We’ve got great news! We mapped our games and assessment items to meet science standards for Texas and Georgia middle school students. This means we have two new interfaces into our product; one that is built for Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS) and, one for the Georgia Standards of Excellence (GSE).
This interface is in addition to our standard Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) interface.
Interested educators from Texas and Georgia can access the new interfaces by contacting us and requesting their accounts be made TEKS or GPS compliant, respectively. Simply contact us and request your preferred interface.
“Cobb Schools are excited to be using the engaging Legends of Learning resources to teach our Georgia science standards,” said Sally Creel, STEM and Innovation Supervisor, Cobb County Schools. “Teachers are working hard to maximize every minute in the classroom. We don’t have time to waste on resources that do not align to our standards.”
If you haven’t checked out the Legends of Learning platform yet, give it a shot! All teachers can try LoL games for free. Create your account today.
In addition to TEKS and GSE, we are currently working to integrate our games with Virginia’s Standards of Learning (SOL).
“We know there is a shortage of quality classroom material that will help educators teach to these standards in the important subject area of science,” said Josh Goldberg, chief strategy officer, Legends of Learning. “We understand teachers in Texas and Georgia have been waiting for this news because they have been telling us for a long time that LoL helps their students master complex science lessons.”
Let us know if you have any feedback or questions relating to our curriculum-aligned games and interfaces.
We look forward to watching the eclipse with Sally. In fact, here she is with her students in front of the bus driving us up there today! You can follow our progress on our solar eclipse live blog.
In addition to working with us on the solar eclipse effort, Sally has been a valuable member of the larger Legends of Learning community, helping us shape the product for districts and individual schools.
So a special shout out to Dr. Sally Creel — thank you! We feel lucky to experience just a small bit of the brilliance that you bring to your Cobb County schools, educators, and students.
Live Blogging the Solar Eclipse
As noted here two weeks ago, Legends of Learning will be in Clemson, SC with Cobb County students to watch the total solar eclipse.
We will share photos and updates on Twitter and here via our live blog. Please let us know if you will be watching the solar eclipse. We will share your content, too! And if you are still looking for lesson plan content, visit our solar eclipse page.
4:04 p.m.
We’re editing our photos on the way back from the eclipse. Here is our totality shot, and a close partial eclipse shot.
2:20 PM
Checking out the crescent sun
2:00 PM – Clemson, SC
We have arrived and it’s lunch time!
12:45 PM – Georgia/South Carolina border
As we cross over into South Carolina, students are getting geared up with games from the LoL Eclipses and Seasons learning objective!
10:30 AM – Interstate 85
Our bus buddies, Diane and Kristen, swagged out in their LoL gear
9:00 AM – Kennesaw, GA
Our Cobb County crew is ready to head to Clemson!
New Solar Eclipse Resource from Caitlin Unterman
Caitlin Unterman, one of our most active ambassadors in the Legends of Learning community, offered two new resources for those looking to find solar eclipse content. She offered a NASA YouTube video for the kids, and made a poster of Dos and Dont’s for students.
Thank you, Caitlin, for sharing these resources with us. We admire all of the great work you do to help science students at Forest Middle School, and across the country.
NASA Video
Poster
News: Cobb County Students to Experience Once-in-a-Lifetime Total Solar Eclipse
This is a copy of a news release issued this week.
Cobb County Students to Experience Once-in-a-Lifetime Total Solar Eclipse
Legends of Learning Preparing Students for the Astronomy Event
Marietta, Ga.—August 1, 2017—Middle school students from the Cobb County School District in Georgia will be taking the field trip of a lifetime. On August 21, 40 students will join Legends of Learning on a field trip to Clemson, S.C., where they will watch the total solar eclipse from one of the most optimal places in the country.
Two students from each participating Cobb County middle school will be selected to take part in this field trip. Students will play Legends of Learning eclipse games on the ride to Clemson, where they will watch the total solar eclipse.
“This is so exciting! Our students will remember this experience for the rest of their lives,” said Dr. Sally Creel, STEM and Innovation Supervisor, Cobb County Schools. “We appreciate that our new partners, Legends of Learning, are making this once-in-a-lifetime event so special for Cobb students. Our teachers will be incorporating the games into their instruction prior to the eclipse. Students will understand that, yes, it will be dark during the eclipse and what scientific phenomena are causing the darkness.”
Students, educators, families, and people across the United States will be watching the total solar eclipse, when the sun will completely disappear behind the moon. The eclipse will darken skies from Oregon to South Carolina, an extremely rare event; in some locations on Earth it occurs as infrequently as every 1,000 years.
To prepare students and interested parties, Legends of Learning, an innovative game-based learning platform, made two of its most popular eclipse-related curricula games available, “Walter’s Travels” and “Bubble Eclipse” on https://www.legendsoflearning.com/alphagames/. Like all Legends of Learning games, the games engage middle school students studying science with standards-based curriculum content. Legends of Learning teachers can access additional eclipse games via the Earth and Space Sciences “Eclipses and Seasons” learning objective.
In addition to the games, Legends of Learning has created a solar eclipse lesson plan for its Eclipses and Seasons learning objective. The platform also has available a curated resource with additional educational tools for teachers. These materials are available atwww.legendsoflearning.com/solar-eclipse.
Legends of Learning launched earlier this year and has thousands of curriculum-based education games and assessment items focused on middle school science. The company conducted rigorous academic research in partnership with Vanderbilt University and found that students boosted their test scores by the equivalent of over half a letter grade in three weeks when their teachers used digital games in the classroom. The study was recently published by the “Journal of the Learning Sciences.”
About Legends of Learning
American children need new education heroes, teachers dedicated to using new, engaging methods to teach curriculum. Legends of Learning helps educators make their classrooms fun, engaging, and productive learning environments through research-driven, curriculum-based games. We use ongoing original research to create a learning game platform filled with an epic range of lessons for stronger subject mastery and classroom engagement. All games are based on state curriculum standards. Teachers can don their capes with Legends of Learning at legendsoflearning.com.
About Cobb County School District
The Cobb County School District is the second largest school system in Georgia and the 23rd largest in the nation. It serves 113,000 students and 114 schools, including 67 elementary schools, 25 middle schools, 16 high schools, two charter schools, one special education center, one adult education center and one performance learning center. Our vision is One Team, One Goal: Student Success.
In this post, teachers will find three primary groups of NGSS resources to help them in the classroom. Two groups focus on those classroom resources with lesson plans and those without. The third group offers teacher tutorials to help educators deliver an NGSS curriculum.
These curated resources work with Legends of Learning’s 90 lessons, 800 games, and thousands of assessment items based on NGSS and state standards. In addition, our Earth and Space lessons also have lesson plans. Check them out today!
And with that, please find the NGSS resources below.
Engineering Go For It (eGFI) offers a wide variety of lesson plans for middle school science. These lessons help teachers meet the required science and engineering practices (SEP) aspect of NGSS implementation.
Is it crazy to think that the curator of the NGSS standards would also have a great series of NGSS resources, too? Of course not. The NSTA provides an excellent source of lesson plans and content for their classrooms.
3) OpenEd
It will take some sifting, but OpenEd has an incredible amount of NGSS-aligned lesson plans, quizzes, homework assignments, videos, and games. Most of the content covers the DCI (Disciplinary Core Ideas) as well as crosscutting concepts (CCC). Search away!
Like GLOBE (below), PBS Learning Media offers plenty of content in a wide variety of formats, from video to traditional documents and everything in between. The search feature allows you to sift through the content by topic or standard, and even find lesson plans. Enjoy this great series of NGSS resources!
The Smithsonian Museum of Natural History offers Q?rius resources for teachers seeking to bring the Smithsonian into their classroom. Q?rius delivers 30 Earth and Life Science topics, all of which include printable lessons.
This resource provides content based on education standards from across the world, with a focus on the National Science Education Standards in the United States. While NGSS was not the focal point for the United States, GLOBE does focus on data collection and the scientific process, which meets the SEP component of the NGSS. You will need to use Teacher’s Guide search to find NGSS compliant content, but there is plenty to find.
The ultimate curated source of SERC activities, this site gives teachers access to hundreds of Earth and Space, Life, and Physical Science tools. You will find classroom activities, field activities, lab activities and more here.
Science Snacks from the Exploratorium Teacher Institute offer a wide variety of hands-on science activities based on museum exhibits. A (linked) guide helps teachers align the activities to the NGSS standard set they are working on.
This site offers a series of NGSS lesson content, usually a video or written tutorial followed by a quiz. The library of NGSS content is far from complete here, but you can find some good complimentary resources.
Offered by UC Berkeley, Understanding Science offers a group of 18 science sources for middle school. Content ranges from classroom resources, field resources, videos, and articles.
If you like video tutorials, this site is for you. Featuring Hamish Todd, the Bozeman site offers short tutorials for teachers to help them implement individual lessons as well as SEPs and CCCs. Check it out!
If you are looking to expand beyond content and want to incorporate the scientific inquiry aspect of SEP into your classroom, then check out this video tutorial from the Ontario Science Centre. Find the first of four videos below!
Created by the Lewis Center’s Academy for Academic Excellence, this online tutorial seeks to help teachers understand the NGSS.
Follow Legends of Learning On Pinterest
Legends of Learning also maintains a Pinterest Board filled with NGSS resources. Follow it to be updated when we add something new!
Implementing NGSS in the Classroom
Since states began deploying Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) standards seven years ago, 18 states and the District of Columbia adopted the standards in full. Now many schools and teachers are just beginning their NGSS journey. Finding actual curriculum and content challenges implementation.
NGSS Standards & Content
The NGSS standards seek to create engagement in the classroom. With the NGSS teachers make science learning an active exercise, but finding engaging NGSS content and exercises to achieve that? Now that’s a challenge.
Many teachers visit Legends of Learning for its NGSS content. There are few wide ranging series of content and lesson items for the entire NGSS suite, much less the entire middle school suite (Earth and Space, Life, and Physical sciences). Others are looking for more depth to help students get a grasp of the content.
“For me, the hardest part of implementing NGSS has been that at times I feel like the standards ‘gloss over’ certain topics, then dive straight into others in a lot of detail,” said April T., a Legends of Learning Ambassador. “Sometimes when I feel like if I follow the standards as they are written (with the instructional boundaries/limits), that my students might not have the background they need to learn new material later in the year or in the next grade level.”
While there is great content built off of the NGSS DCI content system available, there is still a wide range of activities that teachers need to take on. Successful implementation requires a multidimensional approach to teaching to be the norm in every science classroom. This requires extending beyond the traditional content first approach. Now teachers must focus on science and engineering practices (SEP) and crosscutting concepts (CCC) requires different ways of thinking, lesson planning, and daily instruction.
In the case of SEP, teachers need to implement exercises that help students embrace the principles of scientific inquiry. On the engineering side, teachers challenge students to define a problem and resolve it via a solution. Other principles involved in NGSS’s view of SEP, include:
Developing and Using Models
Analyzing and Interpreting Data
Using Mathematics and Computational Thinking
Engaging in Argument from Evidence
Obtaining, Evaluating, and Communicating Information
About Those Cross-Cutting Concepts
Though more intuitive, CCC teaching challenges educators in different ways. Traditionally, teachers give lessons in an isolated, linear fashion. NGSS assumes that various aspects of science and its topics cut across lessons.
For example, one might learn that seeds germinate and produce plants (Life Science), but weather and climate changes may create new challenges that prevent the plant from successfully growing.
NGSS recommends teachers make sure that students understand the following crosscutting concepts:
Patterns
Cause and Effect
Scale, Proportion, and Quantity
Systems and System Models
Energy and Matter
structure and Function
Stability and Change
“There is a big push to make sure that our students are becoming comfortable identifying and explaining the SEPs and CCC’s that are being presented in our different units and activities,” added April T. “We were given 1/2 day PD time this year to plan with our grade level cohort (or as a department, schools go to determine how they wanted to use their time). We came up with an activity or a system (it was pretty open ended) to make sure the SEPs and CCCs are being embedded into our instruction.”
Learn More From An Experienced Online Educational Game Company
NGSS challenges teachers to create lessons that address all three principles; DCI, SEP, and CCC. Many teachers actively seek out the resources and getting the training to succeed. To help, our next blog in our series will offer a series of content and lesson plan resources to help teachers bring the new standards to the classroom.
16 Learning Resources to Study the Total Solar Eclipse
A total solar eclipse is one of the most awe-inspiring celestial events, offering a unique opportunity to explore science in action. Whether you’re a teacher looking to engage students, a parent fostering curiosity, or a student eager to understand the mechanics behind this phenomenon, the right resources can make all the difference.
From interactive simulations and hands-on activities to videos and expert explanations, we’ve compiled 16 top learning resources to help your students experience the eclipse like never before.
Eclipses and Seasons Learning Objective will not only explain the science behind eclipses but also provide practical ways to observe and appreciate this rare event.
Get ready to explore the mysteries of the cosmos and make the most of this extraordinary moment in the sky!
Total Solar Eclipse 2017. Besides the AAS, start your search for solar eclipse resources with a sure bet—NASA. The site offers classroom activities, downloadables, and information about becoming a Citizen Explorer. Take a look at the events drop-down, too; it includes NASA’s live stream and information about hosting a total solar eclipse event in your community.
Interactive Media
Eclipse2017.org App. Go mobile with the Eclipse2017 app. With it, students will learn about eclipses and how to find the best location to watch “totality” occur. (Available on iOS and Android)
Eclipses and Seasons. Encourage engagement and solidify learning objectives with Legends of Learning’s seven games about eclipses and seasons. If wishing to cross into other science subjects, look at the “The Sun, Moon, and Stars: Patterns of Apparent Motion” games, as well as “Our Solar System.”
JavaScript Solar Eclipse Explorer. Eclipses are historical events, and this web-based calculator provides data not only on past eclipses but also on future ones.
SpaceMath. Show students how mathematics applies to real-world scientific studies with this in-depth resource from NASA. The page features numerous math activities designed to present eclipses and astronomy in a “different light.”
THE GREAT AMERICAN ECLIPSE. With this resource, your classroom can watch the total solar eclipse in real-time. Discover’s Science Channel will cover the eclipse as it happens, then follow up with a one-hour special during primetime.
Build a Sun Funnel. Spend the first few weeks of August with a collaborative science project, the Sun Funnel. While inexpensive, the funnel takes some time and expertise to build, so you may want to practice building one at home before introducing the project to the classroom. For simpler versions of the concept, consider using the Exploratorium’s instructions for building a pinhole camera from a UPS shipping container or SPACE’s shoebox concept.
Create an Eclipse in the Classroom. Styrofoam and cardboard possess magical properties, becoming anything from molecules and atoms to planetary systems. Follow the guide to help students create Earth-Moon-Sun systems and explore how solar and lunar eclipses work.
Exploring the Solar System: Solar Eclipse. This instructional tool uses an inflatable Earth to teach students three curriculum-based learning objectives. Provided by the National Informal STEM Education (NISE) Network, the tool includes resources for English- and Spanish-speaking students.
How to Film or Photograph the 2017 Solar Eclipse Like a Pro. Unite the arts and sciences with SPACE’s instructions on how to film or photograph the solar eclipse. Warning: This resource features some advanced photography and film techniques, so you’ll either want to use it with advanced photography students or adapt the methods to your particular classroom.
Yardstick Eclipse Activity. This classroom activity from the Astronomical Society of the Pacific (ASP) caters to the older crowd that may be less than pleased with cardboard and Styrofoam projects. You can create the activity from scratch or purchase a pre-made kit for $35.00.
Other Resources
Eclipse Bulletin: Total Solar Eclipse of 2017. Two leading experts on eclipses, Fred Espenak and Jay Anderson spill the proverbial beans on everything students could possibly want to know about the upcoming total solar eclipse. (Price: $19.99, black and white; $34.99, color)
On August 21, 2017, we’ll see something the country has not seen in 38 years: a total solar eclipse. The day will be an exciting one for students and science teachers, alike. Let’s make it educational, too.
People across the country are looking forward to watching the sun completely disappear behind the moon. The total solar eclipse will darken skies from Oregon to South Carolina, an extremely rare event that for some locations on earth may occur as infrequently as every 1,000 years!
Complete with digital edgames playlists, assessment questions, and a visual eclipse simulation, our lesson plan has everything your students need to learn about this rare phenomenon. Check it out below, or download the PDF version!
Learning Objective: Eclipses & Seasons
NGSS Standard DCI
MS-ESS1.B-2. – This model of the solar system can explain eclipses of the sun and the moon. Earth’s spin axis is fixed in direction over the short-term but tilted relative to its orbit around the sun. The seasons are a result of that tilt and are caused by the differential intensity of sunlight on different areas of Earth across the year.
Objective
Students will be able to:
Explain why solar and lunar eclipses occur
Explain why Earth has seasons
Draw and manipulate models of solar and lunar eclipses
Draw a model of Earth’s location during various seasons
Time Required:
75 minutes
Materials Needed
Small beach ball (or other similar sized ball)
Ping pong ball tied to a string
Flashlight
Teacher computer with internet access
Projector/Smartboard
1 computer/laptop/iPad per student with internet access
Eclipses and Seasons handout (attached)
Teacher Preparation
Create Playlist 1, a 30-minute playlist in Legends of Learning with the following games found in the Eclipses and Seasons learning objective (in order):
Science Fair: Eclipse and Seasons
Volleclipse
Create Playlist 2, a 10-minute playlist in Legends of Learning with 5 assessment questions from the Eclipses and Seasons learning objective
Make copies of Eclipses and Seasons Worksheet (1 per student)
Engage (10 minutes)
Lay the flashlight on a table and place the beach ball approximately 24 inches in front of the flashlight.
Turn off the lights in the room and turn on the flashlight.
Holding the ping pong ball by the string, place the ping pong ball between the flashlight and the beach ball.
Ask for student observations regarding where they see the light hitting the beach ball and where they see shadow.
Answer: Light hitting the ping pong ball and beach ball. Small shadow on front of beach ball as well.
Continue holding the ping pong ball by the string, move the ping pong ball so that it is behind the beach ball.
Ask for student observations regarding where they see the light and shadow in this position.
Answer: Light hitting the beach ball fully, no shadow on the beach ball. Full shadow on the ping pong ball.
Explain to students: “I just demonstrated a phenomenon called an eclipse. Today we will learn about types of eclipses and also review why we have seasons. Think about this demonstration during today’s lesson as we will refer back to it at the end of class.”
Explore (30 minutes)
Have your students sign in to Legends of Learning and enter your teacher code.
Launch Playlist 1 to your students.
As students complete Science Fair: Eclipse and Seasons, students should fill out the Eclipses and Seasons Handout.
Assist students as needed during game play, pause playlist if you need to address content or questions to entire class.
Explain (20 minutes)
Review answers to Eclipses and Seasons Handout by drawing diagrams on board or using Smartboard.
Relate student knowledge to demonstration at the beginning of class.
Which item represents the sun? (flashlight)
Which item represents the earth? (beach ball)
Which item represents the moon? (ping pong ball)
Who can demonstrate a lunar eclipse using the items? (ping pong ball held behind the beach ball)
Have student explain why
Who can demonstrate a solar eclipse using the items? (ping pong ball held between the flashlight and beach ball)
Have student explain why
Elaborate (5 minutes)
Explain to students that although they experience seasons all the time, they are less likely to experience a lunar eclipse, and the opportunity to experience a solar eclipse is even more rare.
Ask students to describe what they are seeing in the video.
Answer: It is broad daylight then goes dark like nighttime, then back to broad daylight very quickly. The sun is completely blocked out for a while.
Evaluate (10 minutes)
Launch Playlist 2 to your students. When they finish the assessment questions, any time left is freeplay.
Analyze student results to determine what concepts need to be a focus for reteaching.
Seasons & Eclipses: Worksheet
Name: _________________________________
Directions:
While playing the first game in Legends of Learning called Science Fair: Eclipse and Seasons, use what you learn to complete the diagrams and answer the questions below.
Seasons
Label the seasons in the Northern and Southern hemisphere at each location.
Circle the correct answer
Question 1: It is summer for the hemisphere that is pointing (away from, towards) the sun.
Question 2: It is winter for the hemisphere that is pointing (away from, towards) the sun.
Question 3: When a hemisphere is pointing towards the sun, the sun’s rays are (stronger, weaker) on that part of earth, making it (hotter, colder).
Question 4: When a hemisphere is pointing away from the sun, the sun’s rays are (stronger, weaker) on that part of earth, making it (hotter, colder).
Draw the location of the sun, moon, and earth during a lunar eclipse and during a solar eclipse. MAKE SURE YOU LABEL THE SUN, MOON, AND EARTH!
Study: Students Win When Teachers Deploy Learning Games
Earlier this morning, Legends of Learning issued a press release about the Vanderbilt University study “Substantial Integration of Typical Educational Games into Extended Curricula.” The following is a version of this research.
In the largest study of its kind, researchers found students boosted their test scores by the equivalent of over half a letter grade in three weeks when their teachers used digital games in the classroom. The new research, published by Journal of the Learning Sciences, demonstrates the benefits of game-based learning for students when compared to students who had no access to such games.
“Substantial Integration of Typical Educational Games into Extended Curricula,” was co-authored by researchers at Vanderbilt University and involved more than 1,000 students of 13 teachers in 10 diverse urban, suburban and rural schools in seven states (get the executive summary here). The educators integrated a standards-aligned set of 55 typical educational games into their curricula. Each teacher taught at least one class with the games and one class without.
The research found students in the classes with the games outperformed their peers on essay and multiple choice questions. It also found:
Engagement increased. Teachers reported dramatic increases in engagement among students who learned with the games.
Teachers enthused. Ninety-two percent of teachers who used the education games said they would like to use similar games again because of the impact on student performance and engagement.
Researcher and co-author Douglas Clark, professor, Vanderbilt University’s College of Education and Human Development, says, “The results highlight the potential of digital games for enhancing instruction, particularly in light of the teachers strongly positive experiences and interest in continuing to use games like these in the future. This study is important because it is based on data collected with a large set of games used by teachers in extended curricula across multiple school districts.”
Two of his co-authors, Dr. Vadim Polikov, a research scientist, and Aryah Fradkin, a former teacher, tapped into the results to launch Legends of Learning. The online platform is now home to thousands of curriculum-based education games and assessment items for middle school earth and space science, life sciences and physical science curricula. Teachers across the U.S. are using the same kind of standards-aligned games validated by the study to raise engagement and test scores. The games are available via the Legends of Learning site.
Some highlights from the Legends of Learning platform include:
Short games (5–25 minutes) that align to middle school science curriculum standards to ensure content engages and helps students succeed in their studies
An intuitive platform similar to Netflix and Amazon that makes games easy and natural to use in classrooms
A dashboard that allows teachers to observe student comprehension in real time, create game playlists for classes and individual students, and assess content mastery
A feedback loop that rewards game developers based on ratings given to their games by teachers and students, which allows the best games to rise to the top
The study was published in The Journal of the Learning Sciences (JLS), one of the top peer-reviewed academic journals for research on education and learning. JLS is ranked in the top 3 percent (5th out of 230) of all scholarly educational research journals as rated by Thomson Reuters, Journal Citation Reports®.
While there is great content built off of the NGSS DCI content system available, there is still a wide range of activities that teachers need to take on. Successful implementation requires a multidimensional approach to teaching to be the norm in every science classroom. This requires 
