Great Student-Centered Learning Resources

Cool assessment targets kids' strengths; sprawling content overwhelms

Bottom Line: A great starting point for conversations about students' strengths; skip some of the digital content.

Great stories, just-right leveled reading; now mostly by subscription

Bottom Line: While pricey, Newsela has ascended into an all-in-one destination for leveled, non-fiction reading.

Design, build, and share new things offline and online

Bottom Line: DIY motivates kids to tackle a wide range of problems with independent and scientific thinking.

Support kids' sense of wonder with outstanding short video lessons

Bottom Line: TED-Ed includes excellent, engaging videos and support for flipped-class lessons with an incredible community of thinkers and doers.

Organized digital library features piles of useful primary resources

Bottom Line: DPLA is at the top of the list of high-grade, online primary source collections if teachers make effective use of what's on offer.

Well-curated art and history site inspires curious learning

Bottom Line: A beautifully presented one-stop shop for compellingly curated and contextualized art, history, and culture resources, but it's lacking educator supports.

Compelling science videos have high-quality classroom applications

Bottom Line: Unparalleled science documentaries offer a window into real-world scientific topics in a high-interest way.

Individualized STEM career exploration targets students' values

Bottom Line: Students identify career values and use them to evaluate STEM options.

Easily accessible, kid-friendly database for the littlest researchers

Bottom Line: Delightful, safe introduction to the world of research, databases, and reporting, with interesting content and stellar supports.

Safe nonfiction database develops students' research skills

Bottom Line: Student-centric research site gives kids a just-right amount of information to build foundational research skills.

Adapted resource can help some ELLs, with potential for other students

Bottom Line: This empowering research tool for more advanced English learners has the potential for wider, more creative applications.

Fewer clicks and less clutter equal a new go-to site for citing sources

Bottom Line: An intuitive site that takes the stress out of citing sources, but students will still need instruction to tweak auto-generated citations.

Search engine with filtered results leaves room for critical thinking

Bottom Line: SweetSearch supplies valid, reputable websites that can help kids learn about a variety of topics.

Expansive research tool uniquely melds learning and productivity

Bottom Line: While the complex, old-school design isn't ideal, NoodleTools gives students specific assistance where they need it the most -- with citations, paraphrasing, elaboration, and organization.

Chrome extension helps organize web-based research

Bottom Line: For Chrome users and mostly digital classrooms, this is a fairly intuitive tool that'll help students wrangle their research.

Academic search engine, an excellent source for credible research info

Bottom Line: This smart tool can help teens locate credible material for paper and report writing, general research, and other school projects.

Stellar collaboration tools, controls make Minecraft classroom-ready

Bottom Line: An excellent tool to engage students in learning, collaboration, and critical thinking is now more accessible than ever to teachers.

Multifaceted interactive whiteboard promotes collaboration

Bottom Line: Mural facilitates lesson presentation and group project collaboration from anywhere by making idea sharing a simple, visual process.

Encourage student expression and maintain digital portfolios with easy-to-use blog creator

Bottom Line: Edublogs is a fantastic platform for any teacher committed to providing consistent opportunities for creation and reflection.

Collaborative writing game inspires purposeful storytelling

Bottom Line: With some planning and customization, this unique card game can motivate thoughtful and sustained creative writing in your classroom.

Unique project-based learning tool focuses on collaboration

Bottom Line: Once teachers get their bearings, they'll find this to be a uniquely useful workflow and project management tool that can guide students through collaborative work.

Social approach to problem-solving promotes deep math learning

Bottom Line: An innovative, community-based platform that helps students plan, strategize, and collaborate.

Student-centered platform makes project organization, tracking easier

Bottom Line: This platform gives teachers options for structuring a learning experience that students truly own.

Set tailored targets with pricey but worth-it kit of tools, strategies

Bottom Line: You pay for quality with Goalbook Toolkit, including access to clear, well-crafted learning goals and strategies that allow for far easier differentiation.

Versatile digital portfolio appeals to teachers, students, and parents

Bottom Line: A powerful multimedia learning and communication tool that demonstrates student progress over time.

A fresh way to capture, document, and share student learning

Bottom Line: Multimedia documentation tools and a customizable grade book help communicate learning and expand both summative and formative assessment.

Cultivate a growth mindset with reflective, student-driven learning

Bottom Line: If developing a growth mindset is an important part of your teaching practice, this is a solid choice.

Note-taking giant built for flexible, collaborative work

Bottom Line: A powerful (and free) tool for thinking and organization that's making smart strides in the education space.

Create, organize, assess sleek digital portfolios

Bottom Line: A simple PBL tool that promotes digital literacy and lets kids create flexible, accessible digital portfolios.

Helpful, yet complex, management tool for project-based learning

Bottom Line: A powerful, though sometimes complex, tool for providing inquiry-based, student-centered learning.

Slick portfolio tool has cool features, limited feedback options

Bottom Line: A neat tool for publishing online, possibly better suited to teacher content creation than student publishing.

Adaptive writing tool rewards effective peer feedback

Bottom Line: A cool tool for helping students develop as careful writers and thoughtful critics.