Social Studies

World History Prehistory to 1500 A.D.

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NOVA

RESOURCE	GRADE LEVEL	MEDIA TYPE
Are We Alone? This video segment adapted from NOVA features a variety of scientific perspectives on the age old question, "Are we alone in the universe?" Animations make vivid the improbability that we could intercept a radio wave signaling extra terrestrial intelligence.	6-12	Video
Cave Formation: Biogeochemical Cycles This video segment adapted from NOVA chronicles the discoveries that led to a radical new theory in which living organisms, not just geological processes, play an active role in cave formation.	6-12	Video
Climate Change This video segment adapted from NOVA explains the difference between weather and climate and features groundbreaking analysis revealing that Earth's climate has changed much faster than previously believed.	6-12	Video
Construct an Aqueduct Think like an engineer and build an aqueduct in this interactive activity from the NOVA Web site.	3-12	Interactive
Deciphering the Maya Code This video segment adapted from NOVA examines the ancient Maya writing system and looks at what they recorded in their writings.	5-12	Video
Deep-Sea Vents and Life's Origins Deep-sea vents are home to life forms that do not rely on the Sun's energy. They depend instead on energy from volcanoes on the ocean floor. This video segment adapted from NOVA hypothesizes that life on Earth may have begun in this extreme environment.	3-12	Video
Energy Transfer in a Trebuchet On NOVA, a team of carpenters, timber framers, engineers, and historians recreate a medieval throwing machine called a trebuchet. This adapted video segment explores how understanding energy transfer informs their design.	6-12	Video
Finding Lucy This Evolution video segment depicts the landmark hominid fossil finds by Don Johanson and his team in Ethiopia.	9-12	Video
Genetic Variation This video segment from NOVA: "Cracking the Code of Life" explores the genetic similarities and differences among organisms.	9-12	Video
Global Warming: Graphs Tell the Story Examine these graphs from the NOVA/ FRONTLINE Web site to see dramatic increases in the temperature of Earth's surface and greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.	6-12	Document
Global Warming: Graphs Tell the Story Examine graphs from the NOVA/FRONTLINE Web site to see dramatic changes in the temperature of Earth's surface and in the levels of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.	9-12	Document
Homo Sapiens Versus Neanderthals This video segment, adapted from NOVA, explores reasons why Homo sapiens had an advantage over Neanderthals in the pursuit of territory and natural resources.	6-12	Video
Jupiter: Earth's Shield Jupiter's immense gravity protects Earth from asteroids. In this video segment adapted from NOVA, scientists searching for signs of life in the universe identify solar systems with Jupiter-like planets that may be shielding smaller nearby Earth-like planets from comets and asteroids.	6-12	Video
Laetoli Footprints This Evolution video segment describes how the famous track fossils known as the Laetoli footprints might have been formed and what they can reveal about the creatures who left them.	6-12	Video
Lever an Obelisk Investigate the mechanical advantage of the lever in this interactive activity from the NOVA Web site.	6-12	Interactive
Mammals Get Their Chance In this video segment adapted from NOVA, animations of an asteroid hitting Earth are used to illustrate this widely accepted theory of dinosaur extinction and the resulting conditions that favored mammals.	K-5	Video
Plate Tectonics: The Hawaiʻian Archipelago This video segment adapted from NOVA uses animation to show the relationship between the movement of a tectonic plate and whether volcanoes on the Hawaiian Islands are active or dormant.	6-12	Video
Raising an Obelisk: An Engineering Puzzle This video segment adapted from NOVA follows two teams as they each test a different engineering design in an effort to explain how ancient Egyptians raised a giant stone obelisk.	3-12	Video
Stories in the Ice Take a journey back through time, on the NOVA/FRONTLINE Web site, using ice cores to learn about Earth's climatic history, including evidence of global warming and nuclear activity.	6-12	Document
When Did the First Americans Arrive? In this video segment adapted from NOVA, recent archeological evidence leads scientists to revise existing theories about human migrations into the Americas around the time of the last ice age.	6-12	Video