Accessing Discovery Education Streaming Videos

  Discovery Education is a comprehensive resource site that includes educational videos that align with the curriculum and state standards  Memberships to the site have been purchased by MCPS. ◦ Talk to your Media Specialist to get your username and password set up if you have not already done so.  It used to be called United Streaming. ◦ You can still use to access the site.

Take the time to explore all of the features of this site. Click to Visit the video library

 Ways to Search ◦ Use the search tool to find videos by keyword ◦ Search by curriculum standards ◦ Use the Advanced search ◦ Use the Subject/Grade search  Materials ◦ Many of the videos come with additional materials that can be printed out and used with your students.  Organize ◦ The My Content section allows you to organize videos in folders for easy retrieval later. ◦ School Content and District Content sections allow you to share videos with other educators.  Download ◦ You can down load videos to the school server for faster playback. ◦ You can also burn videos on to DVD to use in a viewing center (instead of a listening center) for your students.

To use the search tool, type in a keyword (such as “seeds”) and click on the search button. You can narrow your search by media type and/or grade level or continue with a basic search. Narrow down results by subject, grade, media type, video details, available materials, and media packs. Continue narrowing the results until you find the videos you need. Move the cursor over a video selection to see a summary and a preview. Select a video by clicking anywhere in box. Video Segments Click for full screen

To find a video or video segment that covers a specific curriculum standard, choose this option. The curriculum standards are not yet available for K-8 science. But they are available for reading/language arts, and social studies

In the “Find Results Matching” category, you have the choice of a Boolean Query. This is “a query using one or more of the Boolean operators AND, OR, and NOT. For example, a search for all species of snakes which live in North America OR South America, do NOT live in Africa, AND are poisonous.” The Advanced Search feature allows you to narrow down your results quickly. Fill in as few or as many fields as you want. The more fields you fill in the narrower your search will be. You can select a video from the results or continue narrowing down your choices using the side bar.

When you’re not sure what you want a video on, use the Subject/Grade Search feature. Start with either subject or grade. When you select a subject, you will be given topics within that subject to choose from. The number in parentheses shows how many selection are available in that topic. With each choice you make, you will be given another set of subtopics to narrow down your search. Each time you select a subtopic your results will be further narrowed down. You may choose to browse the videos using the page buttons or continue to narrow the search. At the lowest subtopic, you will still be able to narrow your search by grade, media type, video details, available materials, and media packs.

Once you have begun your search, you can narrow your results by the materials that are available for a video. Many videos have Blacklined Masters, Teachers Guides, or both. The video summary will also tell you if there are Blackline Masters or Teachers Guides available for the video. Once you have selected a video, you will find the available materials under the Related Materials tab. Blackline Masters include quizzes, worksheets, and evaluation questions. Teacher’s Guides often include key vocabulary, discussion questions, and related internet resources.

The “My Content” section allows you to save and organize videos for easy retrieval later. One way to add a video to “My Content” is through the video summary. You can add the video to the general “My Content” folder or add a folder to organize your videos by content. You can also add a video to “My Content” once you have selected it. In the “My Content” section, you can create folders to organize your videos. To create a folder select a subject and grade. Enter a name for your folder and click the “Add Folder” button. Once you have created a folder you can move videos into it.

Adding videos to the “School Content” and “District Content” sections allows you to share the videos you have found useful with your colleagues. You can choose an existing folder or create a new one in “School Content” and “District Content” to add videos to. Creating folders in these two sections is identical to creating folders in “My Content.” In “My Content” choose the video you want to share and select share. Here you are given the choice of sharing with the School and/or the District. Choose the folders you wish to share with or create new ones. Click the “Save” button when you finish.

Many school Media Specialists request that staff download videos to the school server for latter use. This is because streaming videos slows down the school network. Videos can be downloaded to the school’s server and can be burned to DVD. If you have difficulty with downloading videos, your Media Specialist is your best resource. Once you have selected a video, you can download it. To download the entire video, click on the download icon for the entire video (top bar in blue). If you only want to download a segment of the video, select the icon for that segment. Follow your computer’s prompts to download the video. Most teacher computers do not have DVD burners installed. To burn a video onto DVD, ask your Media Specialist. Since you can also access Discovery Streaming on your home computer using your regular login, you can burn DVD’s on a home computer that is equipped with a DVD burner.

 The Magic School Bus: Gets Planted  The Magic School Bus: All Dried Up  The Magic School Bus: Goes to Seed  Plant Life Cycles  TLC Elementary School: All About Plants  The Importance of Plants  How Plants Grow  Real World Science: Seeds and Plants  TEAMS: Fast Plants: Pollination ◦ This is a very long video – use it one or a couple of sections at a time.  TEAMS: Fast Plants: Planting Fast Plants ◦ This is a very long video – use it one or a couple of sections at a time.  A First Look: Plants  How They Live: Bees  The Magic School Bus: In a Beehive  The Magic School Bus: In the Rain Forest  Debbie Greenthumb: How Plants Grow

 The recommended videos can all be located in the District Content in a folder titled “Plant Growth and Development.”