Parents' Guide to NBC Learn

Kids should enjoy the NBC Learn sections on timely topics such as the science and technology behind the Winter Olympic Games, planetary changes, water sustainability, and social and historic concepts. Each section features short (usually fewer than six minutes), informative videos produced by NBC News; they're brief enough to hold kids' interest and elicit questions. NBC Learn also excels at tying concepts together to create interesting clips; sports-minded students will love videos such as "The Science of NBC Football."

The site sections provide a decent overview of each topic, often offering historical background and scientific principle explanations. Videos from the '80s may look a little dated to kids, but they generally offer relevant information. The site's scanned articles aren't the most compelling element; many lack dynamic elements (and, in some cases, can be hard to read). But video clips, which comprise most of the site content, keep lessons lively by explaining concepts with commentary, imagery, and sounds. Many also include transcripts and closed-captioning, so kids can read along as they watch. Plus, there are color and size options available for captions, and all NBC-created videos feature Spanish captions, too. For kids who don't use NBC Learn at school, it would be nice to see a few more options for them to explore at home, as the free version is only a tiny sampling of the full content.