Week of June 8-12 Learning Materials

Levers: Raising the Moai on Easter Island
Experience the challenges of transporting a massive statue from cliff-top quarry to coastal perch and then raising it to an upright position. A team of archaeologists and engineers tests one theory of how the ancient peoples of Easter Island (Rapa Nui) might have moved the statue, called a moai.

Nature: Echo: An Elephant to Remember-Elephant Emotions
Joy, anger, grief, love -- all reside within elephants. Through years of research, scientists have found that elephants are capable of complex thought and deep feeling.

Elephant Stranger Danger
Explore how elephants can distinguish calls from other elephants in this video from NOVA: Inside Animal Minds: Who's the Smartest?

Cat Adaptations: Agility
Cheetahs are extraordinary animals. Not only can they run at tremendous speeds, they are also extremely agile creatures. In this video from Super Cats: A NATURE Miniseries, students explore how cheetahs’ unique body structures help them move quickly to catch prey.

Areas of Irregular Shapes: Building Sailboats
Learn how wooden boat builders use a variety of mathematical concepts when custom designing their vessels. This video focuses on how area, volume, and measurements of irregular shapes are used in the engineering process, taking math out of the classroom and into real world problem solving.

Paddle Power
Build a boat that paddles itself using a rubber band as its power source. In this challenge, from Design Squad Nation: Aquatic Robotics, kids follow the design process to make a boat out of cups

NOVA: Black Hole Apocalypse
In this collection, you’ll find media resources that examine black holes and related topics—from stellar life cycles to the basics of spacetime. These resources help educators explore black holes and gravity in detail with their students and provide an up-close look at some groundbreaking discoveries.

Around the Globe: Italy
Travel to Italy with this assortment of resources including essays, lesson plans, images, and videos. Examine Italian history, arts, and culture, as well as the experiences of Italian Americans.

Stained Glass: Canterbury Cathedral
Discover the magnificent stained glass windows of the Canterbury Cathedral. Rebuilt in 1070, the Canterbury Cathedral has been one of the most revered Christian structures in England from an art historical perspective.

Stained Glass: Chartres Cathedral
Enrich your knowledge about the Chartres Cathedral by looking at images of the stained glass windows housed in this Gothic structure. Built between 1194 and 1250, the cathedral has been exceptionally well preserved.

Keeping the Light: Monastic Life in Medieval France
Read a description of the role monasteries played in Medieval Europe; use a graphic organizer to take notes and finally write a short essay that explains the role of the monastic system in the European Medieval world.

The African Americans: Many Rivers to Cross
Noted Harvard scholar Henry Louis Gates, Jr. recounts the full trajectory of African-American history in his groundbreaking series The African Americans: Many Rivers to Cross. The series explores the evolution of the African-American people, as well as the multiplicity of cultural institutions, political strategies, and religious and social perspectives they developed — forging their own history, culture and society against unimaginable odds.

Using video clips from The African Americans: Many Rivers to Cross, this collection of lesson plans addresses a wide range of themes of the African-American experience from 1500 to the present.

Maggie Lena Walker Unladylike 2020
Learn about Maggie Lena Walker, the first African American woman to found a bank in the United States in this digital short from Unladylike2020.
As well as this resource Our Inspiration: The Story of Maggie Lena Walker

Bessie Coleman Unladylike2020
Explore how Bessie Coleman became the first female black pilot and the first African American to hold an international license to fly in this digital short from Unladylike2020.

The Street by Ann Petry
In this video from the American Masters film Novel Reflections on the American Dream we meet Lutie Johnson, the African-American single mother heroine of Ann Petry’s novel The Street. The video gives an introduction to the novel and Lutie’s aspirations to find stability and independence in her Harlem neighborhood in the midst of race, class, and gender biases.

Invisible Man
This video from the American Masters film Ralph Ellison: An American Journey features a plot summary of Invisible Man and discussion of the novel’s significance in the history of African American literature.

Vikings Unearthed
Learn how a new generation of archaeologists is using satellites to uncover ancient settlements, in these clips from NOVA: Vikings Unearthed. Here, archaeologist Sarah Parcak tests whether this remote sensing technology can detect ruins at two sites rich in Viking history.

Should Zoos Exist? Above the Noise
Zoos are great places to learn more about exotic animals. Zoos also study and protect endangered species. But, captive animals can develop signs of distress, leading some critics to question whether zoos are really as fun as they seem. In your opinion, should zoos exist?

Interactive Timeline of Hannibal’s life.

Background and Myth of Hannibal’s journey.

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.

Country Music a film by Ken Burns collection
Country Music is a 16-hour series that chronicles the history of a uniquely American art form that rose from the experiences of remarkable people in distinctive regions of the United States. Through archival footage, photographs, and intimate interviews with musicians and scholars, the series offers the opportunity to explore key events in 20th century history, including technological changes, the Depression, and tensions around race and Civil Rights, all through the eyes of people who lived through them and the music they created.

Elements of Art
Explore the seven basic elements of art including Line, Shape, Form, Texture, Value, Space and Color. These are the building blocks of all art and are a good place to start when making, looking at or analyzing works of art.

Art School is a video series for people who want to learn about art. See interviews with contemporary artists working in performing, visual and media art, as well as how-to videos that demonstrate new ways to get creative and explain art-making techniques and concepts.

See how art became the great interface when distant cultures met for the first time. Interactive art experience for episode Encounters and The Second Moment of Creation.

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

The novel, The Woman in White, was written in 1859 in England. The plot demonstrates the unequal position of married women in the law at that time. “In the 18th to the early 20th century, women were sometimes institutionalised due to their opinions, their unruliness and their inability to be controlled properly by a primarily male-dominated culture.[41] There were financial incentives too; before the passage of the Married Women's Property Act 1882, all of a wife's assets passed automatically to her husband.” (Lunatic_asylum)

The Married Women’s Property Act 1882

Unstoppable: The Road to Women’s Rights
In celebration of the 100th anniversary of the ratification of the 19th Amendment, Alabama Public Television is producing Unstoppable: The Road to Women’s Rights. This interactive live-streamed educational event will focus on the women’s suffrage movement, the struggle for women’s equality and the role of women in politics today.

Equal Pay: Circus Women Advocate for Suffrage

Reimagining a Buffalo Landmark: Mapping the Asylum
Explore the many historical, social, and geographical factors that influenced the city of Buffalo, New York and led to the building of the Buffalo State Hospital (now known as the Richardson Olmsted Campus).

Discovering a Landmark
Learn about the original purpose of the Richardson Olmsted Campus as the Buffalo State Asylum. Following the Civil War, Buffalo sees economic growth and a rise in population. Frederick Law Olmsted, Calvert Vaux, and H.H. Richardson began designing the 42 acre campus and 13 buildings.

Causes and Effects of the Asylum
Learn about the deterioration of the abandoned Richardson Olmsted campus and the timeline of its preservation and restoration.

Youth Mental Health
This collection is part of KET’s initiative on youth mental health and includes videos from the KET series, You Are Not Alone.

The Power of Sadness in ‘Inside Out’
In this episode of Brain Craft, we explore some science behind the message of the film, Inside Out.

Poetry Brings Happiness to Teens
The Pongo Teen Writing Project has been working with troubled teens in detention centers, mental health facilities and homeless centers for nearly two decades, taking their stories and turning them into poetry.