Plum's Island Explorer: Land and Water
Provided by: PBS|Published on: September 25, 2023
Grades: K, 1, 2
Type: Games
Subjects: Science, Social Studies
Authors: PBS
Region: Global
Languages: English, Spanish
This resource has been reviewed by SubjectToClimate's climate scientists and verified for scientific accuracy and up-to-date information. Learn about our review process →
This resource has been reviewed by SubjectToClimate's climate scientists and verified for scientific accuracy and up-to-date information. Learn about our review process →
Synopsis
- In this interactive game, students will explore a virtual world to better understand different landscapes, stopping at checkpoints for additional information and collecting litter along the way.
- There are links for teacher tips, directions on game navigation, and a student worksheet with discussion questions.
Teaching Materials
Positives
- Students will love this game-based way to learn about land and water formations, and the cartoon videos dispersed throughout the game are also very engaging.
- All text is read out loud for students, so even those who struggle with reading will be able to play this game relatively independently, once they have learned the navigation controls.
Additional Prerequisites
- Students may need the terms evaporation, infiltration, freshwater, erosion, and others defined prior to playing the game and/or reading the article.
- The checkpoints don't disappear as students visit them, so it may be helpful for students to have a list of the land forms and water bodies they need to visit.
- Encourage students to follow and pick up the trail of garbage, especially when they don't see the next checkpoint on the map, as this trail leads them from checkpoint to checkpoint.
Differentiation
- Older students can take notes on each land and water formation as they discover them throughout the game.
- If many of your students struggle with fine motor skills and have difficulty using the navigation controls, this game can be played with the teacher using the controls and the students watching and telling the teacher where to go/what to do.
- The teacher can also use the alternate media, which is set up like a slide show or online reading.
- Students can create their own map, including each land and water formation and draw an example of each.
- The teacher can discuss with students what might happen to the water and land formations as a result of weather events due to climate change, such as droughts, floods, erosion, etc.
This resource from PBS Learning Media is an interactive web-based game that teaches students about various land forms and water bodies as they explore Plum’s Island. Students are tasked with finding checkpoints, each of which features a short description of a geographic feature and most also include an educational and entertaining short video. Along the journey, students are tasked with picking up trash, hopefully instilling cleaning up litter as a lifelong habit. The game features a good tutorial, though it was not exactly clear how to exit the overhead map, so it may be useful to tell students that the + and - keys will zoom the map into and off of the screen. A number of great support materials are included for teachers, and the game tallies the trash that students pick up, allowing for a potential classroom competition. This resource is recommended for teaching.
Teaching Tips
Standards
Resource Type and Format
Scientist Reviewed
This resource has been reviewed by SubjectToClimate's climate scientists and verified for scientific accuracy and up-to-date information. Our review process ensures that every resource in our library reflects the current state of climate science.
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