BBC News Stories + Resources for the ClassroomEach weekday, watch the BBC news story of the day and take the challenge!
Kids today can swipe before they can tie their shoes — but some teachers say all that screen time may be changing the way young children learn, talk, and handle emotions. One preschool is pushing back by focusing on hands-on play, conversation, creativity, and movement instead of tablets and videos. Teachers say they’re seeing more kids struggle to explain what they want, calm themselves down, or interact socially after spending hours watching screens instead of experiencing the real world firsthand. Experts recommend no screens at all for children under 2, and no more than 30 minutes a day for ages 2–5.
Every winter, huge white swans called Bewick’s swans used to arrive at Slimbridge in big numbers. Back in the 1970s, more than 600 showed up. This year? Just 87.
So what changed? Scientists say warmer winters in places closer to Russia mean lakes and rivers aren’t freezing as much anymore. Instead of flying all the way to the UK to escape ice and cold, many swans are stopping earlier in countries like Germany and the Netherlands.
Now researchers are tracking the birds each year to figure out what these disappearing migrations could mean for the future of wildlife — and how climate change is quietly rewriting ancient animal journeys.
Imagine using your favorite game to help save the real world — that’s exactly what these students are doing! At Archbishop Temple School, kids are using Minecraft to recreate rising rivers and dangerous floods in their own town. Then, they design smart solutions like barriers and defenses to stop the water.
This isn’t just playtime — it’s serious problem-solving. By experimenting in a virtual world, students learn how flooding works and how to protect communities from climate change. One student said it best: they’re “learning while playing” and finding ways to help the planet.
Teachers love it too, because games like Minecraft make learning hands-on, fun, and meaningful. In this pilot project, kids aren’t just playing a game — they’re becoming real-life problem solvers who could help save cities in the future.
Ever wondered how guide dogs get their start? It begins with caring volunteers who give special “super-mom” dogs a loving home while they raise future guide dog puppies! These adorable pups spend their first few weeks cuddling, growing, and being cared for by volunteers — with help from veterinarians and all supplies covered. By 8 weeks old, they’re ready to begin training to become life-changing companions for people who need them.
Taking care of these dogs is fun, meaningful, and full of puppy snuggles. Would you want to be part of something this amazing?
What if homework meant baking a cake, designing a board game, or building something creative instead of filling out worksheets? One elementary school has replaced traditional homework in subjects like math and reading with hands-on projects that students can choose themselves.
Supporters say the new approach makes learning feel more real and less stressful. Students report having more choice, more family time, and more fun. A cooking project, for example, can still involve math, reading, measuring, and following directions — all while making something you can actually eat.
But not everyone agrees. Some people wonder whether creative homework truly prepares students for the more demanding assignments they may face later in middle school, high school, and beyond. Others worry that without regular practice, students may miss chances to build discipline, organization, and study habits.
So what counts as real learning: finishing worksheets — or using skills in everyday life? This school’s homework experiment is raising big questions about how kids learn best.
News: Science + Nature
In Churchill, Manitoba — often called the “polar bear capital of the world” — polar bears are facing a changing home. As the Arctic warms, sea ice is forming later and melting earlier. That’s a big problem, because polar bears rely on the ice like a hunting platform to catch seals.
Now, they’re stuck on land for longer periods, waiting for the ice to return. And while they wait, hunger builds. Some bears are wandering closer to towns in search of food, digging through garbage and sometimes coming into conflict with people.
Scientists say the situation is serious: polar bear populations in some areas have dropped sharply in the last generation. As the ice keeps shrinking, the challenge of sharing space between humans and polar bears is only getting harder.
Two beavers, a male and a female, are brought to a wetlands area in Shropshire for the first time since beavers were hunted to extinction in England 400 years earlier. The hope is that the beavers will breed and will cut down on the willow tree scrub that has been drying up the wetlands. This video is excerpted from BBC News.
Scientists are exploring an interesting idea: what if we could replace regular plastic with something made from seaweed?
Unlike traditional plastic — which is made from fossil fuels and can take hundreds of years to break down — seaweed-based plastic is designed to decompose naturally over time. That means it could help reduce the amount of plastic waste that ends up in oceans and landfills.
But there are still challenges. Right now, seaweed plastic is expensive to produce — somewhere between two and 10 times more costly than plastic. Scientists are also working on how to grow more seaweed efficiently and make sure large-scale farming doesn’t harm ocean ecosystems.
So while seaweed plastic isn’t widely used yet, it’s a promising idea that could help tackle one of the world’s biggest pollution problems.
Scientists use a revolutionary technique to better study the DNA of bones from burial sites over a thousand years old. Highlighting gradual changes in the DNA is unlocking Britain’s history, providing information on human migration and the interaction between different populations from the Romans to the Anglo-Saxons. This video is excerpted from BBC News.
You’ve probably never thought about combining math and art class, but maybe now, you will! This teacher shares his new approach to math, where he uses colors to represent different numbers.
He assigned 10 numbers to 10 different colors — zero is white, one is black, two is red, and so on. That means combinations of numbers become combinations of colors. The result is an equation that’s educational and pretty at the same time!
What starts as multiplication or patterns quickly begins to look more like art class than math class. But behind the colors is real number sense, memory tricks, and a whole new way of thinking about equations. Turns out math might be a lot more visual — and creative — than most people realize.
In Churchill, Manitoba — often called the “polar bear capital of the world” — polar bears are facing a changing home. As the Arctic warms, sea ice is forming later and melting earlier. That’s a big problem, because polar bears rely on the ice like a hunting platform to catch seals.
Now, they’re stuck on land for longer periods, waiting for the ice to return. And while they wait, hunger builds. Some bears are wandering closer to towns in search of food, digging through garbage and sometimes coming into conflict with people.
Scientists say the situation is serious: polar bear populations in some areas have dropped sharply in the last generation. As the ice keeps shrinking, the challenge of sharing space between humans and polar bears is only getting harder.
Two beavers, a male and a female, are brought to a wetlands area in Shropshire for the first time since beavers were hunted to extinction in England 400 years earlier. The hope is that the beavers will breed and will cut down on the willow tree scrub that has been drying up the wetlands. This video is excerpted from BBC News.
Scientists are exploring an interesting idea: what if we could replace regular plastic with something made from seaweed?
Unlike traditional plastic — which is made from fossil fuels and can take hundreds of years to break down — seaweed-based plastic is designed to decompose naturally over time. That means it could help reduce the amount of plastic waste that ends up in oceans and landfills.
But there are still challenges. Right now, seaweed plastic is expensive to produce — somewhere between two and 10 times more costly than plastic. Scientists are also working on how to grow more seaweed efficiently and make sure large-scale farming doesn’t harm ocean ecosystems.
So while seaweed plastic isn’t widely used yet, it’s a promising idea that could help tackle one of the world’s biggest pollution problems.
Scientists use a revolutionary technique to better study the DNA of bones from burial sites over a thousand years old. Highlighting gradual changes in the DNA is unlocking Britain’s history, providing information on human migration and the interaction between different populations from the Romans to the Anglo-Saxons. This video is excerpted from BBC News.
You’ve probably never thought about combining math and art class, but maybe now, you will! This teacher shares his new approach to math, where he uses colors to represent different numbers.
He assigned 10 numbers to 10 different colors — zero is white, one is black, two is red, and so on. That means combinations of numbers become combinations of colors. The result is an equation that’s educational and pretty at the same time!
What starts as multiplication or patterns quickly begins to look more like art class than math class. But behind the colors is real number sense, memory tricks, and a whole new way of thinking about equations. Turns out math might be a lot more visual — and creative — than most people realize.
Latest News
At the Weald & Downland Living Museum, a group of volunteers has stepped straight into the year 1461 — and they’re sticking to it. That means no electricity, no central heating, no phones, and no modern conveniences.
They’re living, working, eating, and sleeping the medieval way: cooking over open fires, coping with cold and damp conditions, and adjusting to just two simple meals a day (including a lot of porridge). There’s no caffeine, no snacks, and definitely no scrolling.
It’s a tough experiment in historical living — but one surprising takeaway so far? They don’t miss their phones as much as they expected.
What if school started so early that your brain felt like it was the middle of the night? For a lot of teens, that’s actually what’s happening.
One school decided to take the science seriously. Researchers have found that during adolescence, your body clock shifts later — meaning you naturally fall asleep later and wake up later. So when teens are forced to get up at 7 a.m., it’s not just “early”… it’s the biological equivalent of an adult waking up at 4:30 a.m. Imagine trying to learn, focus, and take tests at that hour every single day.
Instead of ignoring this, the school changed its start time to better match how teenage brains actually work. The goal? Help students get enough sleep, feel more awake in class, and stop the cycle of constant exhaustion.
It raises a big question: if we know teens’ brains are wired this way, should more schools rethink their schedules too?
In Belfast, Northern Ireland, researchers tried a simple but revealing experiment: they “lost” ten wallets around the city to see how people would respond. Each wallet had a little cash inside and a card showing how to return it to the owner.
Why does this matter? Scientists who study happiness say that how much people trust strangers — and how often strangers act kindly — is a big clue to how happy a place is overall. It turns out that things like strong communities, helping others, and even sharing meals can matter almost as much as money or jobs when it comes to well-being.
So the real question isn’t just how many wallets were returned — it’s what those choices say about how people treat each other, and how that shapes everyday happiness.
In the hills of Scotland, a real steam train called the Jacobite has become famous around the world because it looks like the Hogwarts Express from Harry Potter. Every day, fans travel to Glenfinnan just to watch it pass and imagine they’re on their way to Hogwarts — no magical brick wall required.
But all that excitement comes with a downside. The huge number of visitors means busy roads, packed parking areas, and lots of traffic in the small nearby village. It can even make walking around more difficult and less safe, since people often have to park far away and walk along roads with cars passing by.
Now the local community is trying to find solutions, including building more parking spaces, to help manage the crowds while still letting fans enjoy the magical experience.
For many people, a dog or cat is much more than a pet — they’re part of the family. Some owners see their pets like a son, daughter, or best friend. But under the law in many places, pets are still treated as property, more like a car or a piece of furniture than a family member.
That legal label can create big problems when families split up. In divorces or ownership disputes, courts may focus on who bought the pet or whose name is on paperwork, instead of what is best for the animal or which person has the strongest bond with it.
Now some people are pushing to change that. A petition to the UK Parliament argues that pets should be legally recognized as family members. Spain has already made similar changes, allowing courts to consider the pet’s welfare and emotional relationships when making decisions.
The debate raises a bigger question: if millions of people treat pets like family, should the law do the same?
At the Weald & Downland Living Museum, a group of volunteers has stepped straight into the year 1461 — and they’re sticking to it. That means no electricity, no central heating, no phones, and no modern conveniences.
They’re living, working, eating, and sleeping the medieval way: cooking over open fires, coping with cold and damp conditions, and adjusting to just two simple meals a day (including a lot of porridge). There’s no caffeine, no snacks, and definitely no scrolling.
It’s a tough experiment in historical living — but one surprising takeaway so far? They don’t miss their phones as much as they expected.
What if school started so early that your brain felt like it was the middle of the night? For a lot of teens, that’s actually what’s happening.
One school decided to take the science seriously. Researchers have found that during adolescence, your body clock shifts later — meaning you naturally fall asleep later and wake up later. So when teens are forced to get up at 7 a.m., it’s not just “early”… it’s the biological equivalent of an adult waking up at 4:30 a.m. Imagine trying to learn, focus, and take tests at that hour every single day.
Instead of ignoring this, the school changed its start time to better match how teenage brains actually work. The goal? Help students get enough sleep, feel more awake in class, and stop the cycle of constant exhaustion.
It raises a big question: if we know teens’ brains are wired this way, should more schools rethink their schedules too?
In Belfast, Northern Ireland, researchers tried a simple but revealing experiment: they “lost” ten wallets around the city to see how people would respond. Each wallet had a little cash inside and a card showing how to return it to the owner.
Why does this matter? Scientists who study happiness say that how much people trust strangers — and how often strangers act kindly — is a big clue to how happy a place is overall. It turns out that things like strong communities, helping others, and even sharing meals can matter almost as much as money or jobs when it comes to well-being.
So the real question isn’t just how many wallets were returned — it’s what those choices say about how people treat each other, and how that shapes everyday happiness.
In the hills of Scotland, a real steam train called the Jacobite has become famous around the world because it looks like the Hogwarts Express from Harry Potter. Every day, fans travel to Glenfinnan just to watch it pass and imagine they’re on their way to Hogwarts — no magical brick wall required.
But all that excitement comes with a downside. The huge number of visitors means busy roads, packed parking areas, and lots of traffic in the small nearby village. It can even make walking around more difficult and less safe, since people often have to park far away and walk along roads with cars passing by.
Now the local community is trying to find solutions, including building more parking spaces, to help manage the crowds while still letting fans enjoy the magical experience.
For many people, a dog or cat is much more than a pet — they’re part of the family. Some owners see their pets like a son, daughter, or best friend. But under the law in many places, pets are still treated as property, more like a car or a piece of furniture than a family member.
That legal label can create big problems when families split up. In divorces or ownership disputes, courts may focus on who bought the pet or whose name is on paperwork, instead of what is best for the animal or which person has the strongest bond with it.
Now some people are pushing to change that. A petition to the UK Parliament argues that pets should be legally recognized as family members. Spain has already made similar changes, allowing courts to consider the pet’s welfare and emotional relationships when making decisions.
The debate raises a bigger question: if millions of people treat pets like family, should the law do the same?
Teaching With the News
To help your students dive deeper into news content, we created this bundle of news story response worksheets. We designed these worksheets to be used with any of our news videos and to keep students focused as they watch and enhance comprehension and retention. (Please note that some worksheet types are better fits for certain content and grade levels). Assign students the same one, mix them up, or let them choose!
Extra, extra! Read all about it! Introduce your students to the characteristics, roles, and purpose of the news. In this lesson, they’ll learn the different categories of news and what makes an event “newsworthy.”
News is happening all the time, everywhere. So how do journalists choose what to share? Introduce your students to the processes involved in gathering the news they consume every day. In this lesson, they’ll learn the importance of curiosity in shaping news.
“Fake news” gets thrown around a lot, but what’s actually required of journalists in terms of accuracy? Introduce your students to the ways journalists are expected to verify information. In this lesson, they’ll learn how to distinguish facts from rumors or opinions