Schools have found an alternative way to equip children with flexible and adaptive skills by allowing them to learn through playing interactives and videogames. In the hands of a skilled teacher, interactives can engage students in ways that a textbook cannot. A great amount of research has gone into the effectiveness of using video games in the classroom. From giving students the ability to deeply analyze and interact with material to providing immediate feedback, video games create learning environments that define clear goals, encourage motivation, and scaffold learning to meet the individual needs of each student. The teacher then provides the interpretation and the ability to help the student plan and move forward in their...

February marks the beginning of Black History month: a time to celebrate the extraordinary African Americans upon whose shoulders an entire people were lifted. It’s also a chance to remember the considerable hardships these pioneers endured in pursuit of equality. This month and beyond, we encourage you to spend some time with your students celebrating the countless contributions of African Americans.

IPTV has hundreds of resources ranging in subject areas from history to the arts and literature that help shed light on the significant contributions of the Americans who strived for...

Shakespeare’s ability to summarize the range of human emotions in eloquent verse is perhaps one of the biggest reasons for his lasting popularity. If you struggle to find words to express how you feel about a given topic, it seems Shakespeare is there to speak for you. No other author in Western literature has been quoted more, and his stories and ideas have provided an inexhaustible source of inspiration, fueling creativity and the...

It has finally happened. Your school had some extra funds and bought new technology for your classroom. Now you have an interactive whiteboard sitting in front of your students. It seems like a great piece of technology, but how do you use it in the classroom?

Whether it is a Smartboard, Promethean, a Mimio, or one of many other interactive whiteboards out on the market, IPTV and PBS have games, interactives, and the tools you need to engage your students in new...

The PBS KIDS Video App is now available on iPhone and iPod touch, bringing more free educational video content to students than any other children’s media app.  The app gives students free, streaming access to more than 2,000 videos – including clips and full episodes – from their favorite PBS KIDS series. The PBS KIDS Video App launched on the iPad in May with great success. It has served more than 430 million video streams – an average of two million per day – and has had over 450,000 downloads to...

The arts are cross-curricular. An English teacher can show a performance of Patrick Stewart playing Macbeth. A history teacher can tie a rock and roll clip to women’s rights. Likewise, a math teacher can show the deep level of mathematical computer programming skills, in addition to creativity and artistic skills, that are required by independent developers to create video games.

Kids sometimes will have an interest in a particular art form without ever realizing it. As a teacher, you can apply the arts to any number of student interests while addressing multiple learning styles. Video game design, film making, writing music, acting, exploring the creative process: these and so many other subjects are a part of American culture, and students need to realize that the arts are not only for them but are about them. This is why PBS...