CK-12 FlexBook 2.0 vs Concord Consortium STEM Learning Tools

CK-12 FlexBook 2.0 provides customizable digital textbooks for K–12 subjects including science, math, and social studies. Lessons can combine text with PLIX interactives, simulations, adaptive practice, and related learning materials. Adaptive Practice draws questions from a library of more than 150,000 and adjusts selections based on student answers. Teachers can assign lessons, videos, interactives, and practice to whole classes or differentiated groups, then view progress reports. Educators can reorder chapters and edit or add content in customized FlexBooks. The service works in browsers on laptops, desktops, Chromebooks, tablets, and mobile devices, and is listed at free. Standalone Simulations and PLIX Interactives require a tablet-size screen or larger. Users may download PDFs of FlexBooks they create or customize, though interactive content may not render; CK-12-created PDFs are not downloadable. CK-12 says it is still converting all core content to FlexBook 2.0. Listed SSO or LMS partners include Google Classroom, Canvas, Schoology, Kiddom, Clever, and ClassLink.

Concord Consortium STEM Learning Tools is a nonprofit organization that creates research-based digital resources for inquiry-based STEM education. Its computational virtual labs model scientific principles so learners can explore otherwise invisible processes, including chemical reactions, genetics, evolution, and plate tectonics. CODAP is a free, web-based data science app for students, curriculum developers, and education researchers. It is designed for grades 5–14 and supports data analysis across subjects with drag-and-drop graphs and maps, linked graphs, maps, and tables. Users can import data from spreadsheets, URLs, files, or plugins. Plugins can connect to census, weather, and sensor databases, and a PhET projectile simulation plugin is featured. Developers may add plugins or contribute to the open-source code. Resources include interactive simulations, virtual experiments, guided lessons, and assessment tools. The organization also offers research collaboration, consulting, custom models, assessments, and professional development.