Featured Resources: The Science of Movement and Importance of Exercise

Springtime offers the perfect backdrop for promoting physical activity and engaging students in immersive learning experiences. Use these resources from PBS LearningMedia to explore the science of movement and to highlight the importance of exercise in their daily lives:

Mixie’s Boogie Buffet  (Grades 1-4) What better way to kick off a lesson on exercise than to get students up on their feet with this “Fizzy’s Lunch Lab” interactive?

Power Your Body with Exercise  (Grades 5-8) Invite students to examine the changes that occur in the body in response to physical activity.

Increasing Physical Activity in Schools (Grades 13+)  High levels of physical activity  support learning on-task behavior and the development of life-long wellness.  Learn how to increase the activity level at your school using this self-paced lesson.

Titanium Chairs & Cheetah Legs  (Grades 6-12) Introduce students to the specialized wheelchairs, prosthetics and other high-tech tools that allow Paralympic athletes to compete.

The Truth About Exercise (Grades 6-13+) An obesity expert proposes that the best way to lose weight and improve health is to increase your “NEAT” level.  Ask students to investigate his theory.

PBS LearningMedia is honored to be counted among this year’s recipients of the 2013 SIIA CODiE Award for both “Best Education Reference Solution” and “Best K12 Solution” in the Education Technology category!

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Venom: Nature’s Killer from NOVA

From Emily Dickinson’s poem “Narrow fellow in the grass” to the story of Adam and Eve, snakes are likely to get our attention as they will this Wednesday, May 8, at 9:00pm when WGBY airs NOVA’s Venom:  Nature’s Killer. 

Over the millennia, thousands of creatures have developed that most sophisticated of biological and chemical weapons: venom. These complex chemicals can scramble our brain signals, paralyze muscles, puncture blood cells, even begin digesting us from within. But nature’s most potent toxins might also contain the keys to a new generation of advanced drugs to help doctors treat serious illnesses such as heart attacks, cancer and diabetes.

Follow NOVA crews as they join scientists on a dangerous quest to track down and capture the world’s most venomous animals—to find out both how they can kill us, and how they can save us. Watch a preview.

You can find classroom resources on venom and snakes at NOVA’s Beta site for teachers and at PBS LearningMedia.

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New Content Collection from PBS LearningMedia: Think Garden!

With red buds popping, this season can be a great time to arouse students’ curiosity about garden miracles, and Think Garden – one of PBS LearningMedia’s great new content collections  – has just the video resources you’ll need!  This engaging video collection produced by KET (Kentucky Educational Television) helps teach elementary students about the art and science of growing food, with an emphasis on biological and environmental concepts. It also addresses topics related to nutrition and economics.

One of the videos, Think Garden:  Cool Crops explores the possibilities of gardening in the cooler temperatures of spring and fall. Students learn about which vegetables like cool weather and what techniques help plants, like raised beds and hoop houses, grow in these conditions.  They’ll also find out why cool crops are ideal for school gardens.

We hope you like the new look and feel of the PBS LearningMedia site.  Try viewing it on your tablet or phone for an optimized experience.

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Teaching Environmental Health with PBS LearningMedia

With Earth Day starting off our week, here are fresh new ways to teach students about environmental health from PBS LearningMedia.  Enhance your  curriculum with engaging and inspiring content from PBS and trusted producers like KQED and WGBH. To search, save, and share your favorite resources, create an account for free.

Taking Root
Grades 9-12 | Video | Environmentalism in Africa
Meet Wangari Maathai, the first environmentalist – and first African woman – to win the Nobel Peace Prize and illustrate the connection between the environment and other social issues.

Waste Deep
Grades 7-13 | Video | Human Impact on Environment
Examine the state of food waste in America with host Yul Kwon and get an in-depth look at the a landfill’s inner workings.

Where We’ve Been, Where We’re Headed
Grades 6-13 | Video | Environmental Stewardship
See the environmental stewardship of everyday people who transformed the polluted Bay Area.

Scientist Profile: Renewable Energy Scientist
Grades 4-6 | Video | Scientist Profile
Use this career profile to illustrate the practical application of solar and wind power and invite students to assess the viability of other renewable energy sources.

Nowhere to Hide
Grades K-8 | Interactive | Effects of Pollution
Enhance your health, science, and environmental studies curriculum with this clever interactive resource from Kinetic City.

NEW: Prompt debate among your students using this new resource from ITVS that explores the global politics of climate change.

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Program Feature: Australia’s First 4 Billion Years

Epic in scope, intimate in nature, this 4-part NOVA miniseries reveals the untold story of the Land Down Under. With high-energy host and geologist Richard Smith, meet titanic dinosaurs and giant kangaroos, sea monsters and prehistoric crustaceans, disappearing mountains and deadly asteroids.  Though it started last week, you still have a chance to catch up.  The series continues on Wednesday nights through May 1 from 9-10pm on WGBY.  Learn more.

Check out the preview below:

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Lesson Plan Feature: Cycling Water Through the Environment

With the spring thaw, here’s a lesson  for grades 3-5 from PBS LearningMedia to teach students that water is a crucial ingredient for life on Earth.  They’ll also come to see that the water cycle is Earth’s natural mechanism for transporting, cleansing, and recycling water between the surface and the atmosphere. In this lesson, students recognize the different forms that water takes and learn about where it exists in the environment. Through class discussion and experiments, students model the water cycle and explore how it can be used to create fresh water.

Objectives

• Understand that water exists in the environment in different forms
• Identify the ways that water moves through the environment
• Recognize that most of Earth’s surface is covered by water but that only a small amount is fresh water
• Produce fresh water from salty water by distilling it

Resources include great images of Water Phases (for grades K-5) and an interactive on Global Water Distribution (for grades 3-12) as well as  many short, engaging videos.

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National Robotics Week: Lesson Plans and Other Resources

Celebrate National Robotics Week (April 6-14) by bringing the incredible world of robots, rovers, and bots into your classroom! Let PBS LearningMedia support your efforts with this collection of featured resources:

What is a Robot? (Lesson Plan, Grades 3–5) Customize this 3-part lesson plan to deepen students’ depth of knowledge as it relates to the world of robots.

Wearable Robots  (Video, Grades 5-13+)Although the idea of wearable robots is not new, students will be fascinated to see how far this technology has advanced.

 Newton’s Third Law:  Action-Reaction (Blended Lesson, Grades 7-8)  Astronauts constantly use robots and robotic tools to assist with tasks.  Find out how they use them in this online lesson for blended learning from the Walmart Middle School Literacy Initiative.

 Robot Race (Video, Grades 3-12) Follow 2 teams of engineers as they put their robots to the test in a 132- mile race through the Mohave Desert.

 The Intelligent Robot (Video, Grades 6-12)  Invite students to hear from NASA researchers as they discuss the Mars Rover and demonstrate its ability to learn.

RoboSnail (Video, Grades 6-12)  See how this MIT students used a snail’s movement as inspiration for a new machine.

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Program Feature: NATURE’s “What Plants Talk About”

To protect against herbivores the wild tobacco plant deposits trichomes, sweet treats irresistible to but also potentially fatal for leaf-eating caterpillars. Shortly after ingesting the trichomes, the insect releases a particular odor that attracts ground-foraging predators. NATURE’s “What Plants Talk About” premieres Wednesday, April 3 at 8pm on WGBY.  Check out a preview below:

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PBS LearningMedia: New Content Collections

We hope you like the new look and feel of the PBS LearningMedia site ! You can also view it on your tablet or phone for an optimized experience and explore great new content collections like these:

Freedom Riders

NOVAscienceNow

NOVA: Making Stuff

Between the Lions

Environmental Public Health

Thanks for your patience if you notice bugs with this enhanced site, which PBS is working hard to fix.  And when you find a classroom resource or want to share your experience with PBS LearningMedia,  please leave a comment.  We appreciate hearing from you!

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Lesson Plan Feature: “Earth Days: Conveniences and Consequences”

In this lesson, students will consider both the benefits and the hazards of technology in today’s world through the lens of the environment. Students will realize that, while human inventions have made our lives infinitely more healthy, convenient and enjoyable, they have also introduced new threats, such as toxic pollution, that affect both human health and the health of our environment. The challenge confronting our society – and our students – is identifying the proper use of technology to improve our lives while still protecting the quality of the natural world.

This lesson is appropriate for grades 8-12 and requires 2-3 class periods; a portion of activity three will be completed as homework.

Objectives: 
After completing this lesson, students will be able to:

• Consider how technology has both improved our lives and created new threats to environmental and human health.
• Consider how we can maximize the benefits of technology while minimizing the associated harm, largely by applying the “Precautionary Principle” to new technologies.
• Reflect on how modern electronics are changing how we relate to the natural world.

View the full lesson plan at the American Experience website.

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