Iowa PBS WORLD to feature at-home learning programs

As schools across the state close in response to the growing COVID-19 pandemic, Iowa PBS will aid students, families and teachers in at-home learning by providing special programming on its .3 channel each weekday. Beginning on Monday, March 30, Iowa PBS WORLD .3 will provide a daily, five-hour At-Home Learning Service for students in grades 6-12 statewide.

Between 11:30 a.m. and 4 p.m. weekdays, Iowa PBS WORLD .3 will offer programs on science, history and English language arts. Iowa PBS will also utilize its .3 channel to provide live coverage of Gov. Kim Reynolds’ press conferences addressing the COVID-19 pandemic’s status and impact on Iowa, currently occurring daily at 11 a.m. 11:30 a.m. programs are joined in progress when the daily press conference concludes. 

“With our WORLD channel available statewide for free over the air, these educational programs can reach all Iowans, including those who do not have internet access or computers at home,” said Iowa PBS Executive Director and General Manager Molly Phillips. “In these trying times, we are proud to make the lives of Iowa’s families easier — and continue our mission to educate, inform, enrich and inspire Iowans.”

The new broadcast programming will be supplemented with additional resources from PBS LearningMedia. Find the weekly schedule and resources here. The resources, based on feedback from educators, are aligned to curriculum standards and contextualized for educational use. These include grab-and-go activities, lesson plans, interactive lessons and media that illustrate specific topics or themes and support materials across subjects.

While the Iowa PBS WORLD .3 channel is available over the air, there are many other opportunities to access much of the educational content offered on the channel. Iowa PBS content is available on all Iowa PBS platforms, including iowapbs.org, pbs.org and pbskids.org, as well as the PBS Video App and PBS KIDS Video app available on iOS, Android, Roku, Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV, Samsung TV, YouTube TV and Chromecast. Iowa PBS members are also able to view an extended library of quality public television programming via Iowa PBS Passport.