PBS Offers At-Home Learning Broadcast and Digital Resources

As the nation prepares for the beginning of a new school year unlike any other, PBS and member stations are helping support educators, parents and caregivers with a variety of free high-quality, accessible educational media resources. Available to more than 97% of the country through over-the-air television access, the PBS KIDS 24/7 channel(for young learners ages 2-8) and the WORLD channel At-Home Learning Service (for learners grades 6-12) will feature broadcast programming linked to at-home learning resources that can be used by educators to supplement distance learning plans, or by parents to provide added enrichment and support for children’s educational needs.

Research shows that more than 24 million Americans still lack access to fast and reliable broadband internet.* PBS has the ability to reach a majority of these households with free, over-the-air station broadcast and a deep trove of digital resources (PBS LearningMedia, pbskids.orgPBS KIDS for Parents, and more) designed to support both in-school and at-home learning for students, which was critical at the end of the 2019-2020 school year. When COVID-19 shut down schools across much of the country, PBS LearningMedia, an online destination that offers free access to thousands of classroom resources, saw its users quadruple to nearly 4 million per month. Additionally, young children’s engagement with PBS KIDS content increased notably, with reach growing by 15% among kids 2-8 on-air, streaming by nearly 30% and game play by 40%.**

Leading these charges locally, PBS stations across the country forged partnerships with their school districts to address specific, state standards-aligned educational needs in each community, including filming and broadcasting local teachers’ classroom lessons.…Read More

How does educational media impact children?

Educational “screen media” time, while considered beneficial by parents, drops sharply after age 4

educational-mediaWhile 78 percent of screen media consumed by children ages 2-4 is educational, that figure drops drastically as children age, down to 39 percent among 5- to 7-year-olds and 27 percent in children ages 8-10, according to a national survey released on Jan. 24.

Learning at Home: Families’ Educational Media Use in America” analyzes parents’ experiences and opinions of the educational media their children use. The survey aims to identify the subjects parents think their children learned most about from educational media, what platforms they think are most effective, and what are some obstacles to more widespread use of educational media.

Lower pricepoints have enabled lower-income and minority families to increase device ownership and “catch up” to their middle-class and white peers, notes Victoria Rideout, the report’s author.…Read More