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Design Squad: Inventing Green Resources

Design Squad’s mission is to get kids excited about engineering and inventing. For years Design Squad, the award-winning PBS KIDS program and website, has created activities, videos and clubs that aim to make engineering and invention accessible and fun for kids. Now, Design Squad is tackling a new content area: inventing for a sustainable future. We want to get kids thinking about how engineering and invention impacts environmental sustainability and how new inventions can help tackle environmental problems.

Design Squad Global Inventing Green is the latest addition to the Design Squad family of resources that challenges youth to brainstorm solutions that can help people with things such as lack of food, clean water, renewable energy, affordable energy, and ocean and land
pollution. These resources use the same core tenants found in the other Design Squad materials such as:

  • Every child should and can participate in engineering and invention.
  • Engineering and invention are most meaningful when kids have the opportunity to solve real problems faced by real people.
  • Failing is to be embraced as a step that all engineers and inventors take in the Design Process.
  • Students should have the opportunity to lead their own learning process with guidance from an educator.
  • Hands-on learning experiences based on an open-ended problem lead to more successful experiences with engineering and invention concepts.

In the Design Squad Global Inventing Green Club PBS LearningMedia collection, the is objective: help kids build an environmental sustainability mindset when inventing. Design Squad wants kids to work to solve environmental problems with invention as well as learn to bring sustainability practices to the process of inventing. This includes thinking about material choices, where an invention goes once it has outlived its usefulness, and how an invention is powered.

The Age of Nature Education Collections

THE AGE OF NATURE is a  three-part documentary series, exploring how an increased awareness of the natural world is leading to a new chapter in the story of both humanity and the planet. The series focuses on the resiliency of Earth’s ecosystems through stories of success, as scientists, citizens and governments act to fix past mistakes and restore the environment. 

Education Resources

WXXI Education staff have collected resources from The Age of Nature series, PBS LearningMedia, our partners, and more that are appropriate for use with middle and high school students. 

About The Age of Nature Series Episode Overviews:

Episode 1 “Awakening”: Discover how a new awareness of nature is helping to restore ecosystems across the globe, with inventive actions being taken to repair manmade damage and restore reefs, rivers, animal populations and more. In the Pacific Island of Bikini Atoll, the full extent of the ocean’s ability to recover is evident. When scientists returned 50 years after the world’s most powerful nuclear weapons experiment devastated the island, they were astonished to discover that the reefs they thought destroyed were thriving. When forest land began to be developed around the Panama Canal, scientists stepped in to explain that there would be no water for the canal without the trees. A national park was created, saving some of the richest rainforests on Earth. In Norway, the crash of the cod industry is a cautionary tale about exhausting a once-abundant natural resource. But working sustainably, the fishing community has learned to manage resources for future generations. The resurrection of Gorongosa National Park in Mozambique in the wake of civil war and widespread poaching shows that ecosystems can be repaired — with a nudge in the right direction. Finally, in China, the enormous potential for humans to improve the environment is stunningly realized in the 25-year restoration of the Loess Plateau, the cradle of Chinese civilization, which had turned to dust during 8000 years of human activity.

Episode 2 “Understanding”: Explore how a new understanding of nature is helping us find surprising ways to fix it. Along the Elwha River in Washington, we learn how removing dams has led not only to the recovery of the local forest but also Chinook salmon, which provide food for the endangered orca population. In China, one scientist’s determination to restore fireflies, which provide natural pest control, is transforming the lives of rural farming communities — even tiny creatures can have a significant impact. The return of wolves to America’s first National Park, Yellowstone, has rejuvenated the entire landscape, repairing and restoring habitat that had been over-grazed by herbivores. This pioneering project discovered the crucial role of predators in bringing balance to ecosystems. In Scotland, planting trees is reversing massive deforestation which took place centuries ago, helping native wildlife thrive and mitigating some of the effects of climate change. And in South Africa’s Cape Town, innovative efforts to remove massively thirsty European pines and other invasive species are helping to restore the watershed, which faced a severe shortage in 2018 after three years of drought.

Episode 3 “Changing”: An urgent problem faces the planet: climate change. But around the world, scientists, citizens and indigenous activists are increasing our understanding of the potential of nature to help us cope with and even mitigate it. From Bhutan — the only carbon-neutral country in the world — to Borneo, an encouraging restoration of ecosystems is taking place, from planting forests to re-wilding areas to increasing biodiversity. In Poland, bison have been reintroduced to the Bialowieza Forest, the largest in Europe. New discoveries in Australia reveal that seagrass meadows lock massive amounts of carbon underwater and may help save the Great Barrier Reef. In Antarctica, whales — whose digestive processes feed microscopic phytoplankton, the basis for life in the oceans — are recovering. And in Belize, we meet Madison Edwards, who at 11-years-old waged a social media campaign that became a national movement, resulting in a government ban on offshore drilling.

Native America in the Classroom

Explore the world created by America’s First Peoples with PBS’ Native America. The four-part series reaches back 15,000 years, revealing massive cities aligned to the stars, unique systems of science and spirituality, and 100 million people connected by social networks spanning two continents.

In this collection, you will find the program in full, along with stand-alone clips and classroom activities. The video clips and associated support materials bring the value of sacred origin stories and the complexity of early Native city planning to life, and culminate in hands-on activities designed to help students better understand both. 

Resources from the program include:

Sacred Origin Stories of 6 Civilizations

Ancient City Planning

Native Government & Early Democracy (Including the Haudenosaunee)

Watch the Full Program Series (4 Parts) from Native American Season 1

Native America Season 2 Resources

About the Native America Series (Season 1) Weaving history and science with living Indigenous traditions, the series brings to life a land of massive cities connected by social networks spanning two continents, with unique and sophisticated systems of science, art and writing. Made with the active participation of Native American communities and filmed in some of the most spectacular locations in the hemisphere, Native America illuminates the splendor of a past whose story has for too long remained untold.

Informed by Native American oral histories have led to a bold new perspective on North and South America – that through social networks spanning two continents ancient people shared a foundational belief system with a diversity of cultural expressions. This and other research is leading to revelations that will forever change how we understand Native America. The series highlights intimate Native American traditions and follows field archaeologists using 21st century tools such as multispectral imaging and DNA analysis to uncover incredible narratives of America’s past, venturing into Amazonian caves containing the Americas’ earliest art and interactive solar calendar, exploring a massive tunnel beneath a pyramid at the center of one of ancient America’s largest cities, and mapping the heavens in celestially aligned cities.

Narrated by Robbie Robertson (Mohawk and member of the famed rock group The Band), each hour of Native America explores Great Nations and reveals cities, sacred stories and history long hidden in plain sight. In what is now America’s Southwest, indigenous people built stone skyscrapers with untold spiritual power and transformed deserts into fertile fields. In upstate New York, warriors renounced war and formed America’s first democracy 500 years before the Declaration of Independence, later inspiring Benjamin Franklin. Just outside Mexico City, the ancient city of Teotihuacan is home to massive pyramids built to align with the sun and moon. On the banks of the Mississippi, rulers also raised a metropolis of pyramids and drew thousands to their new city to worship the sky. And in the American West, nomadic tribes transformed a weapon of conquest — the horse — into a new way of life, turning the tables on European invaders and building a mobile empire.  

PBS KIDS: Talk About: Race and Racism

BS KIDS Talk About: Race and Racism is a special co-viewing program for families with young children to watch and discuss together. 

The PBS KIDS Talk About: Race and Racism special is a half-hour program featuring authentic conversations between real children and their growmups, and will include content from PBS KIDS series DANIEL TIGER’S NEIGHBORHOOD, ARTHUR and XAVIER RIDDLE AND THE SECRET MUSEUM.

The special will feature children and their grownups talking about race and racial justice-related topics in an age-appropriate way, such as noticing differences in race, understanding what racism can look like, and embracing the role we all have to play in standing up for ourselves and each other — offering viewers ideas to build on as they continue these important conversations at home.

**Please note: This special programming is designed as a co-viewing experience with adults and children watching together. **

Watch together on-demand

More: Articles and Resources for Grown-ups 

More About the Special

Grownup note: PBS KIDS programs are designed to reflect the diversity of communities across the nation, and to address themes relevant to children’s everyday lives. This special is designed for parents and children to watch together, and for parents to build on in whatever way they choose to have these conversations with their children. The program touches on topics such as race, racism, and the recent Black Lives Matter protests from the perspective of real kids in an effort to help children understand what they might be seeing happening around them in a developmentally-appropriate way.

The PBS KIDS Talk About: Race and Racism special was created in response to parents increasingly asking PBS KIDS for resources to address tough but important topics with their kids, including race and racism, and is part of PBS KIDS’ ongoing commitment to families across the nation.

Designed as a co-viewing experience, the program explores complicated topics in an age-appropriate way. Our goal is to support parents in talking with their children about race. We hope that our content will provide a helpful starting point in whatever way parents choose to have these conversations with their children. Additional parent resources are available on PBS KIDS for Parents on pbs.org/parents/talking-about-racism to support parents in discussions about race and racial justice-related topics with their children.

The following advisors consulted on this project:

  • Dr. Aisha White, Program Director, P.R.I.D.E (Positive Racial Identity Development in Early Education)
  • Dr. Renee Wilson-Simmons, Executive Director, ACE (Adverse Childhood Experience) Awareness Foundation
  • Dr. Dana Winters, Director of Simple Interactions and Academic Programs; Assistant Professor of Child and Family Studies, Fred Rogers Center

The Gene: An Intimate History On-Demand & Education Resources

The Gene: An Intimate History weaves together science, history and personal stories for a historical biography of the human genome, while also exploring breakthroughs for diagnosis and treatment of genetic diseases — and the complex ethical questions they raise. 

Educator Resources

The Gene PBS LearningMedia Collection: This four-hour documentary weaves together science, history, and personal stories to create a historical biography of the human genome. It tells the story of the rapid evolution of genetic science from Gregor Mendel’s groundbreaking experiment in the 19th century to CRISPR, and the hope that newfound powers to alter DNA with pinpoint precision will transform the treatment of some of the world’s most complex and challenging diseases. The series also tackles the daunting ethical challenges that these technologies pose for humankind. 

  • The collection focuses on: Treatments & Access, At-Home Genetic Testing, and the History of Eugenics.

The Gene Explained Animated Series (for grades 6-12th): Everybody is talking about genes. Your body is filled with them. You look the way you do because of them. But do you really know what a gene is? This animated series won’t get you a PhD, but it does clear up a few mysteries about how genes work, how they make us, if we can change them and what they might look like in the future. (Microscope not required.)

The Gene Connected PBS LearningMedia Resources: WXXI Education team curated a list of additional resources available from within PBS LearningMedia NY. This list contains lesson plans, videos, interactives and more, from public media partners such as NOVA. These educational materials are geared towards middle and high school and support topics such as: DNA, genetic testing, genomics, eugenics, ethics, and more.

Watch the Full Program: Episode 1 and 2 of the full “The Gene” series on PBS LearningMedia. Full series length: ~ 4 hours

  • Watch The Gene in Full
    • Episode 1 Description: The story of a young family searching for a cure for their four-year-old daughter’s rare genetic disease, with stories of the discoveries of the pioneers in genetics. It also tracks the dark period in human history when a little genetic knowledge was used to justify terrible human experiments. (Running time: 1:54:09)
    • Episode 2 Description: The story of the signature scientific achievement of our time: the mapping of the human genome. As scientists learn to read the genetic code, they grapple with the dangers of increasingly sophisticated and easily available methods of intervening in the very essence of what makes us human, our DNA. (Running time: 1:54:10)

The Book & Connected Book Lists

  • Connected Children’s Book List from PBS Books: Genetics and DNA make us who we are. As our world and community is gripped by a fearsome pandemic, we are all increasingly aware of the power of genes and the importance of genetic research. PBS Books compiled a list of books to read with your children to better understand the history of genes and DNA. 

  • The Gene: An Intimate History by Siddhartha Mukherje
    Dr. Siddhartha Mukherjee braids science, history, and memoir into an epic. In this biography Mukherjee brings to life the quest to understand human heredity and its surprising influence on our lives, personalities, identities, fates, and choices.

  • The Code Breaker: Jennifer Doudna, Gene Editing, and the Future of the Human Race By Walter Isaacson
    After helping to discover CRISPR, Doudna became a leader in wrestling with these moral issues and, with her collaborator Emmanuelle Charpentier, won the Nobel Prize in 2020. Her story is a thrilling detective tale that involves the most profound wonders of nature, from the origins of life to the future of our species.

  • Life’s Greatest Secret: The Race to Crack the Genetic Code By Matt Cobb
    From New York to Paris, Cambridge, Massachusetts, to Cambridge, England, and London to Moscow, the greatest discovery of twentieth-century biology was truly a global feat. Biologist and historian of science Matthew Cobb gives the full and rich account of the cooperation and competition between the eccentric characters — mathematicians, physicists, information theorists, and biologists — who contributed to this revolutionary new science. 

Let’s Learn

Let’s Learn provides resources for children ages 3-7 is drawn from the public television series Let’s Learn. Produced by Thirteen PBS in NYC.

Let’s Learn aims to provide our young learners with knowledge and skills to learn and succeed in school and beyond. While the series is aimed at a wide range of ages, segments might serve as introduction, reinforcement, or enrichment to material depending on students’ needs. To paraphrase Catherine Snow, expert on language and literacy development in children, the teaching that is taking place “…is helpful for all children, harmful for none, and crucial for some.”

Explore: The Let’s Learn website includes: Storybooks, Reading and Writing, Math, Science, Arts, Social Studies, Mind and Movement, and STEM.
Full Episodes are available on-demand. Clips are also available by subject and theme. Activities from each clip are also available.

For Teachers and Classrooms:

Let's Learn and an apple on top of school books

Explore the Let’s Learn PBS LearningMedia Collection

Molly of Denali: Games, Videos, Podcast & Activities

Play games and watch full episodes and podcasts of Molly of Denali on https://pbskids.org/molly

Get ready to sled into fun with “Molly of Denali!” In this show for children ages 4 to 8, join Molly, an Alaska Native girl, her dog Suki, and friends Tooey and Trini on their adventures in epically beautiful Alaska. Along the way, Molly’s life is enhanced, kept on track, and flat-out saved by maps, guide books, websites, weather reports, and more.

Intro Video:

WXXI Education Favorites
Here are a few of our favorite Activities To Do

Watch & Listen

PBS KIDS for Parents Molly of Denali Series Page

PBS KIDS Full Episode Playlist

Do 

  • Play Molly of Denali online games. Try exploring the Trading Post or Sled Dog Dash.
  • Use Google Earth to look at a map of where you live. 
  • Learn the importance of beading with Moly in Beading Art. 
  • Got any old paper maps? See if you can recognize any of the locations. 
  • Download and play Molly of Denali’s FREE app. 
  • Download some Molly of Denali puzzles and activities!
  • Find out where it all started – listen to the Molly of Denali podcast!
  • Expolre nature like Molly!
    • Go on a nature walk. Download the free Seek by iNaturalist app to take your nature knowledge up a notch Use the power of image recognition technology to identify the plants and animals all around you. 
    • Make observations when you’re outside or looking outside from your window. Add your observations to the WXXI Community Nature Challenge. 

Read

Clifford the Big Red Dog: Games, Videos & Activities

Play games and watch full episodes of Clifford the Big Red Dog on https://pbskids.org/clifford

“Clifford the Big Red Dog” follows Emily Elizabeth, Clifford and friends as they explore Birdwell Island, play astronauts, robots, fairies — whatever they imagine! Clifford and friends’ adventures will inspire imaginative play, kindness, empathy and other life lessons among preschoolers. Your family can join in the fun when this silly and heartwarming group of friends finds their way to your home.

WXXI Education Favorites
Here are a few of our favorite Activities: 

    Learn more at the PBS KIDS for Parents Clifford The Big Red Dog Page

    Series Trailer:

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