Don't let the name fool you. Fun and Learning is a valuable resource for educators, parents, and students. The site offers access to rich resources including lesson plans, hands-on activities, and multimedia such as videos, music, games and art projects that are aligned with national education standards. These resources can provide supplemental learning in the classroom setting or be used by parents as they work to support their children's learning at home.
But that's not all! Fun and Learning also includes a full suite of professional development opportunities for teachers. These training programs are delivered through webinars (online seminars) or onsite workshops that delve deeply into how to incorporate these educational materials into the classroom setting.
Fun and Learning has partnered with some of the most respected publishers and companies in the field of education to provide some of the most engaging content available today. They have formal partnerships with Pearson, National Geographic Learning, The History Channel, National Geographic Society, National Geographic Kids and ACT Assessment. Their current content partners include:
National Geographic
Pearson Education (Connections)
LifeLab/Mouse Works
Kid Can Press Inc.
Fun and Learning also has content partnerships with governmental agencies such as NASA and the Centers for Disease Control. These organizations help ensure that Fun and Learning resources are aligned to national education standards and updated to reflect changing trends in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) instruction.
Fun and Learning is an initiative of "Fun and Learning Foundation". The Foundation is a nonprofit organization, charitable trust, that helps to fund the projects of Fun and Learning. The foundation is not affiliated with any business or individual. While the foundation itself has no direct connection to Fun and Learning, other educational companies carry its logo and use the company's resources. The website www.funandlearning.org uses Fun and Learning resources under its umbrella as part of a general education program on logic, critical thinking etc...
Dr. Paul Alexander, former superintendent of San Francisco's Roosevelt High School, has been the director of the Foundation for several years and remains involved in the direction of Fun and Learning.
Fun and Learning has been affiliated with several national organizations pertaining to early child development and learning. These include:
American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)
National Education Association (NEA) – Educational Technology Division
National Council for Teachers of English (NCTE), especially its Clearinghouse on Literacy Research and Professional Development and Child Development Institute (CDI)
NASSP – The National Society for the Study of Education.
Florida Council of Teachers of Mathematics (FCTM)
The Foundation is a supporter of the U.S Department of Education's Partnership for 21st Century Skills (21C), and has been involved with this organization since it began in 2005. Since that time, The Foundation, through Fun and Learning, has partnered with numerous companies in the field of education in an effort to promote and support 21C Initiatives. These include:
ACT Assessment
Connections by Pearson Education
MindWare
Choice Boards, Inc.
Chromebooks from Samsung and Google, Inc.
Fun and Learning also offers a variety of parent resources on its website. These resources include information about how children think and learn, activities for parents and children to do together, parenting tips, games and other resources to help kids learn through play.
In early 2009 Fun and Learning was sued for copyright infringement by non-profit education organization DeVry University. A federal court ruled that Fun & Learning had violated DeVry's copyrights by using one of DeVry's courses in its K-8 programs as reference material without permission. The court also ruled that Fun & Learning had used the same course materials in a K-12 program without permission. In addition the court found that Fun & Learning had made unauthorized use of DeVry's trademarks under U.S. Trademark law.
Post a Comment