created. To aid navigation, a front end matrix with the five strands along the sides and the eight grades across the top was created with links then to each of the appropriate lists. To the user, it's just a matter of clicking on the appropriate grade and strand, and then from there to pick the Internet resource.

The advantages to the teachers include some preselected Science resources and yet, many of these websites have links to other great sites on the Internet. All without actually having to endure the problems involved with Internet use.

A project of this magnitude could not have been done without some outstanding work. Debbie Primeau organized things on the Greater Essex County side and had an enormous database of sites, descriptions, etc. Reg Houle did a magnificent job of designing the artwork for the CD-ROM itself. Without their efforts, the project would certainly have suffered.

To visit the menu online, click here. Don't try any of the CD-ROM links, but the live links certainly are fully functional.