With schools across Indiana closed in response to the COVID-19 virus, Lakeshore PBS and the seven other public television stations have provided curriculum resource materials in conjunction to its programming schedule. Focusing on math, science, social studies, literacy, and other subjects, the curriculum offers resources from PBS Learning Media, a free online service providing thousands of educational tools.
“There is no telling how long this crisis will continue, but Lakeshore is here to continue to focus its media resources and messaging to educate and inform listeners and viewers of all ages in response to the Coronavirus outbreak,” said James A. Muhammad, President and CEO of Lakeshore Public Media. “We are doing our part to ensure that educational programming and resources are widely accessible to students in our part of the state.”
Lakeshore Public Media is the community-license public media organization that is the Northwest Indiana member of IPBS, serving Indiana’s second largest urban area through their Lakeshore PBS and Lakeshore Public Radio service out of their offices in Merrillville. Other IPBS TV stations are located in Bloomington, Evansville, Fort Wayne, Indianapolis, Muncie, South Bend, and Vincennes.
“Our stations reach virtually every family in the state, including those who don’t have internet access or computers at home,” said Mark Newman, executive director of IPBS. “Our goal was to package easy to use materials that combined the best of PBS educational TV programming and learning resources. We also knew it needed to include easy-to-use parent guidance and coaching for teachers.”
The PBS Learning Media resources were developed with the input of educators. They are contextualized for educational use and align with Indiana curriculum standards. The resources include grab-and-go activities, lesson plans, interactive lessons, and media that illustrate specific topics or themes and support materials across subjects.
“Providing our students with access to high-quality and evidence-based materials is critical during this extended time of out-of-school learning,” said Indiana State Superintendent Dr. Jennifer McCormick. “I am grateful for IPBS and their local television affiliates for partnering with us to create engaging educational experiences for Indiana’s children.” The state’s online resources for educators and families are available at www.doe.in.gov/elearning/2020-covid-19-remote-learning.
On air, Lakeshore PBS broadcasts educational content for children in grades K-12 Monday through Friday for 7.5 hours each day. In addition to its on-air educational programming, Lakeshore PBS offer countless high-quality and free resources and correlating materials to help children in grades K-12 continue to learn at home at www.lakeshorepbs.org/educational-resources/.
Lakeshore PBS has also been airing Gov. Eric Holcomb’s addresses to Hoosiers about the coronavirus, including his statewide stay-at-home announcement on March 23 and the ongoing updates from Holcomb and other state and health officials broadcast live from Indianapolis on weekdays at 1:30pm.
The digital team at Lakeshore Public Media has compiled a landing page for information gathered by its staff and partners, including IPB News, NPR, the Associated Press, the CDC and the state of Indiana and Illinois. The information is available online at www.lakeshorepbs.org/covid19.
Lakeshore Public Media provides quality local and original programming that educates, enlightens, and informs. Lakeshore Public Media chooses the best of NPR and PBS and other public media providers, broadcasting to millions of homes throughout Northwest Indiana, Chicago and its surrounding suburbs. Lakeshore Public Radio can be heard on 89.1fm. Lakeshore PBS broadcasts its main channel over the air on 56, on Comcast on 17 or 21 (HD Channel 239), on Dish Network (HD Channel 6320), AT&T U-verse (HD Channel 1056) and DirecTV on 56.