Digital Literacy

Time Launches Platform To Enhance Middle School Social Studies

• By Michael Hart
• 05/12/15

In an effort to improve middle school test scores in social studies, Time and Time for Kids have launched a new digital platform to offer students in grades 7 and 8 more content on geography, civics, United States history and current events.

TIME Edge, the new digital platform, will feature original multimedia content as well as a number of learning tools for students, lesson plans and resources for teachers, and Common Core-aligned quizzes.

The platform will offer articles at different reading levels with interactive features on current events. It will provide a way for students to quickly look up definitions of vocabulary words they don't understand and audio and Spanish-language versions of some texts will also be available.

In addition, Time Edge teachers will have access to the Time Vault, an archive of nearly 90 years of Time articles that connect current events with primary historical sources.

"As more emphasis is being placed on nonfiction literacy across subjects, it's critical for students to have access to engaging multimedia content focused around information-rich news articles," said Time Edge Executive Editor Suzanne Zimbler. "We're offering resources to support crucial thinking, close reading and argumentative writing, as well as the teaching and learning of current events, science topics and more."

The Web-based platform is available on any device through an Internet browser. Free previews are available now and schools can purchase classroom subscriptions beginning with the 2015-16 school year.

Time Edge is an offshoot of Time for Kids, itself a division of Time Inc., which has provided education resources to teachers and students for more than 20 years.