The National Science Teachers Association (NSTA) has announced that the American Book Company (ABC) has become the latest publisher to join NSTA's sciLINKS programme. NSTA is a professional organisation promoting excellence and innovation in science teaching and learning.
ABC will link the pages of 10 of its science textbooks to NSTA-approved websites that contain grade-appropriate activities and lessons. With 13 publishers now on board and the number of sciLINKed textbooks in the hundreds, quality Internet resources are expected to become more accessible than ever to students and science teachers in the US and elsewhere. The latest NSTA-ABC partnership is expected to provide an even greater number of science teachers and students with direct access to online materials they can use to learn and explore science.
Launched in 1999, sciLINKS connects the content of science textbooks to NSTA-approved websites to enrich student learning both inside and outside the science classroom. NSTA places sciLINKS icons and codes in textbook margins at key subject areas. By accessing the sciLINKS web site and entering the code, students and teachers are guided to professionally selected web sites that support the particular science subject introduced in the text.
The NSTA sciLINKS programme is seen to offer a unique learning experience, reaching thousands of students and teachers around the country through its current partnership with various publishers. To date, more than 720,000 students and 178,000 teachers are registered to use the programme. On average, 90,000 people visit the sciLINKS web site each month, accession tens of thousands of selected and reviewed web pages.
