Plum, our favorite purple alien, comes from a far-away planet named Blorb, but in PLUM LANDING she helps teach STEM concepts and practices in Earth’s great outdoors. This environmental education project from WGBH in Boston invites elementary students to virtually visit ecosystems around the world and then to head outdoors to explore their own ecosystems.  A collection of videos, games, and interactive lessons — aligned with the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) — immerse students in content topics and science process skills.  All resources are accompanied by support materials such as teaching tips, classroom activities, and background essays, and are available for free on PBS LearningMedia™.

Preview the resources in the collection below, and click here to access the complete collection.

Seed Racer:  Players explore the different ways that seeds are dispersed in this interactive game from PLUM LANDING. Along the way, players learn about the plants in a mountain ecosystem, how their seeds travel, and how animals rely on them.

Can you dig it?:  Players take on the role of bilbies, rabbit-sized Australian marsupials, as they race through the landscape looking for food and avoiding predators in this game. They also learn about the bilby’s life cycle and the plants and animals that share its ecosystem.

Mangroovin’:  Players in this game take on the role of baby groupers, fish whose young grow up in the shelter of mangrove roots. Their goal is to swim into open water to find food like shrimp –without falling prey to hungry predators like sharks and herons.