In this video from A Kid Explains History, Quinn explains The Berlin Wall including why it was built and why the wall came down in 1989. With his precocious personality and kid-friendly vocabulary, Quinn is able to explain history in easy-to-understand terms. This video can be used to introduce major foreign events and issues of the John F. Kennedy Administration.
In this video from A Kid Explains History, Quinn explains The Black Death, a.k.a. the Bubonic Plague, and how it devastated Europe in the middle of the 14th century. How was The Black Death able to do this and where did it come from? With his precocious personality and kid-friendly vocabulary, Quinn is able to explain history in easy-to-understand terms. This video can be used when teaching the social and economic impact of The Black Death.
In this video from PBSLearningMedia, John Green teaches students about the Wild, Wild West, which as it turns out, wasn't as wild as it seemed in the movies. This video can be used to introduce Westward Expansion, Texas Annexation, Mexican Cession, and the Louisiana Purchase.
In this video from PBSLearningMedia, John Green teaches students about the (English) colonies in what is now the United States. He covers the first permanent English colony at Jamestown, Virginia, the various theocracies in Massachusetts, the feudal kingdom in Maryland, and even a bit about the spooky lost colony at Roanoke Island. What were the English doing in America, anyway? Lots of stuff. In Virginia, the colonists were largely there to make money. In Maryland, the idea was to create a colony for Catholics who wanted to be serfs of the Lords Baltimore. In Massachusetts, the Pilgrims and Puritans came to America to find a place where they could freely persecute those who didn't share their beliefs. But there was a healthy profit motive in Massachusetts as well. Profits were thin at first, and so were the colonists. Trouble growing food and trouble with the natives kept the early colonies from success. This video can be used when teaching students about the House of Burgesses.
**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.
In this video from PBSLearningMedia, John Green teaches students about relations between the early English colonists and the native people they encountered in the New World. In short, these relations were poor. As soon as they arrived, the English were in conflict with the native people. At Jamestown, Captain John Smith briefly managed to get the colony on pretty solid footing with the local tribes, but it didn't last, and a long series of wars with the natives ensued. This pattern would continue in US history, with settlers pushing into native lands and pushing the inhabitants further west. In this episode, you'll learn about Wahunsunacawh (who the English called Powhatan), his daughter Pocahontas, King Philip's (aka Metacom) War, and the Mystic Massacre. By and large, the history of the Natives and the English was not a happy one, even Thanksgiving wasn't all it's cracked up to be. This video can be used to teach triangular trade and the development of slavery in the colonies.
**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.
Students explore climate change and global warming with multimedia. They create a model of the greenhouse effect and then refine their findings using a demonstration and interactive. Next, students research and diagram carbon sources and sinks. Finally, they organize and analyze data to draw evidence-based conclusions regarding atmospheric carbon concentrations and local emissions. This lesson is part of the Climate Change Challenge unit.
Students collaboratively investigate our planet’s five mass extinctions and the possibility of a sixth mass extinction. Then, students explore the Anthropocene Epoch’s cultural and environmental complexities and impacts before selecting a biome and endangered species that exist within it to be the focus of their research throughout the rest of the unit. They predict how human activity has impacted these biomes and species. This lesson is part of the Engaging in the Fight Against Extinction unit.
Students brainstorm what they know and need to learn about endangered species, in order to best answer the driving question for the unit. Students then engage with a variety of sources about the Sumatran rhino to learn about conservation concepts, including causes of extinction, food webs, and ecosystem services. This lesson is part of the Extinction Stinks! unit.
Students receive their target species and perform background research. Students learn about working with local populations to protect endangered species and read several conservation success stories. Students engage with two conservation storytellers and apply the power of storytelling to their target species. They then compare two grant proposals to prepare for writing their own proposals. This lesson is part of the Extinction Stinks! unit.
Students investigate the impacts of plastics on marine organisms in different marine ecosystems. They construct a food web for an assigned ecosystem, using it to illustrate the principle of biomagnification visually. Students draw on evidence presented in this lesson and in the previous lesson, Plastics, Plastics, Everywhere, to justify an argument about whether plastic pollution affects humans as well. This lesson is part of the Plastics: From Pollution to Solutions unit.
Students explore drivers of extinction across Earth’s major biomes, including human-to environment interactions that threaten biodiversity and seek solutions to mitigate habitat loss and prevent extinction. As a result, they develop research-based action steps critical to protecting a certain species and incorporate key findings into their culminating conservation pamphlets. This lesson is part of the Engaging in the Fight Against Extinction unit.
Students explore the varying roles people can play to save endangered species. Students create an eco-artist social media profile sharing information about artists who encourage conservation through their work. This lesson is part of the Engaging in the Fight Against Extinction unit.
Students research and compare several proposed solutions to the ocean plastics crisis. Then, publishing teams create their own rubrics to evaluate competing solutions and choose a contest winner. Finally, each publishing team identifies a target audience and begins crafting their Call to Action. This lesson is part of the Plastics: From Pollution to Solutions unit.
Students investigate different solutions to human impacts on animal migration and identify different stakeholders; this information will be represented in the final map layer for their unit project. Groups develop and present an evidence-based argument that takes a stand on a specific human impact on animal migration and aims to convince stakeholders to implement a recommended solution. This lesson is part of the Detours and Distractions: How Humans Impact Migration Patterns unit.
Students learn basic background information about the plastics crisis, including what defines plastics, where plastic pollution comes from, and how it gets into the ocean. Working together as part of a publishing team, they synthesize a variety of multimedia resources to create their own Ocean Plastics Movement Model explaining the forces that affect plastics on a global scale. This lesson is part of the Plastics: From Pollution to Solutions unit.
Students use the work of the “Sea to Source: Ganges” river expedition team to learn about different methods for plastic waste data collection and use those methods to conduct their own field research in their school. They use a variety of text and videos to learn about possible solutions that can be implemented in their community. This lesson is part of the Toward a Plastic-Responsible Future unit.
Resources are vital to the existence of people. This resource familiarizes students with the concept of resource distribution and encourages them to think about how people interact with limited resources.
India is home to endangered wildlife like the Asian elephant, tiger, and leopard and approximately 1.3 billion people. Use this set of ideas to engage your classroom in learning about biodiversity and conservation challenges and efforts in India.
Students build a stronger understanding of how the human body is organized and interacts with microbes through a series of articles and videos and by creating a human body microbial map. Then they create a public service announcement on a specific microbe.
Students are challenged, using everyday objects, to create simple machines to complete specific tasks. They are introduced to the concept that simple machines make work easier. Students will complete challenges using levers, pulleys, wheel and axles, and robots.
In this video from PBSLearningMedia, John Green teaches students about the beginnings of the American Revolution. John argues that the Seven Years War, which is often called the French and Indian War in the US, laid a lot of the groundwork for the Revolution. Other stuff was going on in the colonies in the 18th century that primed the people for revolution. One was the Great Awakening. The religious revival was sweeping the country, introducing new ideas about religion and how it should be practiced. At the same time, thinkers like John Locke were rethinking the relationship between rulers and the ruled. So in this highly charged atmosphere, you can just imagine what would happen if the crown started trying to exert more control over the colonies. This video can be used when teaching students about the role of essential documents in the establishment of colonial governments, including the Magna Carta, the English Bill of Rights, and the Mayflower Compact
In this lesson, students identify the difference between global warming and climate change. They learn what causes a global rise in sea level, and they test predictions about sea-level rise through a hands-on experiment.
Use this Kahoot! to test your students' knowledge of climate change. Kahoot! is a free game-based learning platform that makes it easy to create, share and play learning games or trivia quizzes in minutes. There is no need to sign up or log in to Kahoot. You can click "Continue as guest" on this interactive and it will take you to the Kahoot set up page for this game.
​In this lesson, students prepare for BioBlitz by defining biodiversity and examining the characteristics of various plants and animals as examples of taxonomic groupings. A bioblitz is a short, intensive study of the biodiversity of an area. Students learn about the number of species identified globally in key taxa and use this information to make predictions about the biodiversity they may observe during their local bioblitz.
In this lesson, students review each step of the water-treatment process used to make water potable and analyze the order in which the steps occur.
In this lesson, students explore how scientists classify living organisms, then gather information about five of the main categories of microbes: bacteria, viruses, fungi, protozoa, and algae, and contrast the term microbes with systems of scientific classification to show how it is distinct and that microbes are found across the tree of life.
In this lesson, students draw pictures that symbolize different types of weather and then use information about today's weather to make their own state weather map.
In this lesson, students record the position of the sun in the morning and afternoon and make connections to the directions east and west. They practice moving north, south, east, and west and use cardinal directions to read a map.
A bioblitz is a short, intensive study of the biodiversity of an area. In this activity, students investigate and analyze local biodiversity using iNaturalist observations. They collaborate in small groups to explore observations and identification of various taxon groups. Then students create a class graph of data and draw inferences about biodiversity, invasive species, and endangered species in their local park.
In this video from PBSLearningMedia, John Green teaches students that the Revolution did not start on July 4, 1776. The Revolutionary War didn't start on July 4 either. The shooting started on April 19, 1775, at Lexington and/or Concord, MA. Or the shooting started with the Boston Massacre on March 5, 1770. At least we can pin down the Declaration of Independence to July 4, 1776. Except that most of the signers didn't sign until August 2. The point is that the beginning of the Revolution is very complex and hard to pin down. John will lead you through the bramble of taxes, royal decrees, acts of parliament, colonial responses, and various congresses. We'll start with the end of the Seven Years War, and the bill that the British ran up fighting the war. This led to taxes on colonial trade, which led to colonists demanding representation, which led to revolution. It all seems very complicated, but Crash Course will get you through it in about 12 minutes.
**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.
In this video from PBSLearningMedia, John Green teaches students about some of the colonies that were not in Virginia or Massachusetts. Old New York was once New Amsterdam. Before the English got there though, the colony was full of Dutch people who treated women pretty fairly and allowed free black people to hold jobs. John also discusses Penn's Woods, also known as Pennsylvania. Pennsylvania was (briefly) a haven of religious freedom, and William Penn dealt relatively fairly with the natives his colony displaced. We venture as far south as the Carolina colonies, where the slave labor economy was taking shape. John also takes on the idea of the classless society in America, and the beginning of the idea of the American dream.
In this video from PBSLearningMedia, John Green teaches students about the American Revolution. John will teach you about the major battles of the war and discuss the strategies on both sides. Everyone is familiar with how this war played out for the Founding Fathers; they got to become the Founding Fathers. But what did the revolution mean to the common people in the United States? For white, property-owning males, it was pretty sweet. They gained rights that were a definite step up from being British Colonial citizens. For everyone else, the short-term gains were not clear. Women's rights were unaffected, and slaves remained in slavery. As for poor white folks, they remained poor and disenfranchised. The reality is it took a long time for this whole democracy thing to get underway, and the principles of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness weren't immediately available to all these newly minted Americans.
In this video from PBSLearningMedia, John Green teaches students about the United States Constitution. During and after the American Revolutionary War, the government of the new country operated under the Articles of Confederation. While these Articles got the young nation through its war with England, they weren't of much use when it came to running a country. So, the founding fathers decided to try their hand at nation-building, and they created the Constitution of the United States, which you may remember as the one that says We The People at the top. You'll learn about Shays' Rebellion, the Federalist Papers, the elite vs rabble dynamic of the houses of congress, and start to find out just what an anti-federalist is.
**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.
In this video from PBSLearningMedia, John Green teaches students where American politicians come from. In the beginning, George Washington was elected president with no opposition, everything was new and exciting, and everyone just got along. For several months. Then the contentious debate about the nature of the United States began, and it continues to this day. Washington and his lackey/handler Alexander Hamilton pursued an elitist program of federalism. The opposition, creatively known as the anti-federalists, wanted to build some kind of agrarian pseudo-paradise where every (white) man could have his own farm, and live a free, self-reliant life. The founding father who epitomized this view was Thomas Jefferson.
**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.
In this lesson, students determine the colors for land and water on a map. They read a map and create a chart of animals that live in water and on land.
