Celebrated 1to1 District Adds Discovery Ed Social Studies to Digital Textbooks

  • By Dian Schaffhauser
  • 08/14/13

The same district that won the 2012 Sylvia Charp Award for its extensive 1-to-1 laptop program and where President Barack Obama announced his administration's ConnectED initiative to build out high-speed data networks to schools and libraries has recently expanded its relationship with a company that has been supplying digital content to its students for five years. Mooresville Graded School District recently announced that it was adopting a digital social studies textbook from Discovery Education for its middle school classrooms district wide. Middle school encompasses grades seven and eight in the district.

During the last school year, district middle school teachers tried Discovery's Social Studies Techbook, which provides links to historical resources and has activities intended to help students think critically, develop arguments, and investigate history. The social studies series covers curriculum for United States history, world history, and world geography and cultures. The price for a six-year license is $48 per student for each program. The digital content includes a multimedia reference library, interactive maps, digital "explorations," primary source documents, and text.

  Discovery's Techbooks include a multimedia reference library, interactive maps, digital
Discovery's Techbooks include a multimedia reference library, interactive maps, digital "explorations," primary source documents, and text.		  

Previously, Mooresville Graded adopted Discovery's Science Techbook series and used customized professional development to help teachers integrate digital content into classroom instruction.

"We are excited to expand our partnership with Discovery Education," said Superintendent Mark Edwards. "One of the cornerstones of our transformation has been the introduction of the highest quality digital media into all core content areas. The deepening of our relationship with Discovery Education supports us as we provide all students a firm preparation for global citizenship."

According to Discovery, the digital materials work on regular PCs, laptops, tablets, and mobile devices.

About the Author

Dian Schaffhauser is a former senior contributing editor for 1105 Media's education publications THE Journal, Campus Technology and Spaces4Learning.

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