| By Gintas Bradunas |
The enhanced Gale In Context: Elementary is here, and it’s better than ever!
In today’s classrooms, teachers often face the challenge of teaching the topic at hand while also instilling lifelong learning skills in a way that excites students. Like other teachers, I often struggled to find resources that not only covered a topic well but helped build strong foundations in critical thinking, digital literacy, and research. I’d find myself asking whether the content I provided truly helped in the ways that mattered. Would it lead to my students’ success in middle school, high school, and beyond?
Access to great resources is just the beginning. Students need to be directed to content in a way that works for them and develops these critical, lifelong skills. Last year, we redesigned Gale In Context: Elementary to do just that: provide a guided learning experience that helps students explore a world of information in a way that’s at their level, engaging, and respects discovery and choice. We added “I Wonder . . .” questions that model curiosity, restructured topic portals, and created a visual topic tree that makes finding the next topic fun and easy.
Now It’s Even Better!
With the latest enhancements to Gale In Context: Elementary, students have easy access to K-5 content—all in one place. This encourages them to move at their own pace through periodicals, videos, and more, to find information on a wide range of topics with kid-friendly visuals and prompts. To make it even easier for kids, they can now access subscribed K-5 eBooks from Gale directly within Elementary. As students explore topic trees or pursue the answer to an “I Wonder . . .” question, they’ll find eBooks alongside topic overviews, periodicals, videos, news, and other content—encouraging them to dive deep.
Better yet, we’ve redesigned the eBook reader, with:
- Text-to-speech for every eBook.
- Simplified navigation.
- Improved tools, like an integrated dictionary and “search within.”
Whether at home or in the classroom, students can learn at a comfortable pace as they move through periodicals, videos, and now—for the first time—eBooks to find information that draws them into any topic. And teachers can use this dynamic resource to introduce basic research skills, enhance instruction, and encourage student engagement—ultimately leading to the next student bouncing at their heels to share a fact about their new favorite topic.
Learn more about Gale In Context: Elementary or bulk up your library of K-5 eBooks with collections designed specifically for elementary students.
Meet the Author
As a K‒12 product manager at Gale, Gintas Bradunas works to leverage his past experiences as a middle school teacher and Teach For America corps member to help make products that students and educators will love. He’s an avid reader, lover of podcasts, and a believer that everything can be made better with a cup of coffee.