Planning with the teacher's CD-ROM

All of the information needed by the teacher to implement the Voyages Through Time curriculum is contained on the teacher CD-ROM: directions for activities, student activity sheets, images, overhead transparency masters, lists of materials, preparation instructions, teacher reference articles, videos, science background information, assessments — everything! No need to carry around a large box of materials or stay late at school to prepare. Just keep one copy of the teacher's CD-ROM at school and the other copy at home.

The module level materials provide you with planning assistance in several ways. The Science section contains a background science article and other resources to enhance your understanding of the science content of the module. The Preparation section alerts you to what you need to assemble and do well in advance of instruction. The Media section gives you a means of reviewing all of the media from a single place. The Standards section offers complete list of national science standards and benchmarks addressed by the entire module.

The lesson level materials provide you with similar, but more detailed information for a set of activities. The teacher directions at the activity level provide the details for instruction in the classroom. These directions are divided into sections according to the "5 E's" (see Instructional Model). Links to student activity sheets and media are included within these directions so that you can quickly and easily access the information you need for planning. Specifics on the formative and summative assessments built into the VTT curriculum can be found at the activity level, and, once again, information on materials and preparation.

Printing Materials

There are two recommended ways of printing out student activity sheets, overhead transparency masters, and other printable documents. If you have Acrobat Reader installed on your computer, clicking on the name of the document you want to print will automatically open a new window with a PDF version of the document. You can then use the print menu on your computer to print this page exactly as you see it. You can also print selected pages of a multi-page document. When you are finished reading or printing the document, just click to close that screen and you will be back where you started.

The second way to print student activity sheets, overheads, and other documents is oprn the Print_Files folder. This folder contains MS Word 98 (or better) versions of all printable documents. The files are organized by lesson and activity and within activity by whether the document is for students or for teachers. The documents in these files can be opened using MS Word 98 or other word processing application that will open MS word 98 files.

The MS Word versions allow you to modify or change documents. For example, perhaps you would like to add or delete questions on a student activity sheet. Copy the file to another folder on your desktop or to a disk first and save it. Then open this copy in your word processor and make your changes to it (you won't be able to modify the original files on the CD).

Projecting images during class

Activities frequently involve projecting media from the CD-ROM for the whole class to see. These may be photographs, maps, drawings, images from space or from microscopes, diagrams, slide shows, animations, or videos.

There are two ways of projecting media for the whole class: with a multimedia projector connected to your classroom computer, or with a large-screen television connected to a computer. Multimedia projectors are preferred because they give larger, sharper images, and make it much easier for the whole class to view high-quality images. Some of the images in the VTT curriculum do not project well using a television. If television is your only projection option, you will want to preview images to make sure the whole class can see them.

Students' use of CD-ROMs

The student's CD-ROM for each module contains the complete media section from the teacher's CD-ROM, with the databases, videos, images, and simulations used in core lessons and activities. Additional images and videos that are not integral parts of the core instruction are also provided in an Image Library; these can be useful for students who wish to go further. A glossary of terms used in the module is included, as well as the science overview article, written by a project scientist. While the article is written primarily as a resource for the teacher, it may also be appropriate for better students. The teacher may also find the material on the student's CD-ROM useful for students needing to make up work or to review the contents of videos or other media.

In each 5-6 week module there is at least one core activity that requires students to use the student CD-ROMs in a computer lab as an integral part of the activity. For example, in the Hominid Evolution module, students use the student CD-ROMs in a computer-based activity to explore and analyze data on UV intensity and skin pigmentation. In the Cosmic Evolution module students use the student CD-ROMs to explore gravity with a computer-based gravity simulation. In the Planetary Evolution module, students study comparative planetology using planetary data and images on the student CD-ROM.

Specific activities that require teachers to send students to the computer lab are noted both in the module-level Advance Preparation section as well as at the lesson and activity-level preparation sections. This lets teachers know to reserve the computer lab well in advance.

Student readers

The student reader for each module is a soft-cover printed collection of approximately six articles (20- 26 pages total), reprinted with permission from science magazines or written by project scientists. The articles are integral parts of the instruction and are usually assigned as homework reading for specific activities. If possible, each student should receive a reader to keep. They may take the readers home to show their families the articles they are reading and the science they are learning.

Students reading at or near grade level should be able to read the articles independently. If students in your classes have difficulty reading the student reader articles because of below-grade level skills or limited English proficiency, you may choose to take time to read the articles in class together or to use other literacy strategies.

Students with special needs

We have taken special care to ensure that the curriculum and resource materials in Voyages Through Time are accessible for those students and teachers who have disabilities or special needs. The CD-ROM and curriculum materials conform to the Federal Rehabilitation Act of 1973, Section 508. For more information about using VTT with special needs students, see Accessibility.

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