How Can Teachers Use It?
Teachers can use Constitution by KIDS DISCOVER as an alternative to their standard textbook when they teach students about the Constitution. The text is organized into eight different categories, which makes it ideal for small-group learning or a jigsaw activity. Teachers can split students into eight groups, and have each group read and discuss a category and share what they learned with the class. It also works well in a flipped classroom where teachers can have students read through and interact with the app at home, and then use what they have learned to complete activities in class.
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What's It Like?
Constitution by KIDS DISCOVER helps students understand the Constitution and the events that led to its creation. This digital textbook takes kids through the process of drafting the Constitution and profiles some of the people leading the movement. Through photos, animations, and other interactive elements, it gives kids a feel for what life was like in the 1800s and how it compares to life today. Passages covering the Bill of Rights help students begin to see the Constitution as a living document and gain an understanding of how it applies to their daily lives. Simple activities give them a chance to test their knowledge of the Constitution and allow them to have a little fun.
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Is It Good For Learning?
It can be a challenge to help students see how history relates to their lives today, and Constitution by KIDS DISCOVER does this well, encouraging kids to think about recent issues such as government surveillance and email. The collection of photos, colorful illustrations, and animations makes this app pleasing to browse through. Still, at its core, it's a digital textbook that only partially takes advantage of the platform. Missing are a few things that would help make the app shine, such as the ability to interact with text (for pronunciations or definitions), a glossary, and better support for kids who are audio learners. And while the text contains great information, the activities are not well-aligned with the learning goals. Students will quickly complete a jigsaw puzzle, a silly scrambled-words game, a sorting activity, and five very basic multiple-choice questions. With all of the higher-level analysis and discussions included in the texts, it's very surprising that the activities cover so little.
Also surprising is that although the app gives links to other resources, it doesn't include a link to the developer's website, where you can find free downloads of lesson plans relevant to the app.
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Multiple chapters make it ideal for small-group study.
Interactive text boxes help students engage with the text.
Students can explore actual historical documents.
Four activities help students have a little fun.
