Wings Over the Alamo
Air Date: Monday, November 2 at 8pm on 9.1
Link to Video Player**available 2 weeks from programs air date
Grades 2-8
Texas Statehood and National Parks: In the United States, public lands belong to different kinds of governments. Some are federal lands owned by the United States government. Some public land is owned by the states. Other public land is owned by counties or cities. Public land can have many different uses. It might hold a courthouse or state capitol building. It might be a city playground or pool. Public land might be the site of a school or a university. Military bases are on public land. National Parks are also public land, owned by the federal government.
Grades 9-12
Remember the Alamo: An Alamo Visit: Explore the roots of Texas' independence from Mexico with a 21st-century visitor to the Alamo. Learn more with this resource from American Experience: "Remember the Alamo."
Inside Animal Minds: Bird Genius
Air Date: Wednesday, November 4 at 12pm on 9.2
Grades K-8
Bird Food: The shape of a bird's beak says a lot about what the bird eats. Whether long or short, broad or narrow, each type of beak is perfectly matched to a particular type of food. This collection of images shows a wide range of beak types and the kinds of food each might be used to eat.
Grades 6-12
The Life of Birds: Bird Brains: A new generation of scientists believe that creatures, including birds, can solve problems by insight and even learn by example, as human children do.
Nature: Primates
Wednesdays, November 4 - 18 at 7pm (3-part series) on 9.1
Link to Video Player **available 2 weeks from programs air date
Grades 3-4
Night Primates: Wild Kratts: Learn about night primates with the Kratt brothers. Chris and Martin introduce us to the slow loris and tarsiers, which can see well at night.
Grades 4-6
Primate Scientist: When Primate Scientist Lisa Parr was a girl, she already knew she wanted to be a scientist. In college, she learned about the exciting world of primates. Now, at the Yerkes Primate Research Center, she studies how chimpanzees communicate with their facial expressions and gestures and how chimps recognize each other. Lisa hopes to learn more about the human mind by studying these amazing primates! This video is available in both English and Spanish audio, along with corresponding closed captions.
Grades 8-12
The Age of Nature- Restoring Habitats: In this activity, students will analyze the potential for reforestation and reversal of coral bleaching to increase global CO2 capture. Reestablishment of native species in terrestrial and aquatic biomes benefits not only local ecosystems but global health. After examining the role of trees and corals, students will interpret the need for increased efforts to preserve these vital components of the biosphere. Students will have the opportunity to recognize, interpret, examine, and judge the importance of reforestation or aquatic restoration in their own communities.
Rise of the Nazis
Air Date: Tuesdays, November 10-24 at 8pm on 9.1
Link to Video Player **available 2 weeks from programs air date
Grades 5-12
The Last Days of World War II- World War II: was a long and brutal war. After three years, eight months and eight days, the fighting for American forces was over. It is estimated that more than 60 million people were killed in the conflicts, many of them civilians. Sixteen million Americans had been sent to war; 406,000 never returned. Soon the focus could change from sacrificing to rebuilding. This segment of Iowa Public Television's Iowa’s WWII Stories includes historical footage and interviews with two Iowa veterans.
Grades 7-12
Defying the Nazis- The Sharps' War: Ken Burns’ new documentary Defying the Nazis: The Sharps’ War tells Martha and Waitstill Sharps’ extraordinary story. These three lesson plans from Facing History use excerpts of the film, personal letters, photographs, and thought-provoking questions to help you explore what motivated the Sharps’ mission, the dilemmas they faced, and the impact of their courageous actions.
Back to the Moon
Air Date: Wednesday, November 11 at 12 pm on 9.2
Grades 3-5
Earth and Moon Data: Explore Earth and Moon data for New York City and Melbourne, and for any location worldwide, using the U.S. Naval Observatory’s database and observe a NASA animation showing the monthly cycle of Moon phases for 2018. This resource provides opportunities for students to plot and analyze data, observe the phenomena of Moon phases, ask questions, and make evidence-based claims about Earth–Sun–Moon relationships.
Grades 6-8
Phases of the Moon: Explore why the Moon has phases with this gallery of two interactive lessons that allow students to use simulations and models of the Earth–Sun–Moon system. Both lessons include handouts for students to complete while using multiple simulations that model how the relative positions of the Sun, the Moon, and Earth lead to the cycle of changes in the Moon’s apparent shape.
Grades 9-12
Teaching Surface Geology: This STEM Professional Development module for teachers looks at how to use images and visualizations of surface features in the solar system to teach high school Earth and Space Sciences. Surface processes throughout the solar system are similar, and we can use comparative geology to learn about the history of Earth's surface as well as about the surfaces of other rocky planets and moons. Teachers using the self-paced interactive lesson can learn or review science content and pedagogy while using NASA media found on PBS LearningMedia, which you can then readily use with your own students.
Petra: Lost City of Stone
Air Date: Wednesday, November 11 at 8pm on 9.1
Link to Video Player **available 2 weeks from programs air date
Grades 3-6
Building Big- Local Wonders: Local Wonders is a fun way to discover who's been building big around you and how their structures have shaped the world you live in. Discover new buildings in your community with this activity from the WGBH production, Building Big.
Grades 3-6
Building Big- Building Challenges Handout: Now that you've been exploring materials, shapes, and forces, it's time to put them together in a structure you design and build with this handout from Building Big.
Grades 6-12
Ancient Building Techniques: Learn about ancient building techniques at the Nabatean city of Petra in this clip from Time Scanners. A structure called the "Unfinished Tomb" shows how Nabatean stone masons cut a platform at the top of the stone and carved the facades from the top down. At Petra's Monastery, Lidar scans help prove a building engineer's theory about how the Nabatean stone masons would have carved the Monastery façade.
Secrets of Royal Travel
Air Date: Wednesdays, November 15 & 22 at 9pm (2-part series) on 9.1
Link to Video Player **available 2 weeks from programs air date
Pack your bags for a rare inside look at the monarchy's luxurious private planes and trains. Climb on board the "palace on wheels" and take to the skies for the five-star opulence of the Queen's Flight.
Grades 6-12
Her Homes- Queen Victoria's Empires: A brief overview of Queen Victoria's residences.
Grades 9-12
Victoria Becomes Queen: Meet young Victoria as she makes her first appearance as queen to address the advisors who make up her Privy Council, in this scene from the 2017 drama series MASTERPIECE: Victoria. Accompanying Teaching Tips and Essays explore the circumstances that led to Victoria becoming queen and England's constitutional monarchy system of government.
We Dig Dinosaurs: Prehistoric Road Trip
Air Date: Wednesday, November 18 at 11am on 9.2
Grades 6-12
Dinosaur Wars- Searching for Fossils: Primary Resources: Learn about an 1870 fossil hunt in the American West. With Buffalo Bill as a guide and a team comprised of cowboy-attired undergraduate students, the expedition unearthed dozens of samples of the prehistoric fauna that had inhabited the land millions of years before including camels, horses, and mastodons. This article, written by one of the students on the trip, was published in Harper's Monthly the following year. Read the primary source, from the American Experience episode, "Dinosaur Wars."
Autumnwatch: New England
Air Date: Wednesday, November 25 at 1pm on 9.2
Grades PreK-12
Celebrating Fall: Explore the autumn scene while learning math, literacy, and science at the same time! These fall-themed resources highlight ways to make traditional fall activities - like visiting the apple orchard, going on nature hikes, and collecting colorful leaves - educational. Use the creative ideas embedded in these videos, activities, and games to organize a fall festival (which can be used as an alternative to a Halloween celebration) and encourage students of all ages to develop an appreciation for the wonders of fall!
Santa’s Wild Home
Air Date: Wednesday, November 25 at 7pm on 9.1
Link to Video Player **available 2 weeks from programs air date
Get an intimate look into life in Lapland, fabled land of Santa Claus and actual home of tenacious wildlife such as reindeer, wolverines, Brown bears and more.
Grades PreK-3
What Are the Northern Lights? Ready, Jet, Go!: Did you know that the Earth has its very own light show? In this clip from Ready Jet Go!, Jet and the gang try to find the fabled northern lights. Face 9000 explains that the northern lights (or aurora borealis) are caused when solar particles from the sun collide with the magnetic fields on the North and South poles.
Grades 3-5
Epic Earth: Observe seven views of Earth as captured by NASA’s EPIC camera aboard a satellite that is one million miles from our planet. This annotated video shows spectacular sights, including the moon crossing over Earth, storms in an ocean, and smoke from a wildfire. Water in its three phases is represented in the oceans, the North and South Poles, and in the clouds.
Grades 6-12
The Race for the North Pole- Teaching with Primary Sources: This inquiry kit has Library of Congress sources about two American explorers. Rear Admiral Robert Peary and Dr. Frederick Cook each said they were the first person to reach the North Pole.
John Denver: Country Boy
Air Date: Thursday, November 26 at 7pm on 9.1
Grades 3-8
Music- One Minute Music Lesson: People create musical performances all over the world. Students will watch a one-minute animation about the history of music.
Grades 6-12
African American Roots and Influences in Country Music: In this activity, students gain an understanding of the African American influences in country music by examining the genre's earliest instruments, its jazz and blues foundations, and Elvis Presley's "rockabilly" — a genre-shifting synthesis of blues, R&B, and country. To culminate, students research the recent controversy surrounding Billboard Music's decision to remove Lil Nas X's "Old Town Road" from its Country chart, which raised questions about the purpose of musical genres and the historic exclusion of African Americans from country music narratives. *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.
Dolly Parton: I Will Always Love You
Air Date: Sunday, November 29 at 6pm on 9.1
Grades 2-5
Antonín Dvořák in the New World- Class Notes: It often surprises music lovers in this country that the great Czech composer Dvořák spent three years in the United States. The stay vividly shaped his music from then on and had a liberating impact on American composers’ acceptance of their own neglected musical forebears. "I did not come to America to interpret Beethoven or Wagner," he said. "I came to...discover what young Americans had in them and help them express it."
Grades 6-12
Music as a Vocation- 1964-1972: Dolly Parton grew up in small-town Tennessee. After high school, she moved to Nashville to pursue music, and went to auditions between jobs in her spare time. Parton first found fame on television, most significantly through her partnership with Porter Wagoner. The 1960s and 70s provide a backdrop for students to explore the workings of the country music industry during an era defined by protest. Students will learn about Buck Owens, who helped define country's Bakersfield sound and made creative and professional decisions on his own terms. During the same period, musician Charley Pride faced significant racial discimination and ultimately overcame both personal and much broader social and political adversity to make music history. And Dolly Parton’s career path has been defined by her tenacity, song-writing talent, and feminist ethos in combination. Students will consider how the social and political trends of the tumultuous period during which Owens, Pride, and Parton rose to fame helped to shape their career trajectories and music.*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.
NOVA: Polar Extremes
Air Date: Wednesday, December 2 at 11am on 9.2
Grades 6-12
NOVA Polar Lab: The interactive NOVA Polar Lab uses 360° videos, interviews with scientists, and mini-games to send students on an immersive quest to understand how the poles are key to understanding Earth’s climate—past, present, and future.
Grades 6-12
Antarctica's Ice-Free Past- Polar Extremes: Learn how the fossil record provides evidence that Antarctica and South America were once connected, and that Antarctica once had a much warmer climate than it does today, in this video from NOVA: Polar Extremes. Use this resource to examine the types of evidence that scientists use to support their understanding of Earth’s climate history and tectonic plate motion.