Thinkfinity

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Thinkfinity URL: @http://www.thinkfinity.org/

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Thinkfinity is an archive of lesson plans and educational resources for all K-12 subjects and grades. All of Thinkfinity's 55,000 standards-based K-12 lesson plans, student materials, interactive tools and reference materials are reviewed by the nation's leading education organizations to ensure that content is accurate, up-to-date, unbiased and appropriate for students.=====

Our task was to find and evaluate two lesson ideas that we could use as a foundation for our own lesson. I elected to search the archive for lesson ideas dealing with genetics, focusing on those I could shape into Extended Thinking activities. I was presented with page after page of results and selected two lesson ideas that I felt could be engaging to my particular student set.


 * < The lesson demonstrates that -- at the genetic level -- people are really not that different. Furthermore, it shows that power of genetics and genetic research in determining ancestry and historical migration of groups of people. ||< [[file:ThinkfinityUnit1.docx]] ||
 * < This lesson would be a great segue from or to genetic disorders. It deals with the health and daily living implications of genetics and builds on concepts the students learned when they first began using Punnett Squares and discussing the probability of inheriting a particular gene. Furthermore, the links included at the bottom of the page are perfect for introducing the lesson. ||< [[file:ThinkfinityUnit2.docx]] ||

__Reflection__ I am surprised that I had not heard of Thinkfinity until this assignment. At first I was overwhelmed by the sheer volume of information contained within the archive. Teaching both Science and Social Studies, I spent the better part of an hour just looking at the resources available for many of my main concepts and topic throughout the year. When I did finally limit myself to just one topic, I was still amazed at the breadth and depth of the search results. Many of the lesson ideas seem like they would be highly engaging and motivating to the type of students I have in my classes. I feel as though I have only begun to scratch the surface of Thinkfinity. There are just so many resources available to educators on this site that I do not think it is possible to sift through all the relevant search results. I have already shared this site with many of my colleagues in the hopes that they might find a great resource that I could not!