The PBS Wisconsin Education team creates and curates great educational resources, while connecting with Wisconsin’s most valuable resource – teachers. Our network of resource developers, teaching and learning advisers includes partners like PBS, but more importantly, it includes innovative educators and organizations throughout Wisconsin – a network that grows stronger with every project and idea.

Explore our high-quality, cost-free PK-12 resources at pbswisconsineducation.org.

A collection of educational media resources that features the stories of people who have shaped Wisconsin's history. Stories span a range of eras, areas of impact, and identities of individuals featured. Themes in the collection focus on community builders, innovators of industry, justice seekers, land protectors and leaders in government.

With each story you'll find:
- A short animated video (3-8 minutes)
- Questions to spark reflection, connection, and conversation
- A short digital biography book (accessible as a Google slide deck) with per-page audio, glossary terms, images, and maps
- A historical image gallery
- An educator guide with extension activity ideas and standards supported

In The Legend of the Lost Emerald, learners in grades 4-6 will use the same tools, practices, and skills that maritime archaeologists use to locate and dive for shipwrecks on the Great Lakes and uncover the real treasure—the stories inspired by actual shipwrecks and Great Lakes history.

Hosted by Laura Ybarra, this episode will explore special education programs, resources and services in South Carolina to enable students with disabilities to access and progress in the general education setting.

How can the recording of events each season and each year in nature make us “see” the earth and climate change?
We write things down to remember and share them with others. Having learned from her father, Nina Leopold Bradley reflects on the importance of writing down and keeping records of the observations of sights and sounds that come with arrivals and changes each season. Learn how participating in phenology can change the way you see the world around you and reveal the effects of a changing climate.

This story is part of Climate Wisconsin, a collection of educational media resources for middle and high school classrooms from PBS Wisconsin Education.

Facilitating conversations among students is something teachers do all the time. But what happens when discussions become personal? When we begin to talk about politics, it’s easy for emotions to enter and often derail a conversation.

Discover what two Wisconsin educators have to share about the methods they use to navigate politically-charged conversations inside his classroom in a short video and companion essay in the post on the aka Teacher blog.

Hosted by PBS Wisconsin Education, and created with and for Wisconsin educators, the aka Teacher blog offers a space for exploring the many hats educators today wear, and the topics that aren’t covered in teacher preparation programs.
Blog posts include videos featuring educators around the state, and resources you can share with learners and use to continue your own learning.

Meet the GIRL!: Lizzy is 18 years old and an athlete and a leader. She was born with spina bifida and has embraced herself and her GIRL Power. She is an archer as well as a basketball player. She played as a point guard for the Rollin Rockets in Charlotte NC. She has the goal of playing for the U.S. National team one day in the Paralympics and she has the tenacity to get there!

Contemporary powwows bring together Native Americans from many different Nations, providing opportunities to gather and celebrate. Learn how Dylan Jennings, a member of the Bad River Band of Lake Superior Chippewa, dances the Men’s Traditional dance, which for him, mimics hunting movements.

This resource is part of The Ways, a collection of educational media resources for middle and high school classrooms from PBS Wisconsin Education.

Explore the full collection: https://pbswisconsineducation.org/theways/about/

In “Prayers in a Song” Minneapolis-based hip-hop artist Tall Paul (Paul Wenell Jr.) raps about his struggle to learn his indigenous language, Anishinaabemowin. Learn about his journey toward a deeper understanding of his Native identity.

This resource is part of The Ways, a collection of educational media resources for middle and high school classrooms from PBS Wisconsin Education.

Explore the full collection: https://pbswisconsineducation.org/theways/about/

Richard Hildner Armacanqui and Juan Tomás Martínez are two musicians based in Madison, Wisconsin who weave together their experiences, travels, and cultures to make their eclectic music.

This resource is part of Re/sound: Songs of Wisconsin; a collection of educational media resources from PBS Wisconsin Education and Wisconsin School Music Association. These resources can be used to explore connections between music, identities, cultures, and emotions. The collection includes video interviews with Wisconsin musicians, performances, audio files, and educator guides designed to help activate the media with learners in grades 4-8.

How do bunk beds hold the history of agricultural production in Wisconsin?

After World War II, agricultural production in Wisconsin was growing, and farms needed more workers. Large companies brought in workers from southern states to harvest fruits and vegetables, which spurred the creation of migrant worker camps. Harsh working conditions and poor accommodations led workers to organize and demand better from their employers.

This episode is part of The Look Back, a series made for learners in grades 4-6 that explores eras from Wisconsin’s history through artifacts. The collection is hosted by historians who model an inquiry process: sharing artifacts, asking questions, visiting archives and museums to learn more, telling the story of their findings as they go, and making connections to our lives today.

This Latino activist’s big heart made him a natural community builder and justice seeker for Latinos in Milwaukee.

Resources available for exploring this story include:
- A short animated video, with versions in English and Spanish and captions and a transcript available for each version
- A short biography book accessible as a slide deck, with per-page audio for listening along, and maps of key locations in the story, also available in English and Spanish
- Questions that can be used for conversation, reflection, and connection with the story
- A historical image gallery full of primary and secondary sources to explore
- A guide for activating the media with learners that includes story stats, extension activity ideas, and standards supported

This story is part of Wisconsin Biographies, a collection of educational media resources for grades 3-6. Explore the full collection at pbswisconsineducation.org/biographies.

When we talk about teaching, oftentimes the focus is on what students need to learn, or how they learn it, but another important component that can support positive learning outcomes is where students learn.

Discover what Wisconsin sixth grade teacher, Jacalyn Mueller about how she designed the physical space of her classroom to create a learning environment that became conducive to her students’ content learning and mental health in a short video and companion essay in the post on the aka Teacher blog.

Hosted by PBS Wisconsin Education, and created with and for Wisconsin educators, the aka Teacher blog offers a space for exploring the many hats educators today wear, and the topics that aren’t covered in teacher preparation programs.
Blog posts include videos featuring educators around the state, and resources you can share with learners and use to continue your own learning.

She Resisted: Strategies of Suffrage is an interactive audio and visual experience where students are able to explore, investigate, and examine the various strategies women use to gain the right to vote. Students will be able to analyze the various techniques, methods, and strategies women used to assist in answering what women would do to get to vote and how far would they go to achieve enfranchisement.

Chauntee Ross and Monique Ross are two sisters from Milwaukee who make music together as SistaStrings. They combine their classical training with gospel and other influences to tell stories of their lives today through music. They connect their own experiences to their ancestors and to the next generation—their young performance students.

This resource is part of Re/sound: Songs of Wisconsin; a collection of educational media resources from PBS Wisconsin Education and Wisconsin School Music Association. These resources can be used to explore connections between music, identities, cultures, and emotions. The collection includes video interviews with Wisconsin musicians, performances, audio files, and educator guides designed to help activate the media with learners in grades 4-8.

In this 'Energy Education for the 21st Century' design challenge, students construct and evaluate a solar-powered model car. Students utilize the design process and undergo review by their peers to select an optimal gear ratio and components for their car. As a culminating activity, students compete in a Solar Sprint race modeled after the National Renewable Energy Laboratory's Junior Solar Sprint competition.

Jason Bisonette, an Ojibwe of Odaawaazaga’igan and Marine Corps veteran, is a member of the Lac Courte Oreilles Band of Lake Superior Ojibwe. Learn how he takes part in safe spearfishing harvest limits through Ojibwe sovereign nation rights in order to preserve Ojibwe education and tradition and to protect the practice for future generations.

This resource is part of The Ways, a collection of educational media resources for middle and high school classrooms from PBS Wisconsin Education.

Explore the full collection: https://pbswisconsineducation.org/theways/about/

This agricultural chemist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison made some all-star discoveries and scored major points with the Babcock Test, totally changing the dairy industry game. 

Resources available for exploring this story include:
- A short animated video with captions and transcripts in English and Spanish
- A short biography book accessible as a slide deck, with per-page audio for listening along, and maps of key locations in the story
- Questions that can be used for conversation, reflection, and connection with the story
- A historical image gallery full of primary and secondary sources to explore
- A guide for activating the media with learners that includes story stats, extension activity ideas, and standards supported

This story is part of Wisconsin Biographies, a collection of educational media resources for grades 3-6. Explore the full collection at pbswisconsineducation.org/biographies.

How do the stitches of a sampler tell us about the past?

Using a needle and thread was considered a necessary household skill for girls and women in the 1800s. They made samplers to practice stitches and show off what they could do. Margaret Miekel’s sampler helps us stitch together the living and learning in the area before Wisconsin was officially a state!

This episode is part of The Look Back, a series made for learners in grades 4-6 that explores eras from Wisconsin’s history through artifacts. The collection is hosted by historians who model an inquiry process: sharing artifacts, asking questions, visiting archives and museums to learn more, telling the story of their findings as they go, and making connections to our lives today.

What can maple tree tapping tell you about temperature and changes in our climate?
Though it only happens for a handful of weeks each year, tapping maple trees, collecting sap, and boiling to make maple syrup is seen as a marker of changing seasons. The sap-collecting season does not just yield maple syrup, it also yields a sign of the coming of spring and what’s happening with the climate. Follow the family at Stoney Acres farm through maple sugaring and syrup boiling to discover more about the future of maple syrup in the state.

This story is part of Climate Wisconsin, a collection of educational media resources for middle and high school classrooms from PBS Wisconsin Education.