Week of April 20-24 Learning Materials

Volcanism at Yellowstone
Scientist Bob Smith uses a network of seismometers to record seismic waves from earthquakes and construct a three-dimensional model of the magma located beneath Yellowstone.

A Visit to Yellowstone
Geothermal features, which include geysers, hot springs, steam vents called fumaroles, and boiling mud pots, are found on nearly every continent. Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming contains the world's largest collection: nearly 10,000 such features lie within its 2.25 million acres. Related Lesson Plan

Wolves of Yellowstone
Gray wolves were reintroduced into Yellowstone National Park in 1995, which have since resulted in a trophic cascade through the entire ecosystem. After the wolves were driven extinct in the region nearly 100 years ago, scientists began to fully understand their role in the food web as a keystone species. Related Lesson Plan.

Contaminating the Rockies
Learn how abandoned mines have been contaminating water supplies in the Rocky Mountains in this video from NOVA: Poison in the Rockies.

Making North America Formation of the Ancestral Rockies
Learn about the mountain range that preceded the Rocky Mountains and how remnants of that long-lost range are still visible today—as jagged slabs of red sandstone—in this video from NOVA: Making North America: Origins.

Discover the Mountains
Join two families as they learn how mountains change from the bottom to the top while hiking. The families use mathematics and model science process skills such as observing, collecting and analyzing data, and interpreting and communicating results.

Buffalo Soldiers Fight Fires and Stereotypes
Discover how a group of African American soldiers helped change attitudes about race as a result of their heroic peacetime service fighting a 1910 wildfire, in this video adapted from AMERICAN EXPERIENCE: The Big Burn.

A Green Way to Fight Fires
Learn about TetraKO™, an environmentally friendly firefighting product, in this video from NOVA: “Making Stuff Safer.”

Changing Arctic Landscape
This video adapted from the Arctic Athabaskan Council highlights the effects that the increase in average global temperatures is having on the Arctic landscape.

Climate Change through History
Learn about the history of human impact on Earth’s climate in this video from PERIL & PROMISE. This animated timeline explores changes in climate during periods of glaciation and the effect of human-generated greenhouse gases on our climate.

Collection Planet H20
Learn about acid rain, where water is, water pollution, bottled versus tap, water supply and demand, and the aquatic food chain with these videos produced in partnership with McWane Science Center.

Natural Resources of West Africa
Students will explore a physical map of West Africa that includes the location of natural resources, main transportation routes, and most populous cities.

Effective Use of Resources: Crossword Puzzle Activity
Review the activity on economic resources, and then try to complete this crossword puzzle.

Global Trends Quiz
This interactive quiz from NOVA tests users' knowledge of humanity's present-day consumption behavior and living conditions.

Women in Islam
Multiple part lesson plan and materials
Explore basic beliefs and practices of Islam and examine the different views of women's roles in Islam and modern American society in this lesson.

The Five Pillars of Islam
In this lesson, students explore and understand the basic beliefs of Islam as well as the Five Pillars that guide Muslims in their daily life: belief, worship, fasting, almsgiving, and pilgrimage.

The Berlin Conference of 1884-1885
NO CC
Lessons plans to be used in tandem with hour six of Africa's Great Civilizations.

The Three Questions of Economics
Students will read and take notes on the three main questions of economics. These are what to produce, how to produce it, and who to produce it for. Students will then apply what they've learned to three scenarios.

Africa: Teacher Tools: Exploring African Culture
Students will explore the role of oral tradition in African cultures. They will read articles about the daily lives of people in several African countries, and create a mock interview based on the information.

Wonders of the African World
Every culture has its own special identity, demonstrated through its music, clothing, religion, food and social customs. Throughout our African journey, take a closer look at the rich and unique traditions of the people.

Religion: Three Religions, One God
Three of the world's major religions -- the monotheist traditions of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam -- were all born in the Middle East and are all inextricably linked to one another.

African Masks
Artist Maude Alexander shows some of the African masks in her collection and talks about how African masks are more than aesthetic artifacts.

Manjani: West African Dance
The Imani Dance and Drum Company perform the Manjani, a West African dance that celebrates an important event such as the harvest (as in this performance), a wedding, or a naming ceremony.

Gross Science: See Microbes with this DIY Phone Microphone
Learn how to see microbes with your phone, in this episode of Gross Science from NOVA.

What is a Semiconductor?
Semiconductors are in everything from your cell phone to rockets. But what exactly are they, and what makes them so special?

Computers Science Trek
The computing power in today’s cell phones is much higher than all the processing power of all the computers on the Apollo 11 Lunar Lander that put two men on the moon. Computers can be found in almost everything. But how does this amazing technology work?

Lesson Plans
These lesson plans, based on Common Core standards, are intended to flexibly support high school educators in preparing for and following up on a class screening of Tell Them We Are Rising: The Story of Black Colleges and Universities.

Screening Guide
The Community Screening Guide for Tell Them We Are Rising: The Story of Black Colleges and Universities is a tool to facilitate dialogue and deepen understanding of the history, growth, and current challenges facing historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs).

Article: The Green Revolution: Norman Borlaug and the Race to Fight Global Hunger

Article: Caught Up in the War on Communism: Norman Borlaug and the “Green Revolution”

Article: ‘No Silver Bullet Solution’: Norman Borlaug and the Green Revolution

Audio Clip: Trying to Feed 9 Billion People by 2050

What is the Environmental Impact of Feeding the World? Our Hungry Planet

Audio: January 1 Hatfield and McCoy
Examine the events surrounding the Hatfield and McCoy Feud along the border between West Virginia and Kentucky.

The Hatfield and McCoy Feud in West Virginia
Examine the causes and events related to the Hatfield and McCoy feud in West Virginia.

West Virginia Culture and History
Learn about West Virginia's culture and history in short video clips.

Faith in Change: John Lewis
This lesson uses video segments from the PBS series Finding Your Roots to explore the American civil rights movement of the 1960s through the personal experience of one of its most prominent leaders—Congressman John Lewis.

Excerpts from the March on Washington, Part 3
John Lewis, heard here in this live recording from the 1963 March on Washington, was a leader of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) who helped trigger a new activism among college students.

Congressman Arrested at Immigration Rally
This Daily News Story from PBS NewsHour Extra was created on October 9, 2013. Congressman John Lewis and others were arrested for protesting for comprehensive immigration reform at the Capital.

Experiencing Shakespeare
Experiencing Shakespeare makes Shakespeare come alive for students. Through television, the web, and social media, students explore the Folger Shakespeare Library, a leader in teaching Shakespeare, and home to the world's largest Shakespeare collection.

Shakespeare: The Intersection of Art & Life Timeline
Discover major events in William Shakespeare’s life through The Intersection of Art and Life, an interactive timeline.

Does Art Imitate Life? Shakespeare Uncovered
Writers are often told to "write what they know." This lesson will ask students to explore this idea using examples of great writers, with a particular focus on William Shakespeare.

All the Globe’s a State: Shakespeare’s Theater- Shakespeare Uncovered
In this lesson, students will develop their understanding of how Shakespeare’s plays were influenced by the physical space in which they were originally produced, the Globe Theatre.

Alcott: ‘Not The Little Woman You Thought She Was’
For many readers, Alcott is synonymous with her most famous character, Jo March, the spirited sister in Alcott's classic Little Women. The beloved writer's real life is the subject of a film written and produced by Reisen, Louisa May Alcott: The Woman Behind 'Little Women' — based on her book by the same name.

Little Woman- The devilish, dutiful daughter Louisa May Alcott
The greatest American literary sensation of the post-Civil War decade had its origins in a conversation between Thomas Niles, an editor at the publishing house of Roberts Brothers, and Bronson Alcott, the father of a thirty-five-year-old writer whom his wife had named for a favorite sister, Louisa May.

Little Women Teaching Guide
This teaching guide helps instructors use a specific primary source set, , in the classroom. It offers discussion questions, classroom activities, and primary source analysis tools.

Alcott, her life, letters and journals

Career Connections: Food Scientist- Quality Assurance Manager
Open your eyes to the world of food safety with a food scientist in an ice cream factory.

NOVA Next Why Food Date Labels Don’t Mean What You Think
Learn about discrepancies in food date labeling, in this NOVA Next article.

Article: The Great Electric Sugar Con

Article: “Gloom and Horror Unrelieved”

Asteroids & Comets Science Talk
4 Streaming Video Resources
Learn what asteroids and comets are made of and how these small worlds help us learn what the early solar system was like.

Mission to Comets: Stardust and Deep Impact
Explore the exciting discoveries from two NASA missions to study comets, Stardust and Deep Impact, which collected valuable data about the nature of comets.

NOVA: Finding Life Beyond Earth
In this video segment adapted from NOVA, learn how comets could have delivered important building blocks for life—amino acids—to Earth billions of years ago.

Sandy and Climate Change
In this video excerpt from NOVA: “Inside the Megastorm,” learn how Earth's warming climate may have contributed to Hurricane Sandy's devastating impact.

Hurricanes: New Tools for Predicting
Hurricane Katrina, which struck New Orleans and other Gulf Coast communities on August 29, 2005, provided the worst kind of reminder of the importance of accurate hurricane prediction — and of heeding those predictions.

The Effect of Sea Surface Temperature on Hurricanes
This video segment adapted from NOVA scienceNOW highlights research that supports the idea that warmer oceans generate and sustain more intense hurricanes.

Earth System: El Nino’s Influence on Hurricane Formation
Warm water fuels the tropical storms that ultimately form hurricanes. In this video segment adapted from NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, learn how El Niño events—climatic anomalies that occur periodically in the Pacific Ocean—alter the course of atmospheric circulation and lessen hurricane formation in the Atlantic Ocean.

Does Climate Change Cause Extreme Weather?
Fluctuations in weather happen all the time. But sometimes, those fluctuations can get extreme, making disasters like hurricanes and heatwaves more intense.

Drought: Identifying Impacts and Evaluating Solutions
Students learn about the impacts of water shortages due to drought, make connections to climate patterns, and explore solutions that increase communities’ capacities to respond to drought.

Isle de Jean Charles
Students watch a 9-minute film, Isle de Jean Charles by Emmanuel Vaughan-Lee, about a tiny island community off the Louisiana coast. The film explores the changes taking place on the island through the lives of two residents whose families are facing a future where rising seas, coastal erosion, and storms are threatening to wash their home away.

The Great Flood of 1993
During a typical year, levees built along the banks of the Mississippi River keep the river in its channel and out of people's homes and fields. However, 1993 was anything but a typical summer.

Global Warming: Carbon Dioxide and the Greenhouse Effect
Human activities are causing increasing amounts of carbon dioxide to be pumped into the atmosphere. Is this increase resulting in global warming?

Collection: Climate Literacy
Impacts of Climate Change
Causes of Climate Change
Human Responses to Climate Change

Home of Franklin D Roosevelt National Historic Site
Discover the Roosevelts, the family home, the Presidential library, Val-Kill, once a family picnic site it became Eleanor Roosevelt’s cottage and then primary residence.

The Roosevelts Ken Burns in the Classroom
Ken Burns in the Classroom- The Roosevelts
NO CC
Support Materials to use in tandem with the on air programming of The Roosevelts.

Theodore Roosevelt and the Western Experience
ExamineS the 26th president of the United States. TR or Teddy as he has come to be known, balanced his identity of an intellectual from the East with the frontiersman of the West. His love of nature as a boy carried on throughout his life, influencing policy decisions as president that we still see today.

Explore numerous lesson plans and activities around various episodes of Latino Americans. Explore this timeline of important dates, become a part of the LATINO AMERICANS project, Mi Historia.

Note: Closed Captioning is not available for this video.
Supplemental materials for the series, A More of Less Perfect Union.

Reconstruction: The 15th Amendment and African American Men in Congress
After the war was over and slavery abolished, Reconstruction was underway. Although there were challenges ahead, African Americans were filled with unprecedented hope.

Reconstruction: The Black Codes
The end of the Civil War brought about the freedom of four million slaves. The era of Reconstruction that followed the war sought to remedy the inequities of slavery while readmitting the Southern states back into a reunified nation.

Reconstruction: Ida B. Wells- Pioneer of Civil Rights
Ida B. Wells, a journalist and owner of the Memphis newspaper Free Speech and Headlight spent a lifetime working for civil rights and women’s suffrage. She helped to launch the National Association of Colored Women and was one of the founding members of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP).