PBS Kids: Dinosaur Train
PBS Kids is a great resource for educational games, videos, and printable activities for kids. One particular favorite of mine is Dinosaur Train. Dinosaur Train involves science and natural history, and allows children to explore animals and develop their critical thinking skills as they act like paleontologists. PBS Kids is a great resource for educational games, videos, and printable activities for kids. One particular favorite of mine is Dinosaur Train. Dinosaur Train involves science and natural history, and allows children to explore animals and develop their critical thinking skills as they act like paleontologists.
Authentic Learning Experience: PBS Kids offers a large array of activities that involve experiences beyond the classroom that mimic the real world. Dinosaur Train, for example, has children use open-ended inquiry similar to paleontologists. The activities are suitable for multiple children or children and adults to do at the same time, allowing students to engage in social learning in a community of learners. Since the modules have multiple paths, students are able to direct their own learning guided by their interests.
Developmentally Appropriate Practices: This resource helps to spark an interest in science, develop inquiry skills to think like scientists, learn science knowledge about life science, and to inspire children to explore and investigate the natural world. These skills are appropriate for the development of preschool age children as these are the types of learning standards expected for that age group. This item is responsive to the unique values, expectations, and factors that shape the lives of children at home in that PBS Kids portrays diverse images of children and offers lessons in many different subjects and interests for children to explore.
Learning Standards:
Scientific Reasoning
Goal P-SCI 1. Child observes and describes observable phenomena (objects, materials, organisms, and events).
Goal P-SCI 2. Child engages in scientific talk.
Goal P-SCI 3. Child compares and categorizes observable phenomena.
Goal P-SCI 4. Child asks a question, gathers information, and makes predictions.
Goal P-SCI 5. Child plans and conducts investigations and experiments.
Goal P-SCI 6. Child analyzes results, draws conclusions, and communicates results.
Approaches to Learning
Goal P-ATL 6. Child maintains focus and sustains attention with minimal adult support.
Goal P-ATL 7. Child persists in tasks.
Goal P-ATL 8. Child holds information in mind and manipulates it to perform tasks.
Goal P-ATL 11. Child shows interest in and curiosity about the world around them.
Goal P-ATL 12. Child expresses creativity in thinking and communication.
Goal P-ATL 13. Child uses imagination in play and interactions with others.
Language and Communication
Goal P-LC 2. Child understands and responds to increasingly complex communication and language from others.
Goal P-LC 6. Child understands and uses a wide variety of words for a variety of purposes.