These classroom resources and professional development courses are provided for free by nonprofit public media station KQED.

Classroom Resources

Lesson plans and resources aligned to Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS), geared toward middle and high school classes.

KQED Youth Media Challenge: Show What You Know

Your students will share what they have learned or understand about any topic, concept, scientific phenomenon or event they think is important for others to learn about by making a podcast, mini-documentary or infographic and publishing it on the public showcase hosted by KQED.

Above the Noise 

Above the Noise host Myles Bess takes viewers along on his journey to cut through the hype surrounding controversial topics in the news to find out what’s really going on. Each video in this Emmy Award winning series comes with supports for middle and high school classrooms, including a lesson plan, viewing guide, transcripts in English and Spanish, and sentence frames for diverse learners that encourage student voice and foster civil conversation about complex topics. Get started with one of these popular topics on PBS LearningMedia::

• • How Does Electronic Waste Impact the Environment?
  • ADHD Medication: What Happens When You Use It For Non-ADHD Issues?
  • Gene Editing and CRISPR: How Far Should We Go?

Professional Learning

Free professional development to help you hone your media making skills and incorporate media literacy into your teaching. For educators in grades K-12, all subject areas and roles.

Live Workshops and Training

See our full schedule of free professional learning for K-12 educators in all subject areas — offered online and in person.

KQED Teach

• • Inspire Creative Science Communication with Media Projects
  • Evaluating Online Sources: Checking Facts and Identifying Misinformation
  • Making Infographics to Inspire Learning.

“Super PD resource for making media in the classroom”
-Common Sense Education

PBS Media Literacy Educator Certification by KQED

A great way to demonstrate your skills in teaching media literacy. Certification is earned by completing 8 micro-credentials.

More Education Content From KQED

• Deep Look: Explore big scientific mysteries by going incredibly small with Deep Look, a new ultra-HD (4K) short video series.
• Mind/Shift: Explore the future of learning in all its dimensions — including cultural and technology trends, groundbreaking research, education policy and more on this blog and podcast.

KQED Classics

• KQED Learn: Site for student discussions and investigations centered around Above the Noise video prompts. Discussion content is on now on PBS LearningMedia or on Youth Media Challenge. (published 2018-2023)
• Quest: Engaging, relevant science and engineering resources covering topics from biology to geology.
• Do Now:  (published 2014 – 2017).
• The Lowdown: (published 2011 – 2018).

Do you miss KQED Learn, Do Now and The Lowdown and want more like them? Try Above the Noise videos and prompts on PBS LearningMedia.