The site is a vast resource of educational materials and links to other educational PBS-affiliated websites. From the top navigation, you can access sections for Students, Educators, or Parents and Caregivers.
The Educators section is a rich resource for all teachers, and here the site truly shines. Links to PBS content let you integrate quality video into classroom activities. With a huge selection of projects and lesson plans organized by subject and grade range, it should delight novice and master teachers alike.
Continue readingEditor's Note: The website Thirteen Ed Online is no longer being updated and is now known as WNET Education.
Thirteen Ed Online is an educational website from Thirteen/WNET New York, PBS's flagship station. The site features animated games for interactive play, educational videos, homework help, and an extensive collection of teacher resources. It also offers interactive educational games with cartoon characters and printable activity sheets that range in subject and targeted age, some of them designed to coordinate with the videos or the PBS Kids TV series "Cyberchase."
There's also a link to a complete help section for taking the New York state Regents exams, the state tests given to high school students in every academic subject. The section includes subject-specific instructional videos as well as test-taking tips that are useful for all similar exams. An Educators section offers many detailed lesson plans that include videos and classroom handouts. Many of the classroom projects use PBS videos as learning supplements or link to other sites such as PBS Teachers, which provides a major haul of teaching resources for all grades and subjects.
There's something for every student, which is both good news and bad news. With so many options, all educational and engaging, it's difficult to find the features that are age-appropriate and targeted to a specific subject. The site covers most subjects, from book reviews by and for kids to science experiments and even art, but none provide a target grade range, and there's no hierarchical order to help kids navigate from one activity to the next.
Once the information is located, however, there’s certainly no lack of it. The Students section offers learning options for all ages –- from "Franny's Feet," a multidiscipline educational game for young kids, to GED and adult education information. The featured game on the Students page is located at Cyberchase, the Web version of the PBS TV math series for kids 5-12 featuring real-world math and problem-solving. The tabs at the top of the page link to more videos and activities with printable worksheets. Kids can also access The Homework Hotline, a section of informative videos for middle school kids.