As the pandemic continues bringing change to K–12 through the school year, teachers, counselors, support staff and IT professionals are being more selective about the technology they choose for instructing and engaging students. While hundreds of education companies, nonprofits and other organizations made their software and services free during the immediate switch to remote learning, many have become more thoughtful about how they help educators master online and blended instruction. We’ve winnowed through our previous collection and sprinkled additions throughout, to bring you this updated set of free resources to help with online, hybrid and face-to-face in 2022.
By Dian Schaffhauser
As the pandemic continues bringing change to K–12 through the school year, teachers, counselors, support staff and IT professionals are being more selective about the technology they choose for instructing and engaging students. While hundreds of education companies, nonprofits and other organizations made their software and services free during the immediate switch to remote learning, many have become more thoughtful about how they help educators master online and blended instruction. We’ve winnowed through our previous collection and sprinkled additions throughout, to bring you this updated set of free resources to help with online, hybrid and face-to-face in 2022.
If your organization has a resource that should be added to this list, send a brief message to dnagel@1105media.com with “free resource” in the subject header and include a link to your offer’s website.
3M has developed a roster of science experiments that can be done with “common household items” for students ages 6-12. https://www.3m.com/3M/en_US/gives-us/education/science-at-home/science-experiments-for-kids/
Abby the Pup provides free educational materials to teachers and parents to help educate kids three and four years old. All preschool printables and worksheets have been placed under the Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication (CC0). The site also offers videos featuring popular kid songs. https://www.abbythepup.com/
The Academy of Active Learning Arts and Sciences and the Flipped Learning Global Initiative have produced the “Rapid Transition to Online Learning” (RTOL), a roadmap for making the rapid shift to online learning during school closures. The resources include a checklist for administrators, another for IT managers, a transition plan and video tutorial for teachers and access to an international team of volunteers who have stepped forward to answer questions. http://aalasinternational.org/rtol/
Achieve3000 is offering “Literacy Printable Packets,” a set of text sets with 20 printable articles and questions for grades 1-12 resources for differentiated literacy instruction. https://www.achieve3000.com/remote-support/
Achieve3000 has also commissioned the publication of “The Power of Culturally Responsive Literacy Instruction,” which offers best practices on three topics: How to build better relationships with your students; why cultivating literacy skills isn’t enough; and how to break down the barriers to equity. https://go.achieve3000.com/rs/026-SJE-918/images/CulturallyResponsiveLiteracyInstruction.pdf
Achillea, founded by college students, is providing peer tutoring specifically to K-12 students in foster care or those who have been discharged or are receiving preventative services. The coaching is delivered by high school students, making for peer experiences. A student intake form is required. https://www.peer-tutoring.org/
Adobe and Khan Academy have teamed up to help teachers learn how to teach creativity using Adobe products, with dozens of free accompanying lesson plans and projects for all grade levels and subjects, covering STEM, humanities, digital media and story-telling. The self-paced course for educators offers 20-plus lessons and a hands-on assignment and comes with a certificate for 20 accredited professional learning hours. https://edex.adobe.com/khan
AI4ALL Open Learning produces a free, adaptable curriculum for high school teachers to infuse coverage of artificial intelligence into their lessons. The organization said its materials can be implemented in any subject and doesn’t require a technical background to use. Students will learn what AI and machine learning are, the benefits and risks of AI and how they can be involved in forging its use in the world. Topics cover AI and drawing, AI and the environment and AI and COVID-19. Application to the teacher community is required. https://ai-4-all.org/open-learning/
Amazon Future Engineer is providing free access to an online cyber robotics challenge for students in grades 4 and above with CoderZ. The challenge includes curriculum that can be added to computer science, science or math classes. Registration required. https://www.amazonfutureengineer.com/CyberRobotics
The American Museum of Natural History is sharing a bunch of online content for teachers and families. That includes the “OLogy” science website with lessons on subjects from anthropology to zoology; online science curriculum collections; virtual visits to the museum through its YouTube channel; and massive open, online museum courses delivered through Coursera. https://www.amnh.org/explore
The American Writers Museum delivers numerous virtual exhibits, including programs on Ray Bradbury, Frederick Douglass, Hisaye Yamamoto and “My America: Immigrant and Refugee Writers Today,” which shares personal stories about topics such as identity, community, language, storytelling and what it means to be an American from contemporary authors. Educational materials are available on the exhibits as well. https://exhibits.americanwritersmuseum.org/#virtual
Annenberg Learner is offering free access to dozens of K-12 lesson plans and professional development resources for educators and families on Learner.org, the Annenberg Foundation’s education division. According to the organizations, many of the projects use items people probably already have (Eggs! Legos!) and include resource guides to help the adults better communicate the learning concepts to the kids. https://www.learner.org/search/
Aperture Education has curated a collection of free resources for parents and educators, to help kids (and them) develop social and emotional skills. https://info.apertureed.com/archived-resources
Arcademics offers free games online, to help students develop their skills in math, language arts, geography and typing. Registration required. https://www.arcademics.com/
Arizona State University has developed numerous free educational resources for K-12. Those include “Ask an Anthropologist” and “Ask a Biologist,” where the content includes teacher toolkits with lesson ideas, podcasts with transcripts and videos showing the scientists in action, articles, puzzlers, experiments and the ability for students to ask experts questions. Another is “Virtual Field Trips,” which offers numerous virtual trips with photos, explanations, short videos and maps. While the trips can be viewed on a computer, they really come to life through a virtual reality headset that allows for 360-degree viewing. ASU Prep Digital, an online K-12 school, has made online course materials available to any student or school and a library of teacher training videos.
Arizona State University is working with Complexly’s Crash Course on a series of entry-level course videos, covering composition, chemistry, data literacy, algebra and other subjects. (Complexly and Crash Course are an initiative of the Green brothers, hosts of a popular vlog and best-selling fiction.) The content in “Study Hall,” won’t offer credit or replace any degree programs, but rather will serve as a supplement for high school or college learners. https://www.youtube.com/c/arizonastateuniversity
ASSISTments is already free for use by teachers. The program allows them to assign homework or classwork and provide students with immediate feedback as they complete their assignments; teachers get a report showing individual student and class progress. There’s a library of content that includes open textbooks, lessons and state test practice and skill-building problem sets. The nonprofit also provides professional development training and offers sessions for helping teachers get ASSISTments set up for remote instruction. https://new.assistments.org/distance-learning
AVID Open Access is providing free lesson plans and teaching resources, including standalone STEM activities for four different grade bands, as well as subject-specific and grade-level appropriate examples, to show teachers how to embed digital tools in lessons to meet their learning objectives. This combination of tools, videos and class activities work with whatever curriculum, devices and platforms schools and families use. The organization emphasized that teachers don’t need prior knowledge of AVID strategies. https://avidopenaccess.org/
To view more resources on an alphabetized list, click here.
