Here on the Tech Tools for Teachers Podcast, we love FREE resources. And one free resource for teachers that is in every state is PBS - the Public Broadcasting System! What is also great is that PBS offers different resources from each state so you can find all kinds of information for your students. And... here's a little tip... you can access other state's PBS content even if you don't live there—or even if you don't live in the US! 🤫.
This week we are chatting about a great science resource called Meet the Lab from PBS Wisconsin.
Thanks for listening to the Tech Tools for Teachers Podcast, where each week we talk about a free piece or two of technology that you can use in your classroom. I'm your host, Shanna Martin. I'm a middle school teacher Technology and Instructional Coach from district.
Fuzz Martin 0:33
And I'm her producer and husband, Fuzz Martin. And I'm the one that's running this here, a little experiment each and every week.
Shanna Martin 0:40
n the midst of January. Cool.:
Fuzz Martin 4:50
I like that on those cards. Yeah. And it has that that middle school story that tells them like how they became you know what, how they thought of science back when they were in middle school. Also What's the weirdest thing that I love? Some of them are weird. And then one is mystery novels. And I'm like, that's not really weird guy.
Shanna Martin 5:08
Someone had snooker on there, which I think is amazing. Yes. But yeah,
Fuzz Martin 5:12
so like, you know, and peanut butter sandwiches, with,
Shanna Martin 5:15
like how kids can then relate to these, like real people, like their scientists are changing the world and also like their real people. Yeah. So then there's a video that like, walks you through some information, some background, and it's transcripted transcripted, transcribed transcribed into both English and Spanish, which is always important for me. And then questions to consider. So this one based on viruses, like what do you think or feel about viruses that you've learned about? Like, what are new ways? Did it cause you to behave like things like that? So it's questions to make them think, which is awesome. And then you could ask questions. So being a scientist be asking new questions, because that's always my thing and questions and questioning skills, like you can ask questions all the time. And you can pick your different scientists, and it gives you videos about different questions that you can pose to them, and then do the science. So after all of that background information, and like connecting to the scientists, then you click to do the actual activity. And then there's a video that walks you through the lab. And it's like, how do microscopes help viruses, and that's gonna be a microscope lab, it tells you how long it is, it walks you through like the data sheets, it's gonna walk you through different things, like if you aren't using a mouse, like a touchscreen, like this symbol, because then it adjusts for you. And then it walks you through the different parts of the lab. So you can learn how to be a scientist and learn about cells and viruses. And, and there's 14 different steps, the lab that you complete as you walk through, and students can then complete their task, or you can do it as a class together. So there's just a lot of cool pieces of information, even if you don't go all the way through the labs. But even the background on the scientist, or just the videos that go with it, or you can use this as a supplement to your science classrooms. There's a lot of just cool things to learn that students can either do this individually, or you can leave it as a class, like a full learning CES, like a full learning lesson for your class. They have something on nervous system, engineers, stem cells, they go through, again, different scientists, why Research Matters, they talk about all those different steps and the questioning skills and then start the activity walks you through. So meet the lab is a really cool way that PBS Wisconsin education has set up some really neat science lessons that are obviously free, easy to navigate through, and a lot of ways to introduce kids to different jobs and scientists that that they wouldn't normally see necessarily on a regular basis. And it's all neatly organized and like bundled up for you. So it's easy to walk yourself. Right? Yeah, that's great. Yeah, so that's pretty cool. And then to across the top, like I said before, so that's meet the lab, it's all science based standard, standard line, all that kind of stuff. They have their classroom media. So if you click on that across the top of the page, it'll take you to other PBS Learning Media, the ways which I use all the time with my Native American lessons. The first nations Wisconsin biography is all of that information is there. And they also have professional developments, or teachers and educators across the states. However, you can also access this from anywhere, yes, they have a whole kindness curriculum, and how they can help kids understand each other better and implementing the curriculum in your classroom. And those are for different age levels, too. So that's like pre K, K. So there's different things labeled for different grade levels, depending on what your needs are. So if you have not explored PBS Wisconsin education.org, you should definitely do so because there's tons of really well done resources for teachers. Specifically, if you're a science teacher, and you're looking for something cool to build in, especially in these longer months of the year. Meet the lab is a really cool resource to share with students and have them do some science research and learn about other other scientific jobs.
Fuzz Martin 9:11
Yeah, I dig it.
Shanna Martin 9:13
Meet the lab,
Fuzz Martin 9:14
Meet the Lab,
Shanna Martin 9:15
PBS Wisconsin education, check it out. Indeed. Well, thanks for tuning in. This has been the Tech Tools for Teachers podcast if you ever have any questions you can find me on Twitter @smartinwi and if you want to get more information in the links to the technology discuss this episode, you can visit smartinwi.com. If you'd like to support the show, please consider buying me a coffee to visit buymeacoffee.com/smartinwi or visit smartinwi.com and click on that cute little purple coffee cup. Your donations help keep the show going. New episodes each week. Thanks for listening, go educate and innovate.
Fuzz Martin 9:52
The ideas and opinions expressed in this podcast and the smartwi.com website are those in the author's Shanna Martin and that of her employer prior to using any of the technologies discussed on this podcast please consult with your employer regulations. This podcast offers no guarantee that these tools will work for you as described, but we hope they do. And we'll talk to you next time right here on the Tech Tools for Teachers Podcast.
