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The Resource

Autism Toolkit
Helps Educators

Autism Speaks, an organization devoted to helping improve the futures of people with autism spectrum disorders, has created an online School and Community Toolkit to help educators and others to be better equipped to help.

The Toolkit defines autism, offers general strategies for intervention, points out readily-available resources, and answers questions such as “How might a special needs child be part of our school?”. Information is included for everyone in the school community—teachers, administrators, paraeducators, office staff, bus drivers, nurses, custodians, peers and parents.

To access the Toolkit, visit www.autismspeaks.org/school.

Museum Looks at WWII
Technology Advances
According to the National World War II Museum, in New Orleans, the WWII years saw more advances in technology, medicine and other math and science related fields than any other era in history. At the Museum’s website, students can explore how those advances affected not only the war, but everyday life today.

The website, along with a free classroom poster, detail how WWII-related research led to advances in the food we eat and the way we travel, and to the atomic bomb. Visitors to the site can see artifacts from the Museum’s science and technology collection, travel a timeline of the Manhattan Project, answer ethical questions about the use of technology in war, and send coded messages to friends. An “Ask the Expert” section offers students the chance to get questions answered. The “Top Ten List” lets students vote on what they think are some of the most important breakthroughs of the WWII years.

To check out the site, visit www.ww2sci-tech.org.

Smithsonian Offers
Heritage Materials
The Smithsonian Center for Education and Museum Studies is offering a new series of free, online cultural heritage tours for educators and students, featuring artifacts from the Smithsonian’s extensive collections.

At www.SmithsonianEducation.org/heritage, you’ll find objects, archival musical samples, activities, links to additional content, and a number of interactive features which allow users to examine and research the objects they see. For teachers, there are pre-, during and post-visit activities, downloadable images for classroom display, and information on the Standards of Learning addressed.