NewsBank Subject Packages and TCR Connections support all subject areas by providing convenient online access to articles on key topics, inquiry-based activities for students and valuable lesson plans for teachers. These combine to create projects designed to connect classroom learning to real-world experiences, encourage independent research and critical thinking, improve achievement though reading and writing in content areas and keep students interested in their research. NewsBank Subject Packages includes content from authoritative sources such as U.S. and international newspapers, wire services, broadcast transcripts, periodicals, historical documents, United Nations and U.S. government publications, science journals andother reference materials. TCR Connections delivers more than 1,000 inquiry-based activities organized around important classroom topics, skills and themes, along with corresponding lesson plans that save teachers time and effort. All articles and activities align with state education standards and include a Lexile score and a reading level to support students of all abilities.

The answer to research projects and homework assignments
NewsBank Subject Packages offers multiple perspectives for pro/con research and helps students complete assignments requiring articles on current issues and events. The social studies package offers historical documents, first-hand accounts and present day and retrospective information on topics from around the world to support the study of history, geography, civics, government, economics and sociology. This fosters critical thinking and enables students to track trends over time. The science and health package helps students understand important concepts in biology, physics, earth science, chemistry, health and other sciences and then apply them to real-world situations. It also provides famous scientists’ biographies, an encyclopedia of diseases and other science information. The English and the arts package covers topics related to literature, fine and performing arts, architecture, music, artists and more, and it includes articles on related issues and reviews of books, film and other mediums.

Easy-to-use interface for finding topics of interest
The intuitive interface organizes information by familiar subject areas and topics. Students can use the interface to easily identify topics that interest them through keyword searches and the “Related Topics” feature, or they can click on direct links to a variety of predetermined topics, which instantly provide access to relevant articles.