The BBC Learning Hub is a free, story-driven educational platform created by BBC Studios to support teachers, students, and families. Designed primarily for grades pre-K through 12, the BBC Learning Hub offers more than 1,000 free classroom resources including ad-free video clips, standards-aligned lesson plans, leveled reading passages, and printable student activities.
We asked Colorado STEM educator Naomi Meredith to try out the new hub and give us her expert opinion on it. Here’s her Teacher Picks review and why she recommends this site for other educators looking for one place to find and organize high-interest, supplemental resources for their classroom.
The BBC Learning Hub has resources for students in K-12. What were you drawn to as you explored?
After exploring this site, I definitely saw something for all K–12 students. Younger grades will enjoy the videos. The articles, which are differentiated for reading levels, and their related activities are more geared toward grades 3–12. Because I’m always looking for high-interest nonfiction in different subject areas, I plan to use the BBC Learning Hub for reading, writing, science, and social studies.
The BBC Learning Hub and its resources are aligned to NCSS and NGSS. Did you find this useful?
Yes, this is one of the reasons I was amazed that everything is free. The BBC Learning Hub’s alignment with NCSS and NGSS is crucial for STEM teachers because it ensures the resources support nationally recognized standards, making it easier to deliver interdisciplinary, standards-based instruction that prepares students for real-world problem-solving, civic engagement, and academic success.
The BBC Hub has a video library and printable collection. How are you planning to use it in your classroom?
Things that really stood out to me while checking out the BBC Learning Hub include:
- High-quality and engaging video library: I have always found YouTube to be hard to navigate, but everything on the BBC Learning Hub is high-quality and carefully curated. When I was looking through the BBC Learning Hub video library, I found and absolutely loved this flamingo video. And the lesson activities are listed right under each video.
- Video playlist creation: I can’t wait to create more playlists of my favorite videos that align with a particular topic, which is incredibly helpful when lesson planning. For example, if you are teaching a unit about ecosystems, you could create a playlist of the rainforest, coral reef, and desert with the animals that live there. Once the playlist is created, you can share it with students in Google Classroom through this platform. I’ve worked in three different school districts and YouTube was blocked in all three of them, so having this option where there are great videos that are ad-free and focused on our learning goals is excellent!
- Comprehension questions aligned to videos: They help me think about how to create an active experience for students. I’m thinking of posing the questions ahead of time to guide their thinking while watching. I also love how many other resources—vocabulary, writing prompts, and student activities—are located under each video.
- Leveled articles: Most passages are available in three different versions: Level 1 (Grades 3–5), Level 2 (Grades 6–8), and Level 3 (Grades 9–12). You can print each article, and everything is formatted correctly (a huge struggle if you try to do it yourself with AI!). There is also key vocabulary noted on the side. If you don’t want to print, the articles can easily be shared in Google Classroom.
- Simple login process: The site is free, but login is required for video and downloads. You’ll want to log in anyway to save your playlists, which make planning so much easier. I was on the site navigating everything within minutes.
- Shareable student page links: Student pages look different than teacher pages, which makes it so easy to find what you need for teaching and to share what you want your students to see. This truly is such a great feature that makes lesson planning easier and more engaging for students.
How did your students react to the BBC Learning Hub?
My students thought the videos were funny, especially the animal videos. They loved seeing how the animals reacted and responded in real life. Too often, my students are reading about animals but not able to see them, so having access to these videos opened up a whole new perspective about the natural world. They also really liked the video The Secrets of a Police Dog’s Training. They were giggling when the video showed Scooby the dog’s shoes at the start. However, they soon realized why it mattered. They got so excited when Scooby got to wear his shoes at work when searching for a scent outside. They wanted to watch more of the dog videos when I scrolled down the page.
How would you sum up your overall experience with the site?
I am shocked this is a free resource for teachers! There is a great mix of nonfiction and fiction resources that are modern and relevant for teachers to use in their classrooms.
I enjoyed the option of being able to print resources but also share them digitally. Teachers typically need both options throughout the school year, and easily having access to both was great.
The BBC Learning Hub has many ways to search and save resources. How easy was it to use and implement in your classroom?
Getting into the website was extremely easy, as was navigating through the resources and saving them in playlists. It was helpful being able to sort resources by type: videos, collections, lesson plans, blog posts, student articles, printables, and news clips. Once you clicked on a resource type, there was a search bar where you could get more specific about the topic.
What makes the BBC Learning Hub special compared to other sites you’ve used in your classroom?
The high-quality production of the resources that are ready-to-use—I didn’t need to click a million things to get to what I wanted.
I felt like there was an abundance of information and topics to choose from that would connect to the content that is taught in classrooms, but it’s not overwhelming. Some websites have TOO MUCH to sift through, and teachers don’t have time for that. They need something that hits their learning targets and engages their students, and I feel like the BBC Learning Hub fits those needs.
This can cut down on time conducting random Google searches when finding real-world videos that include resources to connect with your current curriculum. Especially if your school limits YouTube access, this saves teachers a step and has the content ready to go. The feature of being able to print resources and also share on Google Classroom is a time-saver as well. Teachers won’t have to format the information to make it work since it’s already done for them. BBC is a trusted source, which also makes me feel more comfortable sharing these resources with my students and their families.
How do you plan to use the BBC Learning Hub again in the future?
I am always creating elementary STEM resources to use for my own programs and for teachers. I am very picky about the resources I use for research to support my STEM activities, and I am so glad that I now have another quality resource in my back pocket.
Seeing the topics that are being created and posted on this platform will also help inspire me to create hands-on lessons that could pair well with the resources and videos on this site. I am excited to continue to use this resource and share it with teachers as well.
Teacher Picks is a sponsored program available from We Are Teachers. All opinions shared in the review are honest and based on the teacher’s direct experience. To learn more about our guidelines and review process, click here.
