This is a short video outlining the causes and effects of a magnitude 9.2 earthquake in Alaska in 1964. Additional resources include a background essay and discussion questions.
This interactive activity demonstrates and provides explanation for how acid rain affects aquatic ecosystems and how certain species react to decreased water quality as pH becomes lower. The activity also explains the pH scale as a measure of acidity.
This brief video clip demonstrates how to create a hovercraft from simple materials. Toward the end of the clip, the students in the video explains the science behind the hovercraft's motion (reduced friction). Students are encouraged to continue the experimentation on their own by changing variables in the design of the hovercraft.
Students will explore the tenacious persistence of Alice Paul, who continued to push for women's suffrage despite the Great War and her imprisonment. Eventually, Woodrow Wilson came to see her perspective after his adminstration came under attack.
This brief video segment explores the question of sexual versus asexual reproduction through a discussion of a parthnogenic species of salamander.
In this clip from the documentary, "The Bomb," students will learn how, even though the Japanese were losing the war, they refused to surrender, forcing President Truman to find a way to end the war.
This resource requires students to test their engineering skills and try to match the right bridge to the right location.
In this video segment from Cyberchase, Matt and Inez have to choose a cage for Spout the Whale. The cages they find in a store come in different sizes and Matt and Inez are not sure of Spout?s exact size. They use estimation and non-standard measurements to estimate Spout's size and select the best cage. Teaching tips are also provided that discuss frame, focus and follow-up suggestions for using this video in a math lesson.
Lesson plan using a Cyberchase activity where students learn about body matches, measuring one part of the body using another body part. They learn about non-standard measures and relative measurement. This activity is motivated by a Cyberchase episode in which the CyberSquad must act as crime scene experts to find out who kidnapped Chewcrocca, a giant cybercrocodile.
In this video segment from Cyberchase, Harry plays a game of chess with a young friend and suggests a wager on the game. Harry?s friend uses a story to explain how putting a penny on the first square and then doubling the amount on each square of the chessboard can generate a tremendous amount of money over time. Teaching tips are also provided that discuss frame, focus and follow-up suggestions for using this video in a math lesson.
Video segment from Cyberchase, Harry decides he wants to compete in the Northern Hemisphere Games in New Orleans. He must compete in four events and score a total of 50 points to make the team. In each event, if he does well he can score high, but if he performs poorly, his score could become a negative number. Teaching tips are also provided that discuss frame, focus and follow-up suggestions for using this video in a math lesson.
Students will explore the disconnect between the goal of the Sedition Act--to quell any dissent toward the United States government, flag, or military - and the role of the United States in fighting to "make the world safe for democracy." Includes video clip, student handout, and teaching tips.
In this clip from the documentary "The Bomb," students will learn how close the world came to nuclear holocaust during the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis.
n this activity, students learn some of the pitfalls of doing surveys. They also learn to examine the shape of data, including data clusters, the range and typical values. This Cyberchase activity is motivated by a video segment in which the CyberSquad searches for Hacker's castle based on a survey of where town residents have last seen him.
In this lesson resource from Frontline, students will explore how Trayvon Martin's death ignited passions across the nation and how President Obama responded. Video clip and teaching tips included.
In this lesson resource from Frontline, students will explore how the partisan debate over the Affordable Care Act (ACA) led to the extreme polarization of Democrats and Republicans and helped fuel the rise of the Tea Party movement. Background info, teaching tips, and video clips included.
In this activity, Franklin goes to the store to purchase supplies to complete a painting job. He works with Laverne to estimate the cost of materials using rounding and uses that estimate to calculate his rate of pay based on how long the job takes him.
Lesson plan using a Cyberchase activity, students are introduced to a problem that gives them a sense of how quickly exponential growth accrues in the classic problem about a chess board and grains of rice. The context is extended to consider applications using money growth and chain letters. They are introduced to the algebraic representation for exponential growth.
This set of graphs from the Web site for the NOVA/FRONTLINE Special Report: "What's Up with the Weather?" reveals how atmospheric carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxides from the burning of fossil fuels have climbed over time. The graphs show data collected during the study of ice core samples and are featured in the article "Stories in the Ice." Supplemental resources, including a background essay and discussion questions, are also provided.
This media-rich essay discusses astronomy's latest theories on the size and shape of the universe. Supplemental resources, including a background essay and discussion questions, are also provided.