Parents with school-aged kids across metro Atlanta, if not the nation, have become stay-at-home teachers during the COVID-19 pandemic.
With schools closed, Georgia Public Broadcasting has ramped up its educational programming to help students and supplement lesson plans of teachers who are having to teach remotely. Through both its website and broadcast station, Channel 8, GPB has curated everything from chemistry, to physics, history lessons and learning games for K-12th grades.
All of the lessons were coordinated with the Georgia Department of Education to make sure they met state standards, said Teya Ryan, GPB CEO.
“All of our original material, PBS Learning and Discovery Education, we just have massive amounts of material for every grade,” Ryan said. “We’ve separated the content per grade and subject with the advice of the DOE for teachers to use as well.”
Between March 19 and March 23, there have been 25,000 downloads from gpb.org/education, Ryan said.
The station has also altered its daytime television line-up, from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m., with shows such as Nature or NOVA, to augment the online offerings.