You Oughta Know about Discovery Education’s Techbook Trial

Share:

You Oughta Know about Discovery Education's Techbook Trial
You Oughta Know about Discovery Education's Techbook Trial

Today I want to tell you all about the Discovery Education Techbook Trial. I use the K-8 Science Techbook every single day in my Science and Technology specials (I teach grades 2-5). So, lets start with how to sign up.
First, go to http://www.discoveryeducation.com/ and scroll below the header until you see

You Oughta Know about Discovery Education's Techbook Trial
Now click on trial and go through the steps to sign up. If you already have an account you can enter it in, if not you will create one.
Once you are logged in you will need to access the techbook from your main menu
You Oughta Know about Discovery Education's Techbook Trial
Any other resources you have purchased through DE will also be on this list.
Finally, here it is!
You Oughta Know about Discovery Education's Techbook Trial
This is the course view, which I prefer. There is another view that is composed of text descriptions for each grade level and unit. I tend to be a very visual person so that is why I prefer to look at it this way. To dive deeper into how to use the techbook, let’s check out 5th grade.
You Oughta Know about Discovery Education's Techbook Trial
I had to choose my state when I was signing up for an account, so here are the North Carolina units for 5th grade science. Again there are 2 views- one with pictures and one with text. We just studied the Human Body Systems so that is where I would like to go to show you around.

You Oughta Know about Discovery Education's Techbook Trial There are several mini-units in the Human Body Systems unit. This page gives an overview of the unit, including the objectives and essential questions. For the teacher the most logical thing to click next is “view model lesson.”

Once you’re in the model lesson, there are 2 ways to look through the resources. Across the top there are green tabs following the 5E model. This is considered their Core Interactive Text (aka text book with all the amazing DE resources built right in).

You Oughta Know about Discovery Education's Techbook Trial

Anywhere you see a blue vocabulary word in the text, you can click on it to bring up the interactive glossary. The glossary provides an explanation of each work in both text and multimedia formats.

You can view the video segments right from the page, and if you like them you can add them to your quick list with the plus sign so that you can get back to them when it is time to teach.

As you work through the E’s you will find video segments, reading passages, virtual labs, assignments, and printable pages to use as formative and summative assessments.

You Oughta Know about Discovery Education's Techbook TrialAnother way to get to these resources is back on the Model Lesson page. If you click the gray tab on the side that says DE Resources, you will find a list of links for each lesson within the unit. Clicking on any of the links will bring you directly to the resource.
Either way, you will find amazing resources to use with your science students. I integrate the reading passages when I want students to fill in a graphic organizer with very little input from me. Our text books are so old and we don’t have enough of them. For me it is always easier to print a few pages to use with each class. I assign the virtual labs and have the students complete them at the computer stations. The assignments provided work like a webquest, except that all of the links stay within DE. I have my students answer the questions for the assignments in their notebooks to show what they’ve learned and share out when we review.
I highly recommend checking it out. If your school (or homeschool) can afford it, you won’t be disappointed!
What science textbook series do you use? My county is up for textbook renewal and I submitted DE’s techbook to be considered.
Thanks for reading!
You Oughta Know about Discovery Education's Techbook Trial


Brittany Washburn

Brittany Washburn

Hi, I'm Brittany. I'm an educator obsessed with technology and passionate about teaching students 21st century skills. I'm so glad you came to visit my website.

Leave a Reply

Hi, I’m Brittany! I’m an educator obsessed with teaching with technology. Check out my free PD for technology teachers!

Click the image to learn more and sign up!

Disclaimer: this content is reader-supported, which means if you click on some of the links that I may earn a commission.

I'd love to connect with you! Find me on Social Media

Most Popular

On Key

Related Posts

20 Tips for Teaching Students to Organize their Google Drive

Google Drive is a wonderful tool for storage, sharing and collaboration. However, it also bears an astonishing resemblance to my kitchen counter… always filling up with clutter, and difficult to locate important documents on.  If it’s challenging for teachers with years of experience to keep things organized, imagine how hard it must be for our students to stay on top of things! Luckily, your students have you to help them organize their Google Drive.

Wait! Your order is almost complete...

Add this offer to your order.

Add Something Fun!

50% off Spring Themed Text Formatting!

Original Price: $4.00 Discounted Price: $2.00

No thanks, I will pass!

Love tech lesson ideas?

Weekly Lesson Plans

Every week of the school year I send an email with visual lesson plans. Let me know where to send it by filling out the form here:

Weekly Newsletter

* indicates required