To extend the learning for kids, parents, and teachers at home, engaging free resources for each of the new April episodes will be available on PBS Learning Media, including discussion questions, vocabulary, worksheets, and hands-on activities. The site also features lots of additional amazing Cyberchase STEM-powered things for parents and kids to do at home, like making rock candy, exploring numbers and operations with Mission Magenite, completing a series of shape, number and color patterns to Crack Hacker’s Safe – and a ton more.
Parents and caregivers can also sign up for the free new Cyberchase: Mobile Adventures in STEM pilot program, available in English and Spanish, designed to help them engage with their children through easy and awesome hands-on environmental and math activities using their smartphones. Families join the six-week program by texting “eco” to 30644 and get a new set of activities via text every week.
And fans of the series can play some great STEM games, which will begin rolling out on the Cyberchase site beginning this April, including:
- Bugs in the System (April 9) – Play with data and make a graph by catching bugs.
- Buzz & Delete Save the Day (April 16) – Help everyone’s favorite bumbling henchbots, Buzz and Delete, save their hometown, Botopolis.
- Can You Fill It? (April 23) – Play a measurement game by picking pots with the fewest pours.
- Cyber Pattern Player (April 30) – Make cool cyber-tunes in this musical math game.
Math can be a tough subject for parents to crack with their kids, but Cyberchase can help! Multiple studies prove that the show improves children’s knowledge, skills and enthusiasm for math and problem-solving. Please let me know if you would like to speak with one of our Cyberchase curriculum experts, who can provide even more tips and tricks to use while kids are learning at home.
CYBERCHASE
Season 12 Premiere Episode Descriptions
April 17-19, 2020
Missing Bats in Sensible Flats
Topics: pollinators; maps; using map coordinates to determine a location; directionality; spatial sense; data collection, representation & interpretation using a chart; using tally marks; counting 1-100
Digit’s cousin, Brigit, is in a prickly bind. Although her garden is overflowing with flowering cactus plants, they’re not bearing any apple cactus fruit. And no cactus apple fruit means no cactus apple juice –everyone’s favorite drink in all of Cyberspace! Brigit thinks she knows what’s going on, thanks to a chart she’s kept of how many bats – or in this case, how few – have come to pollinate the cactus flowers so far. Where have all the bats gone? Could it have something to do with Hacker’s new secret hideout? With a map to guide the way, Digit, Matt, Jackie, and Inez set out into the desert to find out.
Water Woes
Topics: watersheds; maps; directionality; spatial awareness; data collection, representation & interpretation using a map
It’s not easy being the most notorious villain in all of Cyberspace, and Hacker is really stressed out. Buzz and Delete surprise their mess-of-a-stress boss with a blissful day at Mount Bear Fresh Water Spa, full of relaxing treatments sourced from the beautiful Mount Bear River! But, when the water supply suddenly stops flowing, Hacker and the other patrons are left out to dry. With spa manager, Jules, in over his head, Buzz and Delete go to extreme measures and ask the CyberSquad for help. Using a map and spatial reasoning skills, Digit and the kids turn upstream for clues about why the spa’s water has been reduced to a mere trickle. Can the CyberSquad save the day? Or will it all just go down the drain?
Soil Turmoil
Topics: soil; data collection, representation & interpretation using tables; counting 1-20; sampling data; non-standard linear measurement
Trouble is brewing beneath Serene Greens! Hapo the earthworm needs help underground, but how can the CyberSquad possibly help their miniscule friend? With one zap of Digit’s “shrinkray,” the team shrinks to the size of tiny insects and portals underground. They’re literally IN the soil! The diminutive Matt, Jackie, Inez, and Digit come face-to-face with all sorts of critters that make up this thriving ecosystem. The only problem is Hapo’s home turf, Bug Bayou, is anything but flourishing. The roots are mushy, the ground is clumpy and dry, and food is scarce, causing creatures to flee to healthier ground. Something is damaging Hapo’s soil. But what? The CyberSquad digs in to get to the root of the problem.
Hacker Hugs a Tree
Topics: deforestation; data collection, representation & interpretation using pictographs; counting 1-100; skip counting
Who knew Hacker was a nature lover? Seems it all started many Cyber-years ago, when Motherboard banished him to the Northern Frontier. With only the trees to call his friends, Hacker developed a soft spot for the woodlands. That’s why he’s especially incensed when a new villain begins to zap his beloved trees into thin air. The tree-sanity must be stopped! In an unlikely pairing, the CyberSquad steps in to help Hacker. But, will they be able save the forest before it’s too late?