Week of March 30-April 3 Learning Materials

What Killed the Dinosaurs?
This interactive activity from the Evolution Web site outlines the evidence gathered to explain what caused the extinction of the dinosaurs 65 million years ago. It proposes four possible hypotheses and invites you to consider the evidence and come to your own conclusion.

NOVA ScienceNOW: T. Rex Blood?
In this video segment adapted from NOVA scienceNOW, learn how scientists are hoping to better understand the biology of dinosaurs by studying the insides of fossil bones.

Mass Extinction: Solving the Dinosaur Mystery
Learn how experts joined forces to figure out what happened at the end of the Cretaceous, 66 million years ago.

Scale City: One Dimensional Scaling to Find Unknown Heights
The video introduces one-dimensional scaling by comparing the heights of full-scale dinosaur models with the height of people. It ends with a question: How can you use a measurement that you already know (e.g., your height) to determine an unknown measurement (e.g., the height of a full-scale T. rex model)?

Fossils: Rocking the Earth
Learn how fossils provide information about the history of today’s organisms with this video from NOVA’s Evolution Lab.

DNA Spells Evolution
Learn about the molecular basis of evolution with this video from NOVA’s Evolution Lab. DNA weaves together the tapestry of life on Earth. DNA contains the blueprints for creating different organisms.

NOVA Evolution Lab Game
Create phylogenetic trees and explore genetic relationships between species with NOVA's Evolution Lab. What could you possibly have in common with a mushroom, or a dinosaur, or even a bacterium? More than you might think.

Shark Attack: The Hunt
In this interactive feature from NOVA, understanding the six senses sharks use to locate and capture their prey may give you the edge you need to help the seal reach land safely.

Oceanographer:Career Series
Meet Dr. Amanda Netburn, Oceanographer with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Office of Ocean Exploration and Research. Dr. Netburn specializes in studying deep sea animals and their environments.

Sharks & Shorelines
Research into tagging ocean predators, like lemon sharks, has helped scientists better understand coastal ecosystems.

Animal Chefs
The chefs at the Monterey Bay Aquarium prepare meals daily to feed a variety of animals, from otters to octopi to sharks.

Pakicetus:Walking Whale Ancestor
Whales weren’t always gargantuan water-dwelling mammals. In fact, their ancestor Pakicetus, was the size of a dog and walked on land. Pakicetus was a shore-dwelling creature with webbed feet that lived around 49 million years ago.

Whale Naturalist
Explore the career of a Whale Naturalist! Learn what it’s like to work aboard a boat in search of whales and marine life.

Whales in the Making
This graphic from Evolution traces the evolution of whales from land-dwelling mammals to the aquatic creatures we know today.

Moby Dick
Experts discuss Herman Melville's love of the sea and how the obsessed Ahab is the anti-hero of the story. Professor Mary K. Bercaw Edwards brings her students onto a 19th century whaling ship to learn about the sea tale. Ahab teaches us how obsession can lead anyone down the wrong path.

The Hillbilly Shakespeare: Hank Williams’ “I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry” County Music
Hank Williams was called the 'Hillbilly Shakespeare' because of the striking imagery of his lyrics and for the extent to which he influenced how other musicians write songs.

Hamilton’s America Lin-Manuel Miranda, Shakespeare, and Hip Hop
ADULT LANGUAGE
Explore the inspiration behind Lin-Manuel Miranda’s hit musical Hamilton, Miranda’s connection to Shakespeare, and the influence of hip hop in Miranda’s storytelling in this media gallery fromGREAT PERFORMANCES: “Hamilton’s America.”

The Importance of Public Theater
Artistic Director of the Public Theater, Oskar Eustis, discusses the importance of theater that is “of, by, and for all people.” He reflects on the influence of Shakespeare’s work on culture, the power of theater as an art form, and the benefits of free public performances. Support materials include discussion questions and vocabulary.

Science Fiction and Fantasy as Serious Literature
Learn how science fiction and fantasy transformed over time from a marginalized genre into prestige literature in this video from theAmerican MastersfilmWorlds of Ursula K. Le Guin.

Paving the Way for Fantasy Fiction
Explore how Earthsea paved the way for this beloved genre in this video from theAmerican Masters filmWorlds of Ursula K. Le Guin. Support materials help students examine elements of fantasy and discover why coming-of-age stories continue to draw readers to young adult fantasy fiction.

Pushing Boundaries: Science Fiction and Feminism
By redefining the parameters of science fiction, Le Guin herself had to rethink the role of women in the genre. In addition to discussion questions and vocabulary, support materials also ask students to think about how changing the perspective in a story can alter our understanding of the main characters and the central conflict.

The Spread of Disease
Science journalist Sonia Shah explains the history of microbes that cause widespread disease outbreaks. Using cholera as an example, she explains how a microbial disease can become pandemic.

News Quiz
This episode features stories about the spread of coronavirus around the world, King Tut artifacts, Kobe Bryant, dog safety, wounded veterans and dolphins, leafy seadragons, a new fossil find, Charlotte Bronte's tiny books, the Puppy Bowl, and more. News Quiz is KET's weekly 15-minute current events program for students.

NOVA science NOW Genetically Engineering the Avian Flu
Examine the threat of a virus being spread from birds to humans, and then from humans to humans, in this video from NOVA scienceNOW.

Viruses Science Trek
This video segment from IdahoPTV's Science Trek explains how something so small as a virus can make you so sick. You'll see the process of a virus replicating in a cell.

NOVA Vaccines- Calling the Shots
Learn how vaccines help the immune system protect people against diseases in this video from NOVA: "Vaccines—Calling the Shots.”

Virus Wars
Learn how cells protect against viruses using RNA interference in this video from NOVA’s RNA Lab. All cellular life is in an ancient and unending war with viruses.

Coronavirus Student Guide: Virus Explainer and News Updates
Watch theBrainpop video (Courtesy of BrainPOP) on the coronavirus and use the discussion questions to talk about the outbreak with your students. Then check the latest news on the virus via the PBS NewsHour.

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.

Poppy Northcutt, NASA Pioneer, Chasing the Moon
Learn how Poppy Northcutt overcame sexism and a “boys’ club” atmosphere to become the first female engineer in NASA’s mission control in the 1960s—a situation she describes as a “complete peculiarity” at the time—in this video adapted from Chasing the Moon: AMERICAN EXPERIENCE.

Ed Dwight, First Black Astronaut Trainee
Hear Ed Dwight’s firsthand account of his experience and the challenges he faced as the nation’s first black astronaut trainee in this video adapted from Chasing the Moon: AMERICAN EXPERIENCE.

The Road to Apollo: An Interactive Journey
Discover the breathtaking failures and successes and the stakes and costs of the American space program as you take an immersive journey through Project Apollo’s missions 1, 8, and 11 in The Road to Apollo: An Interactive Journey from American Experience.

Exploring Racial Barriers at NASA
Decades after the enrollment of NASA’s first black astronauts, people of color are still a minority in aerospace. Dr. Bernard Harris, Jr., the first African American to perform a spacewalk, discusses challenging stereotypes with a young woman who dreams of planning a mission to Mars.

NOVA Newton’s Third Law of Motion
This video from NOVA illustrates the significance of Newton's law to space-walking astronauts and the engineers who design their spacecrafts.

An Iconic Character: Little Women
Experience one of the most dramatic scenes in Little Women, the beloved American classic by Louisa May Alcott, in this video excerpt from Little Women | MASTERPIECE.

Becoming a Writer : Little Women
Explore the conflict between Jo March and her father over writing for money, in this video excerpt from Little Women | MASTERPIECE.

Defying Convention: Little Women
Explore how Jo's dreams of being a writer—and her refusal to marry Theodore Laurence (Laurie)—defied the conventional roles of women in 19th-century America, in this video excerpt from Little Women | MASTERPIECE.

Lousia May Alcott: Transcendentalism
Explore the impact of transcendentalism on the life of Louisa May Alcott and American society in this video from the American Masters film Louisa May Alcott: The Woman Behind 'Little Women.

Louisa May Alcott: The Civil War
Best known for her novel Little Women, learn about the impact of the abolitionist movement on Louisa May Alcott’s life and writing and her experience working as a nurse during the Civil War in this video from the American Masters film Louisa May Alcott: The Woman Behind ‘Little Women.’

NOVA scienceNOW: How the Body Responds to Exercise
This video segment adapted from NOVA describes the effect of exercise on the body and defines one measure used to gauge aerobic fitness.

Your Body is an Ecosystem: NOVA Wonders: What’s Living in You?
Examine some of the science underlying a new paradigm for understanding how the body works, in these videos from NOVA Wonders: What’s Living in You?

How Fast Does Your Brain Send Messages to Your Body?
How fast does the eye send messages to the brain and the brain send messages to your hand muscles to react in time to catch a falling object?

Human Genome Project
In this video segment from NOVA: "Cracking the Code of Life," Eric Lander of MIT's Whitehead Institute explains the effort to decode the human genome

Discovering Human Origins in Africa
Learn about the discovery of Australopithecus africanus, in this video from NOVA: Dawn of Humanity.

The Catcher in the Rye & First Person Narrative
J.D. Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye gave a voice to the rise of discontent in American popular culture. The novel incorporated the everyday slang of teenagers, and by doing so, shed light on the power of first-person narratives.

First Person Narratives in Young Adult Fiction
Dive into the importance of first-person narratives as The Great American Read takes a look at two books that examine “dark feelings during our teen years”— The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger and A Separate Peace by John Knowles.

Annie Pike Greenwood: Writing a Personal Narrative- Idaho Experience
Watch a section of “We Sagebrush Folks: Annie Pike Greenwood’s Idaho” to gain insight into the life of a woman during the early 1900s as she settled in an agricultural area in southern Idaho. Students will learn the steps of creating a personal narrative and write their own “Idaho experience.

Jane Eyre and the Advent of First-Person Narratives
Coming of age stories connect us to who we are, who we have been, and who we are becoming. One of these formative books is Charlotte Brontë's Jane Eyre, a trailblazing novel that “revolutionized” first-person narrative. Explore how this heroine without beauty begs the question “Is it okay to be intelligent?

Writing the Truth: Loretta Lynn’s “Coal Miner’s Daughter
In this activity, students are introduced to country music legend Loretta Lynn, whose music and lyrics embody her upbringing in the mountains of eastern Kentucky and strong feminist ideals in equal measure. Students will analyze and discuss the lyrics of Lynn's career-defining hit song “Coal Miner’s Daughter,” paying particular attention to detail, imagery, and the biographical quality of her words.

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.

The Mayors of Shiprock
Every Monday in the small community of Shiprock, New Mexico, a group of young Navajo leaders meet to decide how they will help their community.

Independent Lens: MISS NAVAJO
The Miss Navajo Nation competition is no ordinary beauty pageant. But what does it have in common with other pageants? Find out how its rules and requirements differ—and intersect—with those of the famed Miss America competition.

Navajo Technical College: Dendroclimatology
In this video segment adapted from Navajo Technical College, meet Steven Chischilly, a professor of environmental science, and hear about his research on climate change. Listen as he describes how climatic conditions, such as moisture and precipitation, contribute to tree growth rates and the amount of carbon that is stored by a tree in different years.

Indian Pride, Education
JuniKae Randall introduces the topic of Education, which takes many forms for Native Americans.

Native America: Cities of the Sky
Native America: Cities of the Sky explores the creation of some of the ancient world’s largest and most impressive cities. An archaeologist explores some of the world’s largest pyramids in Central America, scientists 3D-scan a lost city of monumental mounds on the Mississippi River, and native elders reveal ancient powers of the sky in modern-day Missouri. Modern research suggests these ancient urban centers are more than just great feats of engineering and artistry. They are heavenly cities—aligned to and inspired by the movement of the sun, moon, and stars.

Celestial Sphere
This animation is a simple model of the apparent motion of the stars in the night sky. Ancient people described the motions as if the stars were all attached to a vast globe, or a Celestial Sphere, centered about the Earth.

Galileo: Sun-Centered System
Before the 17th century, people generally believed that Earth was at the center of the universe. Galileo, however, was not afraid to challenge existing beliefs.

Galileo’s Thought Experiments
This video from NOVA shows a dramatization of one of Galileo's thought experiments designed to help prove that Earth moves around the Sun at great speed.

NOVA: Galileo’s Inclined Plane
Galileo's use of the inclined plane to study the motion of objects is one of his most important contributions to science. As this video segment from NOVA illustrates, the inclined plane allowed Galileo to accurately measure the effect of gravity on falling objects and develop a universal law describing this effect.

Gravity at Earth’s Center
In this video adapted from NOVA scienceNOW, investigate the hypothetical scenario of a person falling into a hole through the center of Earth.

Solar System Dynamics: Orbits and Kepler’s Laws
Explore how human understanding of planetary orbits has changed throughout history in this video about Kepler's laws of planetary motion.

Endangered Species: Q & A Science Trek
Our current extinction rate is between one thousand and ten thousand times the average rate over time. Animals aren't the only things on the threatened or endangered species list, plants are endangered too.

Endangered Species: Worth Save from Extinction? Above the Noise
Throughout Earth’s history there have been five major mass extinction events—where a large percentage of species died out. Scientists estimate that we are in the middle of the 6th mass extinction event right now.

The Discovery of Keystone Species
In the 1960s, a young scientist named Bob Paine manipulated the small ecosystems in tidepools of the Pacific Northwest. Learn how this simple experiment led to a revolutionary discovery with videos from NATURE: The Serengeti Rules.

Reintroducing Predators to Gorongosa National Park
After a civil war, 95% of large mammals were wiped out of Gorongosa National Park. Years later, many plant-eaters returned, but big predators were still missing. Learn how scientists reintroduced wild dogs to keep overgrazing animals in-check with videos fromNATURE: The Serengeti Rules.

Working Landscapes
Tourism is part of our culture and is often our chief connection to our natural surroundings and can affect a landscape's economic potential, ecological makeup, and social needs.