Opinion
Ed-Tech Policy Letter to the Editor

PBS Is Offering Students Online Civics Resources

November 03, 2008 1 min read
  • Save to favorites
  • Print

To the Editor:

Your front-page story “Historic Election and New Tech Tools Yield Promising Vistas for Learning” (Oct. 8, 2008), about electronic resources educators have been using to support lessons about the presidential election, was valuable to teachers looking to motivate students around this historic event, as well as for alerting them to potential roadblocks, such as Web filters.

While the 12 resources listed with the article were quite good, your readers may also be interested in a free online video series called the.Vote—a feature of the.News from MacNeil/Lehrer Productions, producers of “The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer.”

Located at www.pbs.org/newshour/thenews, the.Vote includes five video features, each approximately five minutes in length, covering the conventions, the debates, the ground game, campaign strategy, and the recent economic crisis. All the stories on the.News are designed for in-school use, targeted to middle and high school students, and supported by standards-based curricula in social studies and language arts. A transcript with time codes is available for each video to help teachers with classroom instruction, and all the.Vote videos are open-captioned.

After the election, the.Vote will become the.Gov and will switch its focus to explaining for students the process of forming a new government and identifying key issues before the new administration and Congress.

Karen Jaffe

Manager

Education Projects, the.News

MacNeil/Lehrer Productions

Arlington, Va.

Related Tags:
Opinion

A version of this article appeared in the November 05, 2008 edition of Education Week as PBS Is Offering Students Online Civics Resources

Events

This content is provided by our sponsor. It is not written by and does not necessarily reflect the views of Education Week's editorial staff.
Sponsor
Professional Development Webinar
Inside PLCs: Proven Strategies from K-12 Leaders
Join an expert panel to explore strategies for building collaborative PLCs, overcoming common challenges, and using data effectively.
Content provided by Otus
This content is provided by our sponsor. It is not written by and does not necessarily reflect the views of Education Week's editorial staff.
Sponsor
Science Webinar
Making Science Stick: The Engaging Power of Hands-On Learning
How can you make science class the highlight of your students’ day while
achieving learning outcomes? Find out in this session.
Content provided by LEGO Education
Teaching Profession Key Insights to Elevate and Inspire Today’s Teachers
Join this free half day virtual event to energize your teaching and cultivate a positive learning experience for students.

EdWeek Top School Jobs

Teacher Jobs
Search over ten thousand teaching jobs nationwide — elementary, middle, high school and more.
View Jobs
Principal Jobs
Find hundreds of jobs for principals, assistant principals, and other school leadership roles.
View Jobs
Administrator Jobs
Over a thousand district-level jobs: superintendents, directors, more.
View Jobs
Support Staff Jobs
Search thousands of jobs, from paraprofessionals to counselors and more.
View Jobs

Read Next

Ed-Tech Policy More States Are Moving to Ban Cellphones at School. Should They?
While cellphone bans are popular with many educators, some researchers say there's not much evidence yet that these policies work.
A student uses their cell phone after unlocking the pouch that secures it from use during the school day at Bayside Academy on Aug. 16, 2024, in San Mateo, Calif.
A student uses a cellphone after unlocking the pouch that secures it from use during the school day at Bayside Academy in San Mateo, Calif., on Aug. 16, 2024.
Lea Suzuki/San Francisco Chronicle via AP
Ed-Tech Policy What Schools Look Like Without the Cellphone Distraction
Student behavior has improved and disciplinary referrals have gone down, administrators say.
7 min read
School kids placing putting phones away during class
Dobrila Vignjevic/E+
Ed-Tech Policy FCC’s ‘Net Neutrality’ Rules Struck Down. Could This Mean Slower Internet for Schools?
Many schools fear that without the policy protection internet service providers could slow down the flow of content to schools.
Meg James, Los Angeles Times
5 min read
A home router and internet switch are displayed on June 19, 2018, in East Derry, N.H. Telecommunications industry groups on Wednesday, May 4, 2022, ended their bid to block California's net neutrality law that prevents broadband providers from throttling service. In a federal court filing in Sacramento, the groups and California Attorney General Rob Bonta jointly agreed to dismiss the case.
A home router and internet switch are displayed on June 19, 2018, in East Derry, N.H.
Charles Krupa/AP
Ed-Tech Policy Ed. Dept. Recommends These 3 Principles to Develop School Cellphone Policies
Cellphone policies should be developed in consultation with students, teachers, and parents, Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona said.
4 min read
Photograph of a white teen using a cellphone in the classroom.
iStock/Getty