With howtosmile.org’s official launch, the new site has boosted functionality, enhanced community tools, and provided more ways for educators to contextualize and extend SMILE’s hands-on activities.
Even if you've been tooling around the site, you may not have noticed some of the innovations:
1. Amped-up Advanced Search, which lets you search by subject, age range, materials used, cost, learning time, or even the learning style preferences supported by the activity (to name just a few of the multiplicity of ways educators can search for activities)
2. Videos associated with our downloadable activities (and the option to add your own videos from YouTube or Vimeo), See the Fruit Fly DNA video as an example (the still above is from that video).
3. Expanded list-making functions, which let you make your lists of SMILE activities into resource hubs by adding non-SMILE resources or links to outside websites. Check out this list associated with National Chemistry Week (October 17 - 23).
4. More community functions, like being able to ‘Favorite’ other users’ lists; vote other users’ comments “useful,” and earn points and badges by participating on the site.