By Greta Bjornson@greatbjornson
Published April 29, 2020, 7:52 p.m. ET
Where to Stream:
Baseball: A Film By Ken Burns
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Ken Burns is making online learning a little bit easier. The famous documentary maker has released many of his films for free on PBS in an effort to help educate students who are learning from home during the coronavirus pandemic.
All of the films being offered are intended to “support teachers and students with distance learning for the remainder of this academic year,” according to PBS. The documentaries, which will be available on PBS LearningMedia’s Ken Burns in The Classroom site until June 30, were first released earlier this month. On April 20, PBS released Jazz, The RooseveltsandCollege Behind Bars. The following films were released later in the month:The Civil War, The Dust Bowl, The War andThe National Parks: America’s Best Idea.
Currently, over 15 Burns documentaries, including Baseball andCountry Music, are included in the free selection. All of the films are sorted by era and title on the Ken Burns in The Classroom website. “The hub houses a full library of classroom-ready content — aligned to state and national standards — to help students further explore the complex historical events and issues illustrated in Ken Burns’s films,” PBS says. As part of the Burns selection, PBS is including lesson plans, activities, video clips and discussion questions to help students learn outside of the traditional classroom environment.
“We have heard loud and clear that teachers are in need of full films to better engage students and to align with their teaching during this period of distance learning,” Burns said in a statement. “We have worked closely with PBS to clear rights and package these films so they can be streamed and made accessible.”
Like PBS and Burns, Netflix also recently released some of its own films to teachers and students working and learning from home. Earlier this month, they announced that 10 of their documentaries would be made free to watch on YouTube.
Find a full list of Burns documentaries and watch the free films on the Ken Burns in The Classroom website.
