Peer Review

PBS TeacherSource

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Reviewed:: Feb 7, 2003 by Teacher Education

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Ratings

Overall Rating:

Content Quality:

Effectiveness:

Ease of Use:

Overview:: PBS TeacherSource provides a vast array of online curricula resources by subject
area, topic, and grade level. Best practice information, tips on implementing
technology into teaching, interdisciplinary teaching suggestions, and
recommendations for relevant books and videos are found at this huge site. Such
access to information might change the way teachers teach and schools of
education educate future educators. For generations, teachers were creators and
collectors of instructional materials. Now this resource provides an
overwhelming collection of polished and pedagogically effective instructional
materials. The diversity, quality, and quantity can be overwhelming, but should
make it possible for teachers to work at home, in the classroom, or in the
teacher?s lounge without having to cart around the familiar stack of books. Over
3500 lesson plans and activities are housed in the online database and can be
searched by state, national, and Canadian standards.
Type of Material:: Collection of resource/reference material that includes lesson plans, news
items, and PBS videos in RealPlayer and Quicktime clip format.
Recommended Uses:: This site could act as a reference point for teachers in training at all levels
and with all subjects. It seems most appropriate for teaching curriculum and
methods courses. Use of this resource should help teachers focus on student
learning rather than on creation of instructional materials.
Technical Requirements:: Adobe Acrobat Reader, RealPlayer Basic 8, Flash 5.0, and QuickTime 5.0 or better
already installed on your computer are needed for viewing some of the assorted
presentations and examples found within this site.
Identify Major Learning Goals:: The site is guided by four core principles: quality and diversity in content,
thoughtful integration of technology, development by teachers for teachers, and
programming and outreach through national and community level access. A learning
goal might be for prospective teachers to select and implement lessons that
result in mastery of a particular instructional objective.
Target Student Population:: K-12 students, prospective K-12 teachers, student teachers, practicing teachers,
librarians, and parents can all use this site.
Prerequisite Knowledge or Skills:: Knowing how to perform keyword searches, perform basic website navigation, and
some familiarity with the education standards will help users make the best use
of this collection.

Content Quality

Rating:
Strengths:: The quantity of teaching resources is a tremendous strength. Quality lessons
are available for nearly every academic area that K-12 teachers teach. The
option to search through reference materials using links to standards is an
important innovation. Many of the lessons provide information on timely topics
that have not yet made it into textbooks. This site is useful for all K-12
educators because of its breadth, depth, currency, and quality of content.
Included in the site is the following: a massive database with lesson plan
examples and standards references, online chats, mini online courses, articles,
tutorials in using online technology, a range of references, relevant curriculum
television programming, and current references for several curriculum areas
(Arts & Literature, Health & Fitness, Math, Science & Technology, Social
Studies, Early Childhood, and Library Media). Preservice teachers will become
aware of the scope and sequencing of the entire teaching profession.
Concerns:: Although I found topics presented in a way that might reinforce common
misconceptions, such a statement is misleading since the overwhelming quantity
of this material is accurate, up-to-date, and superior to what is found in most
textbooks. For example, one lesson reports ?In 1947, the airplane Stardust
disappeared on a flight from Buenos Aires, Argentina, to Santiago, Chile,
without a trace. Investigators were stumped and many theories were proposed.?
This statement reinforces the mistaken idea that a theory is a hunch or a
substantiated guess. (?It?s just a theory.?) Scientists generally reserve the
term theory for more accepted ideas, such as the atomic theory of the theory of
evolution. But such an error is found in many textbooks. And a search for
materials to teach the scientific notion of ?theory? yields outstanding lessons
from both math and science disciplines.

Potential Effectiveness as a Teaching Tool

Rating:
Strengths:: This site has the potential to be a valuable resource for students doing
research on teaching methods and in other areas of education. Learning
activities could easily be created (e.g., lesson plans) and content could also
be easily integrated into lessons. This site can easily serve as a beginning
reference or point of departure for online investigations, comparative studies,
independent research projects, and group projects for preservice teachers. The
articles, "What Student Teachers Want,"
(http://www.pbs.org/teachersource/prek2/issues/102issue2.shtm) and "Advice from
Former Student Teachers To Future Student Teachers"
(http://www.pbs.org/teachersource/prek2/issues/102issue.shtm) are both part of
The Issues Article Archive within this site. Each could be used to develop
discussions, debates, or training activities with and for teacher education
programs. Teachers will find this site a valuable resource to share with
students and parents. Another outstanding feature of many of the lesson plans
is that they are correlated to educational standards from a variety of
disciplines. For example, one activity was correlated to science, math, and
language skills standards. Such lessons could be usedin lessons about whether
teachers teach many subjects, or just their discipline. Several of the online
learning presentations within this site are extremely useful, effectively model
key issues and concepts, and can easily be incorporated into online courses in
teacher education.An interesting assignment might be to have prospective
teachers consider the scope and sequence for a unit and then to identify
activities that would result in growth of understanding of core concepts.
Concerns:: One suggestion for enhancing this site would be to add valid and reliable
assessment tools to help teachers figure out if the lessons are actually
effective in helping children reach the target learning goals displayed. An
online feedback tool about which resources are most effective for helping
students learn the objectives would be welcome. A tool for professionals to use
to provide feedback about information that would help PBS know when there is
misinformation might also be useful.

Ease of Use for Both Students and Faculty

Rating:
Strengths:: A Site Search and Site Guide are available on every page. The search engines
work well and make the collection easy to navigate. Both these search functions
and the quantity of material make it easy to find useful resources. The
organization of each page is consistent, easy to read, and attractive to the
eye. No technical support should be needed if QuickTime, RealPlayer, and Flash
Player have been installed on the computer prior to use. Links appear to be
working fine and are up to date.
Concerns:: The site is huge and in itself is a sub-site within the PBS site. Users may
leave the PBS TeacherSource site and not readily realize it. One recommended
external link opened a site with advertisements that used system memory and made
it impossible to open new windows when browsing (teach-nology). Even after
deleting the ads, navigation was limited due to insufficient memory using a
computer that is better than what is found in most K-12 schools. The variety
of plug-ins can also create a problem, since K-12 teachers may not be granted
permission to install the plug-ins at their schools. Just a few problems like
these can steer some teachers away from using technology.

Other Issues and Comments:: Several of the online learning presentations within this site are extremely
useful, effective model key issues and concepts, and can easily be incorporated
into online courses in teacher education. Outstanding resource! Every new
teacher should know about and use these materials.
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