Savvas Launches New Interactive US and World History Series With Immersive, Digital Activities That Inspire Students to Experience History Anytime, Anywhere

PARAMUS, N.J. — October 14, 2020 — Savvas Learning Company, a next-generation learning solutions provider for K-12 education, today announced the release of its new print and digital high school history series, US History Interactive ©2022 and World History Interactive ©2022, that promotes a deeper investigation of the past and connects history to the present.

With a focus on inquiry and critical thinking, the programs’ curriculum boosts student engagement with digital activities, culturally responsive content, and support for integrating social emotional learning skills. The series takes interactive learning to new heights with the inclusion of the award-winning Project Imagine series, which uses fully immersive experiences and diverse primary sources to make learning history come alive.

“History is more than the story of past events. It’s the story of people and their decisions, actions, and viewpoints, which in turn shape the story of our present and future. History becomes more relevant to students when they can experience it in a more personal way,” said Bethlam Forsa, CEO of Savvas Learning Company. “Our new US History Interactive and World History Interactive series brings a modern lens to history by helping students make connections to compelling, real-world topics, while enabling them to become critical thinkers with valuable inquiry skills for college, career, and civic responsibility.”

The US History Interactive and World History Interactive programs create an active, inquiry-based learning environment that engages students by having them question, investigate, and explore history from multiple viewpoints. Each lesson emphasizes a blend of print and digital multimedia, with curated content and flexible teaching tools that support both classroom and distance learning.

The print student edition features a magazine-style layout with visual primary sources and infographics to promote reading and visual literacy. The digital program — accessible through Savvas Realize™, one of the edtech industry’s most versatile learning management systems — features the Realize Reader™ eText that brings the pages of the print edition to life. With a built-in notebook, read-aloud audio, and lesson summaries written at multiple reading levels, it supports students of all levels and lets them complete assignments online, offline, anytime.

Through Realize, teachers can easily search for digital content, such as current events, speeches, and biographies to customize lessons; assign homework and assessments; lead a discussion board; and access the groundbreaking Project Imagine interactive history series. Providing content beyond the typical textbook, Project Imagine allows students to become active participants as they step into the past with compelling primary sources and immersive activities such as 360° virtual-reality explorations, role playing, maps, timelines, decision trees, and opinion polls.

What sets US History Interactive and World History Interactive apart is their wide array of interactive, digital activities that appeal to students with different learning styles and help them better understand events that have shaped history. They include:

• Quest Inquiry — offers students three types of inquiry-focused projects: project-based learning, civic discussions, and document-based writing activities.
• Hook & Inspire! Connections to Today — helps students bridge the past and the present by bringing modern content and pop culture into their studies.
• NBC Learn™ My Story — features videos of current events and historic news reports to help students form a personal connection to content.
• Connections to Today: Take Action — creates opportunities to study the ways the past informs the present, and form plans to take action for the future.
• Listenwise® Current Events — informs students of current events and helps develop their listening comprehension skills with daily podcasts from National Public Radio.
• Election Resources — provides up-to-date U.S. election content and results, including key national issues, candidate information, and more.

The curriculum is built on a four-part inquiry model — connect, investigate, synthesize, and demonstrate — that is consistent with the College, Career, and Civic Life (C3) Framework for Social Studies State Standards. The C3 Framework provides guidance for enhancing the rigor of the K-12 social studies disciplines of civics, economics, geography, and history.

“US History Interactive and World History Interactive offer a new way of teaching history,” said Ros Kane, Savvas Learning Company’s vice president of product management and marketing for science and humanities. “They make history more experiential, more inclusive, and more relevant. They present history in a way that moves students, and gets them thinking and acting as responsible, engaged citizens.”