Week of August 3-7 Learning Materials

Overcoming the Challenges of Solar-Powered Flight
Learn about the challenges that engineers overcame to build a solar-powered airplane that flew around the world, in these videos from NOVA: The Impossible Flight. Use this resource to consider the kinds of trade-offs that engineers need to make to meet strict design challenges and how more efficient clean energy technologies are possible.

Solar Power
In this video from NOVA's Energy Lab, learn about the benefits and limitations of converting the Sun's light and heat into electricity. Animations show how two solar power technologies—photovoltaic cells and concentrated solar power systems—convert the Sun's energy into electrical energy.

How Solar Power Works
Learn how energy from the sun is collected and used to generate electricity in this infographic.

The Future of Energy
The sun is primarily a source of light and heat. But can it be our primary source of energy?

Nature Works- To Make Clean Energy
Explore where our energy comes from, and what makes certain types of energy renewable and sustainable.

John Brown's Biography
Learn about the life of John Brown, the Civil War-era abolitionist and committed opponent to slavery. Browns anti-slavery efforts would earn him support across the Union, deepen the divide between the North and South, and lead to the American Civil War. They would also cost him his life.

History of "John Brown's Body"
From the Massachusetts Volunteer Militia to the famous abolitionist, this song had a curious evolution. Hear the song and read about its background with this resource from American Experience: "John Brown's Holy War."

Before the Raid: Gathering at the Kennedy Farm
Explore the farmhouse where John Brown's army gathered before the raid on Harpers Ferry, in this multimedia interactive resource from American Experience: "John Brown's Holy War."

Adapting to Change Life from Above
In these activities, students will analyze the role of satellites in making informed conservation decisions. Examining the success story of a collaboration between geospatial scientists and local village leadership, students will have the opportunity to analyze, evaluate, and reflect on their own community’s land use decisions.

Satellite Imagery and Biodiversity Life from Above
Satellite imagery allows us to expand our perspective on planet Earth. Satellite technology allows scientists to make critical decisions about conservation, track patterns of species movement, and better understand how species interact with each other. Students will watch two short video segments from Life From Above. In these clips, we see satellite imagery showing two elephant populations struggling to survive for different reasons.

Earth System; Satellites
While the Moon is Earth's only natural satellite, there are thousands of artificial satellites circling our planet for navigation, communications, entertainment, and science. These satellites are an integral part of our everyday life, and they provide a source for scientific data unavailable from Earth's surface. This video segment adapted from NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center describes some of the different kinds of satellites that orbit Earth.

Satellites Orbiting the Earth
In recent years, there has been a push to better understand how Earth works as a system — how land, oceans, air, and life all interact. Satellites in orbit around Earth are a fast and efficient way of gathering remotely sensed data about the planet as a whole. This animation adapted from NASA shows the orbital paths of the satellites in the Earth Observing System.

NOVA: Earth System Science
NOVA's Earth system science collection highlights important Earth processes normally invisible to the human eye.

NOVA Labs
A new digital platform where students can actively participate in the scientific process.

NOVA: North American Sky Tour
Learn about the geological history of North America in this video from NOVA Digital. Google Earth flyovers and visualizations from NOVA's Making North America illustrate how particular locations, landscapes, and life forms have changed through time.

Art and the Environment
Art and the Environment: This KQED Arts collection focuses on artists whose environmental concerns are apparent in their work. Integrate the arts into eco-literacy, and discover different ways that artists address environmental issues through their art practice.

The Art of Forces and Motion
Students learn about Forces and Motion by creating art that helps them to visualize, identify and explain these phenomena.

John Lewis Get in the Way
Study Guide
This study guide uses hands-on activities to promote critical thinking about themes presented in the film John Lewis: Get in the Way. Students explore the work and legacy of Lewis and the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), deepening an understanding of the Civil Rights Movement through a youth-centric, direct-action lens. Drawing connections to modern day struggles, students identify their own potential contributions to social issues that affect and inspire them.

John Lewis: Get in the Way
This study guide uses hands-on activities to promote critical thinking about themes presented in the film John Lewis: Get in the Way. Students explore the work and legacy of Lewis.

John Lewis: Civil Rights Movement
Raised on a cotton field in rural Alabama, Rep. John Lewis served on the frontline of the Civil Rights Movement to end systematic racial segregation.

Civil Rights Activist John Lewis: Looking Back
Student activist Jonathan Butler and Congressman John Lewis sit down to discuss the Eyes on the Prize series and the Civil Rights Movement in this video from Eyes on the Prize: Then and Now.

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.

Caves and Karst
Caves are natural cavities that form in hillsides and cliff walls and underground, and are accessible at Earth's surface. There are many different types of caves, including solution caves, tectonic caves, boulder caves, sea caves, and lava tubes.

How Caves Form
Caves are cavities that form in hillsides, in cliff walls, and underground, and are accessible at Earth's surface. Typically, they form in soft, fractured, or soluble rock as a result of natural mechanical and chemical processes that continue over thousands of years. This interactive activity from NOVA offers animated explanations for how ocean waves, lava, slightly acidic groundwater, and, in a supporting role, microbes account for the variety of cave formations on Earth.

Caves: Extreme Conditions for Life
In this video segment adapted from NOVA, scientists analyze communities of cave-dwelling microbes that live off simple inorganic compounds like iron and sulfur. Based on their findings, the scientists consider whether life might also exist on other planets that contain similar primitive conditions.

Which Dinosaur Was the Largest?
Which dinosaur was the biggest and heaviest? T-Rex, triceratops, the mighty brontosaurus? Actually, these famous dinos aren’t even in the same ballpark as the top heavyweight contenders, which may have weighed as much as 15 African elephants. Watch this original NATURE short to find out which dinosaurs are in the running for the top spot and why it’s so difficult to determine who truly was the biggest of the big.

Raising the Dinosaur Giant- 360 Degree Virtual Tour of a Dinosaur Giant
Have scientists discovered the biggest animal to have ever walked the planet? Deep in a South American desert, a giant is being awakened after 101 million years of sleep. Take a 360 degree virtual tour of this dino giant with legendary naturalist and broadcaster Sir David Attenborough.
Desktop users can click and drag on the video to change their perspective. If you are using a mobile device simply change its angle or position.

Maya Angelou And Still I Rise
Learn about the impact of words through the lens of the life of writer Maya Angelou. Explore her writing and work with the help of these American Masters materials.

Friendship in the Animal Kingdom
Until recently, scientists were not comfortable describing bonds between animals as "friendships." However, scientists have now determined that humans are not the only animals who form them.

Unlikely Friends
This video segment from Nature: Animal Odd Couples showcases the relationship between Kasi, a cheetah, and Mtani, a dog. Kasi and Mtani live at Busch Gardens – both were "orphaned" when they were young and the keepers at Busch Gardens developed a pilot project to observe the relationship between them.

Mates for Life
This video segment from Nature: Animal Odd Couples introduces a male brant goose that has selected his lifelong mate: a female tortoise. Brant geese mate for life and the male goose's selection is a very unlikely companion, yet they have "been together" for years.

Unlikely Partners: Warthog and Mongoose
Learn about the unusual animal partnership between warthogs and mongooses in this video from the NATURE mini-series Spy in the Wild. Part of the episode “Friendship,” this video shows how two very different animals help one another in the African savannah.

Clinton American Experience
Clips, articles, teacher’s guide and more to support the four part series.
Clinton tells the story of a president who rose from a broken childhood in Arkansas to become one of the most successful politicians in modern American history and one of the most complex and conflicted characters to ever stride across the public stage.

Hampton Court Palace- Historic Royal Palaces
Experience the public dramas and private lives of Henry VIII, his wives and children in the world of the Tudor court. Admire Henry’s Great Hall, the infamous Haunted Gallery and the Tudor kitchens. Discover the spectacular baroque palace built for William III and Mary II and explore the magnificent gardens.

Inside the Court of Henry VIII
Take an in-depth look into the reign of King Henry VIII, King of England from 1509 to 1547—the second King in the Tudor dynasty.

Henry the VIII’s Early Years in Power Inside the Court of Henry VIII
In this clip from Inside the Court of Henry VIII learn about the role of social class at King Henry's court, and understand his early years on the throne.

Anne Boleyn’s Influence Inside the Court of Henry VIII
Learn about Anne Boleyn, King Henry VIII's second wife, and the role of women at the court of King Henry VIII. Anne Boleyn influenced King Henry's decision to both break from the Catholic Church and force Cardinal Wolsey out of power, pushing England towards the Act of Supremacy of 1534, which confirmed England's break with Rome and declared Henry the Supreme Head of the Church of England.
Sensitive: This resource contains material that may be sensitive for some students. Teachers should exercise discretion in evaluating whether this resource is suitable for their class.

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.

The Dead Sea Scrolls
In this video from The Story of the Jews, Simon Schama takes us to the caves of Qumran, where the Dead Sea Scrolls were found. Schama explains that the Scrolls were comprised of 850 separate manuscripts, and included not only biblical texts but also other texts that reveal the religious diversity of the time.

Using X-Ray Technology to Read the Unreadable Dead Sea Scroll Detectives
Use this resource to examine how electromagnetic waves—specifically, X-rays—can be used in new ways to visualize and interpret information contained in different materials.

Why Be A Freedom Rider?
In a news clip from 1961, two young Freedom Riders explain why they’re risking their lives to participate in the rides. Excerpted from, American Experience: “Freedom Riders.”

Freedom Riders Challenge Segregation
In this video segment adapted from American Experience: "Freedom Riders," watch newsreel footage, archival photos, and interviews to explore how Freedom Riders made efforts to end the segregation of African Americans in the Southern United States.

Stepping Up: What Motivates You to Make Change
“Stepping Up,” is a short video series featuring four young people working for real change in their communities. The "Stepping Up" collection includes the video series, classroom supports and a youth media challenge prompt.