Thinkfinity+Project



 Thinkfinity.org is a collection of free online resources for educators, students, parents, and after school programs. Thinkfinity was originally called Marco Polo and was established by the MCI Corporation in 1998. Thinkfinity offers educators pre-written lessons that align to state and national education standards, as well as interactive activities and other online resources for any grade level and topic. Thinkfinity is funded through the contributions of several content partners and focus on emerging technologies and communication tools to provide universal access to learning opportunities and the integration of technology into the classroom.

[|You can access Thinkfinity.org by following this link]

Two sample lessons that I chose to use from Thinkfinity.org are “History of Evolutionary Theory” and “From Cell to DNA”. I chose these two lessons from the vast selection offered on Thinkfinity.org because they align with two units of instruction that I currently use. I chose the "History of Evolutionary Theory" because I have found that students often dismiss Darwin's ideas becaue of the controversy between Darwinism and Creation. I wanted an acticvity that would show students that there were more scientist than just Charles Darwin who had observed evidences for evolution. The reason I chose "From Cell to DNA" is because it was an animation that I can use to introduce cell structure and DNA. Since cellular theory and DNA are difficult to describe with traditional classroom manipulatives, I thought that an animation my help the students to visualize the process. The two lessons that I chose are just a sampling of the resources available on Thinkfinity.org. I plan on searching the available resources for each unit of content that I teach in both my 9th and 10th grade curriculums.

"History of Evolutionary Theory" is an "E Sheet" that discusses other scientist's work that influenced the thinking of Charles Darwin. Believe it or not; Darwin was not alone!!

"From Cell to DNA" is an interactive link that takes the viewer on a detailed description of cell structure and the process by which DNA is assembled. What are you made of??

__Reflection: __ Like most teachers, I find myself always looking for new and exciting material to engage my students in the curriculum that I teach. The traditional methods of textbook “skill and drill” are long gone and with the new developments in technology, I find myself searching for new and innovative methods of instruction. The biggest challenge I have found in searching for new material is the time needed to search endless websites for new ideas. Thinkfinity.org is an organized collection of the new material I have been searching for; ultimately saving me valuable time; allowing more time to search through the content and not websites. Another concern I used to have when searching the internet for material was the reliability in the information that I would find. With Thinkfinity.org, the information is not only reliable but also set to state and national standards. In briefly looking through the resources available through Thinkfinity.org, I am excited to return to the website and search further for material that I can use in my classroom. 