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.

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.

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.

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.

Every educator wants to create an environment for all of their students to learn, grow, and, hopefully, feel comfortable in that process.

Some educators may suspect that the school environment or school policies disproportionately favor or hinder one group of students over another, and therefore may feel that avoiding discussions about racism could ensure more of a harmonious or comfortable learning environment. But we have to ask, who is most comfortable in that equation?

Conversations addressing inequalities head-on can be difficult and, considering the age of the students, maybe even scary. Enter anti-racism and the anti-racist classroom, where educators can identify – and more importantly address – societal and racial inequities.

Discover what fourth grade teacher, Melissa Statz has to share about the methods she uses to navigate and facilitate conversations about race and racism inside her classroom and her journey to become a brave anti-racist educator 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.

How does a sundial compass give us direction about people coming to the area that is now Wisconsin?

The first Europeans in the area that is now Wisconsin were likely French explorers and fur traders who began arriving in the 1600s and continued trading in the area after the French and Indian War. The Le Maire Sundial points us to this time and the history of northeastern Wisconsin.

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.

How does a trunk carry the story of conserving natural resources?

The Civilian Conservation Corps, known as the CCC, was one of the programs started by President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal. It created new jobs for young American men to work on drought and wildfire relief, soil erosion, and state parks and public outdoor spaces. CCC members worked long days and lived in barracks at camps.

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.

Upon learning about the school and housing discrimination happening in their hometown, these Milwaukee movers and shakers took action, making their case on the campaign trail, in the courtroom, and on the streets of their city.

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.

04/14/21 | 59m 20s | Rating: TV-G

David Gagnon, Director of the Field Day Lab at the Wisconsin Center for Education Research at UW-Madison, discusses the educational advantages of using video games and simulators as teaching tools. Games offer opportunities to actively learn new concepts and to fail without real world consequences.

Meet the Virus Investigators—a team of scientists at the John W. and Jeanne M. Rowe Center for Research in Virology who study how viruses replicate and evolve so that we can better control them!

Resources available for learning about this lab include:
• Interactive cards designed to introduce students to scientists in a more personal way
• A video with a personal story that explains why the lab's research matters in real life
• Questions to consider that will spark connection, reflection, and conversation
• An interactive video experience where you can ask questions of scientists in the lab and learn about their research
• An inquiry-based activity that focuses on doing science, using some of the same science practices that the lab uses
• An educator guide with information about standards alignment, curriculum connections, and tips for using the media resources

These resources are part of Meet the Lab, a collection of educational resources for middle school science classrooms.

Meet the Visual Communicators—a team of scientists from the Schloss Visual Reasoning Lab who research visual messaging.

Resources available for learning about this lab include:
• Interactive cards designed to introduce students to scientists in a more personal way
• A video with a personal story that explains why the lab's research matters in real life
• Questions to consider that will spark connection, reflection, and conversation
• An interactive video experience where you can ask questions of scientists in the lab and learn about their research
• An inquiry-based activity that focuses on doing science, using some of the same science practices that the lab uses
• An educator guide with information about standards alignment, curriculum connections, and tips for using the media resources

These resources are part of Meet the Lab, a collection of educational resources for middle school classrooms.