A little while ago I wrote a post about one of the Oaka Topic Packs that the kids and I tried out and loved, well Oaka also have a digital library.  The Digital Library is geared for KS3 ages (ie secondary school) but we have had a  look and love it. The kids and I have already learnt about some of the Geography that is included in the Digital library so we spent a bit of time looking around the sections that they were familiar with.

[ Just to mention, this is just me writing about a new resource that I am impressed with.  I have not been paid for this.  We used the resource during its 30 day free trial.  This is my personal option.  Also all images are me photographing images off the computer so some are a bit grainy but I wanted to give you a good idea of what you get. ]

Straight away my daughter loved the 3D images (she is a very visual learner), she loved that the images could move and she could select the labelled numbers to get more information.  She also loved the screens where she could drag and drop items into the correct place.  And every section comes with a quiz.  Now we aren’t big on tests. But my daughter enjoyed the quizzes, she liked seeing how much she could get correct. (And there are never any negative language in the quizzes so even when she did not get all the answers correct – she got a positive well done for getting 70% – I also really liked the fact that I could then go back later and look at the quiz and see which questions she struggled with). Without a doubt the digital library is something we are going to be coming back to over and over again.

And even though it is aimed at Key Stage 3 ages.  I must admit my seven-year old found the 3D images fascinating.  He kept wanting to see more images and read the labels and ask more questions.  The extra resources completely grabbed his attention and he sat and worked through every image in the section.  He also LOVED the drag and drop screens.

So what is included in the digital library ?

It is broken down into 4 subjects.

Geography, History, Science and French.

Then each subject is further broken down into topics (currently they have 42 topics).  So once you click on the Geography button you come to this screen which gives you the option of 6 topics to choose from.

In this case if you select the Plate Tectonics, Volcanoes and Earthquakes you then get taken to the next screen which gives you access to the Topic book, the extra resources (3D images) and a quiz.

The Online Topic Booklet is the hard copy topic booklet that you can order.  So it is short sentences,  bullet points, illustrations, summarized.

If you select the extra resources you will end up on another screen with a lot of extra options (these are all the extra resources for the Plate Tectonics, Volcanoes and Earthquakes section).

The 3D Images (which are AMAZING) are what both my kids LOVE, they turn and spin so you can see the object from all angles.  And they are all labelled (again labels are concise).

There are also interactive pages – drag and drop pages where the kids and test themselves.

And the quizzes.  The quizzes come in 2 levels.  Level 1 is easier and has images.  Level 2 is harder.  We have not done a lot of the quizzes and have only really tried the Level 1 quizzes but so far no issue.

I have been  impressed with the Oaka products we have looked at.  They really suit my daughter and we are definitely going to be using more topic books and I am going to get her a subscription for the digital library when we get to Key Stage 3 work.

The Digital library is on a subscription basis ( free 30 day trial).

For those of you interested in the Science side.  Science is broken down into Biology, Chemistry and Physics.  To give you an idea those are then broken down into the following topics.

Biology

• Breathing and Respiration
• Cells and Organisation part 1
• Cells and Organisation Part 2
• Enviroment and Feeding Relationships
• Food and Digestion
• Fit and Healthy
• Movement : Skeleton and Muscles
• Plants and Photosynthesis
• Puberty, Reproduction and Birth
• Variation and Classification
• Woking Scientifically

Chemistry

• Acids, Alkalis and Indicators
• Heating and Cooling
• Materials and their properties
• Reactions of metals
• Simple Chemical Reactions
• Working Scientifically

Physics

• Energy Resource
• Electrical Circuits
• Vibration, Waves and Sound
• Light
• The Solar System
• Forces
• Useful Energy
• Working Scientifically

Like I said above we are not yet at the Key Stage 3 level but I have been impressed with the everything we have looked at so far on their Digital Library.  I personally think it is an amazing resource which can also be used with younger kids.