Annenberg Learner Search Results

Glossary

section: Focus In Activity

…have applied and modeled this method with one photograph from each of the collections. Consult the glossary to familiarize yourself with some of the terms used when describing what one might see in a photograph. You may also want to watch A Closer Look to view these steps in action with teachers. Focus In Method…

unit: Genomics

…textbook chapters support and extend the content of each video. The Web version can be viewed as a full chapter or as individual sub-sections, and includes links to glossary terms and other related material. Animations and Images Explore the archive of animations, images and figures from the videos and online textbook. All of the images…

unit: Emerging Infectious Diseases

…viewed as a full chapter or as individual sub-sections, and includes links to glossary terms and other related material. ANIMATIONS & IMAGES Explore the archive of animations, images and figures from the videos and online textbook. All of the images can be viewed online or downloaded as jpg files. EXPERT INTERVIEW TRANSCRIPTS Read profiles of…

unit: Neurobiology

…textbook chapters support and extend the content of each video. The Web version can be viewed as a full chapter or as individual sub-sections, and includes links to glossary terms and other related material. ANIMATIONS & IMAGES Explore the archive of animations, images and figures from the videos and online textbook. All of the images…

unit: Microbial Diversity

…of each video. The Web version can be viewed as a full chapter or as individual sub-sections, and includes links to glossary terms and other related material. ANIMATIONS & IMAGES Explore the archive of animations, images and figures from the videos and online textbook. All of the images can be viewed online or downloaded as…

unit: Human Evolution

…of modern humans. ONLINE TEXTBOOK The online textbook chapters support and extend the content of each video. The Web version can be viewed as a full chapter or as individual sub-sections, and includes links to glossary terms and other related material. ANIMATIONS & IMAGES Explore the archive of animations, images and figures from the videos…

unit: Genetically Modified Organisms

…research. ONLINE TEXTBOOK The online textbook chapters support and extend the content of each video. The Web version can be viewed as a full chapter or as individual sub-sections, and includes links to glossary terms and other related material. ANIMATIONS & IMAGES Explore the archive of animations, images and figures from the videos and online…

unit: Cell Biology and Cancer

…The Web version can be viewed as a full chapter or as individual sub-sections, and includes links to glossary terms and other related material. ANIMATIONS & IMAGES Explore the archive of animations, images and figures from the videos and online textbook. All of the images can be viewed online or downloaded as jpg files. EXPERT…

unit: Evolution and Phylogenetics

…and extend the content of each video. The Web version can be viewed as a full chapter or as individual sub-sections, and includes links to glossary terms and other related material. ANIMATIONS & IMAGES Explore the archive of animations, images and figures from the videos and online textbook. All of the images can be viewed…

unit: Genetics of Development

…The Web version can be viewed as a full chapter or as individual sub-sections, and includes links to glossary terms and other related material. ANIMATIONS & IMAGES Explore the archive of animations, images and figures from the videos and online textbook. All of the images can be viewed online or downloaded as jpg files. EXPERT…

unit: Biodiversity

…of each video. The Web version can be viewed as a full chapter or as individual sub-sections, and includes links to glossary terms and other related material. ANIMATIONS & IMAGES Explore the archive of animations, images and figures from the videos and online textbook. All of the images can be viewed online or downloaded as…

unit: Biology of Sex and Gender

…The online textbook chapters support and extend the content of each video. The Web version can be viewed as a full chapter or as individual sub-sections, and includes links to glossary terms and other related material. ANIMATIONS & IMAGES Explore the archive of animations, images and figures from the videos and online textbook. All of…

unit: Proteins and Proteomics

…chapters support and extend the content of each video. The Web version can be viewed as a full chapter or as individual sub-sections, and includes links to glossary terms and other related material. ANIMATIONS & IMAGES Explore the archive of animations, images and figures from the videos and online textbook. All of the images can…

program: Garbage: The Science and Problem of What We Throw Away

…Projects in References and Further Reading.) As you analyze the photographs in this collection, keep in mind—and prompt your students to think about—the source, context, scale, vantage point of the photographer, color, or texture, etc. (See the Glossary for more about scale, vantage point, and texture.) Note: Trash, garbage, waste, and rubbish are used interchangeably…

unit: HIV and AIDS

…levels, and the ethical issues surrounding current research and treatments. ONLINE TEXTBOOK The online textbook chapters support and extend the content of each video. The Web version can be viewed as a full chapter or as individual sub-sections, and includes links to glossary terms and other related material. ANIMATIONS & IMAGES Explore the archive of…

unit: Series Resources

…online photograph collections. Focus In Activity explores the step-by-step process for analyzing photographs. Additional Photograph Resources includes a comprehensive list of online sources for photographs, as well as extra photo-enhanced lesson plans for both humanities and science-based topics. The Glossary lists key photographic terms that teachers can introduce in the classroom to build student vocabulary….

unit: Earth’s Changing Climate

unit: Many Planets, One Earth

unit: Oceans

video: Risk, Exposure, and Health Video

video: Human Population Dynamics Video

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unit: Atmosphere

video: Overview

unit: Looking Forward: Our Global Experiment

unit: Energy Challenges

unit: Biodiversity Decline

unit: Water Resources

unit: Agriculture

unit: Risk, Exposure, and Health

unit: Human Population Dynamics

unit: Ecosystems

unit: About This Course

Reading and writing are no longer the sole responsibility of the English classroom, but a critical part of how students explore and understand complex concepts across all disciplines. By examining general disciplinary literacy strategies and practices—and then focusing more deeply on their own discipline—middle and high school teachers will gain insight into how to support…

video: Utopian Promise

Puritan and Quaker Utopian Visions, 1620-1750 When British colonists landed in the Americas they created communities that they hoped would serve as a “light onto the nations.” But what role would the native inhabitants play in this new model community? This Unit compares the answers of three important groups, the Puritans, Quakers, and Native Americans,…

video: The Mind Hidden and Divided

Interview Excerpt: Jonathan Schooler on Discovered Memory and False Memory Dr. Jonathan Schooler describes how the brain’s susceptibility to false memories can make it difficult for people to distinguish actual from imagined experiences. Discovered memory refers to situations in which people believe they have suddenly remembered a long-forgotten memory. These memories may be of any…

video: The Power of the Situation

Experiment: Simulating Prison Life In the early 1970s, Craig Haney, Curt Banks, Carlo Prescott, and Philip Zimbardo conducted a landmark situational study at Stanford University. The experiment tested the fundamental attribution error: our tendency to attribute causes of behavior to personal factors, underestimating the influence of situational conditions. For this study, a small group of…

video: Maturing and Aging

Test Yourself: Myths and Realities About Old Age As the human life span increases, the elderly make up a greater part of the general population. We know more about the physical and mental effects of aging than ever before, and yet outdated cultural ideas about old age are pervasive, and often influence how we view…

video: The Self

Experiment: How Self-Efficacy Affects Performance In this program, psychologists study elements that influence how we view ourselves. We’ve learned from their research that our attitudes play an important role in our abilities. In program 12, Motivation and Emotion, we learned that optimists perform better than pessimists do. Similarly, people who have a better view of…

video: Sex and Gender

Experiment: Developmental Gender Study Some of the most basic differences between the sexes are revealed at a very young age. These findings raise a central question: Are gender differences and behaviors learned or innate? Developmental neuroscientist Dr. Michael Meaney of McGill University studied the gender roles in young vervet monkeys and Norway rats at play….

unit: The Quantum World

This unit covers a field of physics that is simultaneously one of the most powerful, transformational, and precise tools for exploring nature and yet for non-physicists one of the most mysterious and misunderstood aspects of all science. Developed early in the 20th century to solve a crisis in understanding the nature of the atom, quantum…

video: Testing and Intelligence

Interview Excerpt: Howard Gardner on Multiple Intelligences Dr. Howard Gardner defines mulitiple intelligences and explains how the theory represents intelligences not measured by traditional IQ tests. The theory of multiple intelligences argues against the idea that intelligence can be accurately measured with just an IQ test. If you look at the world around you and…

video: Psychopathology

Experiment: The Genetics of Schizophrenia Psychopathology is defined as the study of any significant behavioral or psychological syndrome that impairs an individual’s daily functioning in society. The current dialogue among doctors and researchers treating mental disorders explores the intersection of genetics and environment in major mental illnesses. In their study of schizophrenia, a psychotic breakdown…

video: Constructing Social Reality

Interview Excerpt: Steven Hassan on the Power of Cults and the Myths Surrounding Them Licensed Mental Health Counselor and Cult Expert Steven Hassan addresses the factors that enable cults to gain and control the minds of followers. My definition of a cult is a pyramid-structured, authoritarian group or relationship where deception, recruitment, and mind control…

video: Becoming Visible

Ethnic Writers and the Literary Mainstream, 1945-1969 This episode guides the viewer through the works and contexts of ethnic writers from 1945-1965. Starting with the works of Ralph Waldo Ellison, Philip Roth, and N. Scott Momaday, we explore the way writers from the margins took over the center of American culture….

section: Things Fall Apart – Getting Started

The Measure of a Man Things Fall Apart is a very famous book, and one of the few books by a contemporary African writer that is widely assigned in U.S. high schools. For good reason: Things Fall Apart is the short, swift story of one man’s rise and fall as world events play out around…

video: Psychotherapy

Interview Excerpt: Hans Strupp on Psychodynamic Therapy Dr. Hans Strupp discusses the elements necessary from both patient and therapist for successful psychotherapy. The key ingredients of successful psychotherapy are a patient who can work in therapy, a therapist who can work with his or her patient, and a relationship between the two that makes it…

video: Health, Mind, and Behavior

Essay: Holistic Medicine and the Biopsychosocial Approach Recent studies in the relationship between mind and body hint at new ideas that go beyond traditional biomedical approaches to illness. This holistic approach has inspired a field of health psychology research in which both a medical and a psychological perspective are used to study why we become…

video: Applying Psychology in Life

Interview Excerpt: Stephen Ceci on Child Witness Credibility Research Psychologist Stephen Ceci discusses the psychological factors that must be considered when interviewing young children in judicial settings. It may come as a surprise to some people that nearly three million young children in the U.S. are interviewed each year by law enforcement, child protection, and…

video: Cognitive Neuroscience

Essay: Understanding Cognitive Neuroscience The experiments in this program help illustrate not only the brain’s flexibility and responsiveness, but also how we measure these responses and changes. Through a variety of instruments, doctors are able to take pictures of the brain, but only as recently as the 1990s did functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) make…

video: Cultural Psychology

Interview Excerpt: Hazel Markus on the Emergence of Cultural Psychology Dr. Hazel Markus explains how the inextricable factor of one’s own cultural perspective led to the development of the subfield of cultural psychology. Cultures are not new, but cultural psychology is a relatively new force in the field of psychology — for a variety of…

video: Masculine Heroes

American Expansion, 1820-1900 In 1898, Frederick Jackson Turner declared the frontier the defining feature of American culture, but American authors had uncovered its significance much earlier. This program turns to three key writers of the early national period (James Fenimore Cooper, John Rollin Ridge, and Walt Whitman) and examines the influential visions of American manhood…

section: Popol Vuh – Getting Started

Myth and Survival Like Gilgamesh, Popol Vuh combines real human history and supernatural myth to give people a sense of their place in the universe, their divine origins and their earthly role. In this case, the people are the Quiché Mayans. Their origins were around 300 CE in what is today south-central Guatemala and eastern…

unit: Macroscopic Quantum Mechanics

The fundamentals of quantum mechanics that we met in Unit 5 characteristically appear on microscopic scales. Macroscopic quantum systems in which liquids, or electric currents, flow without friction or resistance have been known since the early part of the previous century: these are the superfluids and superconductors of traditional condensed matter physics that are discussed…

video: The West

video: Kinetics and Nuclear Chemistry – Rates of Reaction

From an instantaneous explosion to the slow rusting of iron, the rates at which different chemical reactions proceed can vary tremendously depending on several factors, including temperature and concentration. Sometimes, like with the rotting of food, chemists want to slow down reaction rates. But often, the goal is to speed them up—and one way to…

video: The Mind Awake and Asleep

Essay: The Anatomy of Dreams “Sleep…knits up the raveled sleave of care.” —William Shakespeare On average, we are asleep for a third of our total life span. In addition to its overall restorative role, sleep also simultaneously engages and restores the brain. Sleep researchers have discovered that the brain is surprisingly active during sleep. Dream…

unit: Dark Energy

This unit focuses on one of the biggest questions in 21st century physics: what is the fate of the universe? In recent years, astronomers have been surprised to discover that the expansion of the universe is speeding up. We attribute this to the influence of a “dark energy” that may have its origin in the…

video: The Metallic World: Electrochemistry and Coordination Compounds

Metals allow the transfer of electrons through a process called oxidation-reduction, or “redox,” when one species gains electrons while another loses them. Chemists take advantage of this process by using electron transfers to power the batteries in our flashlights, phones, or cars. In biochemistry, trace metals, such as cobalt in Vitamin B12, often drive chemical…

video: Spirit of Nationalism

Declaring Independence, 1710-1850 The Enlightenment brought new ideals and a new notion of selfhood to the American colonies. This program begins with an examination of the importance of the trope of the self-made man in Benjamin Franklin’s autobiography, and then turns to the development of this concept in the writings of Romanticist Ralph Waldo Emerson….

section: The Epic of Gilgamesh – Getting Started

The Beginning Gilgamesh is considered the first masterpiece of World Literature; in fact it is the earliest known epic narrative we have. At first it may seem intimidating to try to bridge the gap between the twenty-first century and 2800 BCE. After all, we don’t know know what the original readers in ancient Sumeria knew—their…

video: Modern Materials and the Solid State: Crystals, Polymers, and Alloys

While chemical reactions in gases and liquids are essential to the understanding of chemistry, the chemistry of solid-state materials characterizes most of the interactions we have with matter on a daily basis. Chemists take advantage of the complexity of solids to engineer new materials, including nanoparticles, polymers, and advanced metal alloys. These new materials have…

workshop: What Is Art?

Start Your Journey Here Take this survey to assess your current knowledge and ideas about art. Are there universal elements that distinguish what we call “art” from other objects or experiences? How can we recognize art when we see it? In the first four lessons of Program 1, you will explore the nature of art…

unit: Atmospheric Pollution

unit: The Basic Building Blocks of Matter

In this unit, we shall explore particle physics, the study of the fundamental constituents of matter. These basic building blocks lay the foundation for all of the ambitious projects detailed throughout this course. Dramatic discoveries over the last century have completely changed our view of the structure of matter, as physicists have delved into the…

unit: String Theory and Extra Dimensions

This unit continues our movement from an experimentally proven understanding of nature’s four fundamental forces to the theoretical effort to develop a “theory of everything” that brings all four forces under the same conceptual umbrella. The most prominent aspect of that effort is the family of string theories that envision the basic units of matter…

video: Motivation and Emotion

Interview Excerpt: Martin Seligman on Optimism and Pessimism Dr. Martin Seligman describes how attitudes of optimism and pessimism influence job performance. In our research on the roles of optimism and pessimism, we conducted studies in the workplace. We looked for a demanding field in which there were a lot of challenges, frustration, and rejection. The…

video: Southern Renaissance

“My subject in fiction,” Flannery O’Connor tells us, “is the action of grace in the territory held largely by the devil.” One might do well to ask what, if not the devil, haunts the American South in this era between the wars. This program uncovers the revisioning of Southern myths during the modernist era by…

video: Language Development

Interview Excerpt: Daniel Slobin on Patterns in Language Development Dr. Slobin discusses how grammatical errors offer insights into how children use patterns in language development. One of our main concerns as psycholinguists is figuring out the strategies that children use to discover the grammar of their languages. If you ask ordinary parents how their child…

video: Sensation and Perception

Interview Excerpt: David Hubel and the Visual Pathway Dr. David Hubel explains how cellular structures in the nervous system create the visual pathway between eyesight and brain processing. In order to understand what we mean by pathway, you need to understand that cells are clustered in the nervous system. They’re aggregated into groups the size…

video: Learning

Experiment: How Pigeons Learn Self Control In the study of behavior, operant behavior is affected by the environment, and operative conditioning is used to reinforce behavioral change. Behavioral psychologist Dr. Howard Rachlin used operant conditioning to study ways of developing self-control in pigeons. Dr. Rachlin chose to use pigeons because they can be a particularly…

video: Remembering and Forgetting

Essay: The Biology of Memory Memory is defined as stored information. When we take in information — a lecture, for example — neurotransmitters in the brain are working to filter and store the information in memory. While it sounds simple, memory is a complex and dynamic process that relies on a series of factors. At…

video: California Missions

Video Summary: “How can I teach my students California’s state history, integrate technology, and support a bilingual class?” This question prompted fourth-grade teacher Osvaldo Rubio to develop the lesson “California Missions.” The California Framework for state history requires students to learn about the geography of California; the social, political, cultural, and economic life of its…

video: Cognitive Processes

Interview Excerpt: Robert Glaser on Cognitive Processes Researcher Dr. Robert Glaser explains how the process of organizing knowledge in sophisticated patterns enables people to become experts. One of the studies we’ve conducted on cognitive processes involves trying to understand what it means for people to be an expert. First, we want to understand the performance…

video: Judgment and Decision Making

Test Yourself: Decision Making and the Availability Heuristic In this program, psychologist Daniel Kahneman conducts a study illustrating the availability heuristic, a way of deciding the frequency or probability of an event based on information the mind can imagine or retrieve. Often, this method is useful in making estimates and predictions. Sometimes, however, the availability…

video: Organizing Ideas from Multiple Sources

Lynn Gilbert helps students create a graphic organizer for multiple resources and various types of texts; her ultimate goal is to support students as they write an argumentation essay using claim, evidence, and warrant. Teacher: Lynn Gilbert School: Conrad Ball Middle School, Loveland, CO Grade: 7 Discipline: Science Lesson Topic: Using a graphic organizer to…

video: Using Resources

video: Gothic Undercurrents

What was haunting the American nation in the 1850s? The three writers treated in this program — Nathaniel Hawthorne, Herman Melville, and Emily Dickinson — use poetry and prose to explore the dark side of nineteenth-century America.

section: My Name Is Red – Getting Started

Among the Painters Art, religion, love, and death: My Name Is Red draws you into the world of sixteenth-century Istanbul, a world of painters at a crossroads, living in a golden age of Islamic art in the Ottoman Empire, and encountering the heart of the Western Renaissance in Italy. A story of love, of murder,…

section: The God of Small Things – Getting Started

The Love Laws Every culture wrestles with that most basic of human networks: the family. Our ties to family members are permanent and powerful, shaping our characters, our actions, and the opportunities we have to succeed, love, hate, struggle, and create our own identity. In The God of Small Things, Arundhati Roy’s contemporary Indian novel,…

unit: Interview with Featured Scientist David J. Wineland

Interviewer: Can you describe where you work and what you do? DAVID: I’m a physicist at the National Institute of Standards and Technology in Boulder, Colorado. At NIST, our primary business is to try to make accurate frequency standards. One of the really nice things about working at NIST—we, our group, Jim Bergquist, and I…

unit: Interview with Featured Scientist Martin Zwierlein

Interviewer: What is the quantum mechanical concept of spin? MARTIN: So, it turns out, every elementary particle in nature has a quantity that we call spin. The classical analog of spin is just how fast does an object rotate about itself. The classical analog works to a certain extent. For now, this is fine. Every…

video: Native Voices

Native Americans had established a rich and highly developed tradition of oral literature long before the writings of the European colonists. This program explores that richness by introducing Native American oral traditions through the work of three contemporary authors: Leslie Marmon Silko (Laguna Pueblo), Simon Ortiz (Acoma Pueblo), and Luci Tapahonso (Navajo).

section: The Bhagavad Gita – Getting Started

The Equanimity Called Discipline When you pick up a copy of the Gita, it is encouragingly slim, and the pages are only half-filled with verse. It seems like a quick read, and it can be—but if you really delve into the philosophy of life, death, right and wrong, you’ll find you’re spending a lot more…

section: Activating Students’ Prior Knowledge

Learning Targets I can differentiate amongst key terms such as refugee, migrant, displaced person, and stateless person. I can reflect on my prior awareness and knowledge about refugees and displaced people. Background Note: Sections of this background are taken from the Collection introduction because they support the learning targets of this activity. As of this…

video: Social Realism

Class Consciousness in American Literature, 1875-1920 This program presents the authors of the American Gilded Age, such as Edith Wharton, and juxtaposes them with social realists like Anzia Yezierska. These writers expose the double world that made up turn-of-the-century New York: that of the elite and that of the poorest of the poor. Which of…

workshop: Delivering the Message

One of the most useful aspects of having a real audience in presentational communication is that the audience will provide gaps that students can investigate, understand, explore, and then write about or talk about. — Paul Kei Matsuda Assistant Professor of English University of New Hampshire Learning Goals How do you organize an effective written…

section: Public Policy and the Federal Budget — Lesson Plan

The Lesson Plan section contains everything you will need to fully understand the featured lesson. It has the following sections: Context presents background information on the teacher, the school, and the course in which the lesson was taught; Lesson-Specific Standards identifies the national standards from the Center for Civic Education and the National Council for…

video: Assessment Strategies

  People still think that assessment is what you do after teaching and learning are over as opposed to thinking of assessment as giving feedback to help you to achieve your goal. – Grant Wiggins, Educational Consultant     This video introduces assessment strategies aligned with the World-Readiness Standards for Learning Languages, state and district…

section: The Thousand and One Nights – Getting Started

A Sea of Stories The Arabian Nights, Scheherazade, Aladdin, “Open sesame!”, Sinbad the sailor, Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves: many Americans are familiar with parts of The Thousand and One Nights—or they think they are. In truth, many of the most familiar stories today were not in the original collection of ancient stories, but…

session: French: Chicken Pox

CLASSROOM AT A GLANCE Teacher Jai Scott Language French Grades Kindergarten School Ecole Kenwood Alternative Elementary School, Columbus, Ohio Lesson Date November 11 Class Size 27 Schedule About 6 hours daily (immersion) Video Summary In this lesson, students demonstrate their knowledge of body parts. They begin by talking about the chicken pox and reading Marc…

session: French: Mapping Planet Earth

CLASSROOM AT A GLANCE Teacher Stephanie Appel Language French Grades 2 School Radburn Elementary School, Fair Lawn, New Jersey Lesson Date March 8 Class Size 23 Schedule 30 minutes, two times per week Video Summary In this lesson, students practice vocabulary for the continents and oceans. They begin by reviewing vocabulary for the solar system,…

session: French: Family and Home

CLASSROOM AT A GLANCE Teacher Debra Terry Language French Grades 5 School Rebecca M. Johnson Elementary School, Springfield, Massachusetts Lesson Date January 15 Class Size 25 Schedule 45 minutes, three times per week Video Summary In this lesson, students learn and review vocabulary that refers to family members, rooms of the house, and activities in…

session: Arabic: People Who Help Us

CLASSROOM AT A GLANCE Teacher Khamael Alaloom Language Arabic Grades: 1 School William Ford Elementary School, Dearborn, Michigan Lesson Date April 7 Class Size 21 Schedule 45 minutes, once a week اضغط هنا للترجمة باللغة العربية   Video Summary In this lesson, Khamael Alaloom introduces her first-grade class to people who help in the community…

session: German: Holidays and Seasons

CLASSROOM AT A GLANCE Teacher Margita Haberlen Language German Grades 3 School Austin Elementary School, Dunwoody, Georgia Lesson Date March 28 Class Size 23 Schedule 30 minutes daily Video Summary In this lesson, students review the months, seasons, and German holidays. They practice vocabulary and develop oral and written comprehension while singing songs, solving riddles,…

video: Rhythms in Poetry

Amidst the chaos following World War I, Ezra Pound urged poets to “Make it New!” This call was heeded by a large range of poets, from T.S. Eliot to Jean Toomer. This episode explores the modernist lyrics of two of these poets: William Carlos Williams and Langston Hughes. What is modernism? How did these poets…

section: Candide – Getting Started

Tending Our Own Gardens If you want to tell a story of murder, war crimes, kidnapping, slavery, rape, and religious hypocrisy, how do you do it? How can you make such events bearable—and even enjoyable—to read? Do you present the facts plainly, almost like reporting, or do you develop fictional characters and events to represent…

unit: Biophysics

Following the example set in the previous unit, we now attempt to bring principles of physics to bear on the most complex systems of all: biological systems. Is it possible to describe living systems, or even small pieces of living systems, with the same concepts developed elsewhere in our ramble through physics? We begin with…

section: The Bacchae – Getting Started

The Art of Tragedy What do we owe the gods? What do we deserve from them? Is it folly to insist on order and decorum in light of our true passions and furies, often so far from orderly? What decides our fate? Who are we? The Bacchae’s tragic arc unfolds these questions and pulls all…

section: The Odyssey – Getting Started

The Long Journey Home The Odyssey may be familiar to you — almost every high school English teacher in the United States assigns some part of the epic for students to read. You may have read a few episodes—Cyclops, Circe, the Sirens, Odysseus killing the suitors—or you may have read the whole thing. If you…

video: Poetry of Liberation

For many, the 1960s mark the true end of modern America. Whereas the modernists remained serious about the transcendent nature of art, the artists of the 1960s wanted an art that was relevant. They wanted an art that not only spoke about justice, but also helped create it. This program explores the innovations made in…

unit: Writing Across the Curriculum

Writing throughout the day gives students opportunities to practice the craft they learn during a writing workshop and exposes them to the authentic writing of multiple disciplines. This workshop — focused on practices that integrate writing into all areas of the curriculum — illustrates that writing can take many forms and serve many purposes. Our…

section: Teaching Strategies

Asking: Finding Inquiry Topics and Questions Investigating: Collecting and Working with Information Creating: Making Presentations Reflecting and Transforming: Writing, Thinking, and Acting on the Inquiry Process Resources…

unit: Emergent Behavior in Quantum Matter

This unit takes an approach to physics that differs markedly from much of what we have encountered in previous units. Rather than cataloging the elementary components of matter, we look at what happens at the macroscopic scale when the interactions of these components with one another and their environment lead to entirely new—emergent—behavior. After introducing…

section: One Hundred Years of Solitude – Getting Started

The Magic and the Real One Hundred Years of Solitude is not just a great novel—it became the standard-bearer for an entire literary movement called magical realism. You’ll notice from the very first page that this is a story of two worlds, the magical and the real, that somehow co-exist without contradicting each other. The…

video: Slavery and Freedom

Race and Identity in Antebellum America How has slavery shaped the American literary imagination and American identity? This episode turns to the classic slave narratives of Harriet Jacobs and Frederick Douglass, and the fiction of Harriet Beecher Stowe. What rhetorical strategies do their works use to construct an authentic and authoritative American self?…

unit: About the Learning Math Courses

When teachers have a deep conceptual understanding of mathematics, it can help their students develop strong mathematical skills and knowledge. Learning Math is a series of five multimedia, college-level courses designed to teach mathematics content to elementary and middle school teachers. Organized around the content standards developed by the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics…

video: Search for Identity

American Prose Writers Even as the poets covered in Unit 15, Poetry of Liberation, were fostering a rebellion, contemporary prose writers began creating a new American tradition comprised of many strands, many voices, and many myths about the past. This program explores the search for identity by three American writers: Maxine Hong Kingston, Sandra Cisneros,…

session: Writing

How do students become effective writers? What challenges do they face in writing across the curriculum? In this session, literacy expert Nadeen Ruiz provides a structure for planning and implementing a writing program in the intermediate grades. You will learn how to connect specific teaching and assessment strategies to students’ personal experiences and writing goals….

video: Online Textbook and Video

video: Making Connections

video: Teaching Social Studies

video: Teaching for Understanding

video: Exploring Unity and Diversity

video: Applying Themes and Disciplines

video: Regional Realism

Depicting the Local in American Literature, 1865-1900 Set in the antebellum American South, but written after Emancipation, Mark Twain’s novel The Adventure’s of Huckleberry Finn remains a classic of American Literature. This episode compares Twain’s depiction of Southern vernacular culture to that of Charles Chestnutt and Kate Chopin, and in doing so, introduces the hallmarks…

video: Equilibrium and Advanced Thermodynamics: Balance in Chemical Reactions

Light a match and chemical change happens in a one-way process: Reactants are transformed into products. But there are many chemical reactions called “equilibrium reactions” that operate in both directions: with reactants and products always present. The Unit 9 video will show how chemical equilibrium works, the essential role it plays in the function of…

video: Engaging Students in Active Learning

video: Assessing Students’ Learning

video: Acids and Bases: The Voyage of the Proton

Acids and bases are found all around us, and the currency of acid-base chemistry is the proton, or hydrogen ion. Acid-base chemistry is part of everyday life, from baking and the food we eat to the innumerable reactions that keep the human body alive. Acid-base chemistry is measured on the pH scale—the concentration of hydrogen…

video: Stabilization Policy (Macroeconomics)

Between 1982 and 1985, the Fed tightened the money supply to combat inflation, despite rising unemployment. Also in the 1980s, U.S. citizens began to feel the debilitating effects foreign trade would have on job loss. Paul Volker’s monetary policy in the mid-1980s was designed to quell inflation once and for all. However, in the first…

video: When Chemicals Meet Water: The Properties of Solutions

The majority of chemical reactions happen in solutions—whether inside an espresso machine or in a human cell. For example, when we breathe, the nitrogen in the air dissolves in our blood. Henry’s Law gives us the power to predict, prevent, and treat “the bends”—a life-threatening condition that can happen to SCUBA divers when nitrogen in…

session: Spanish: Interpreting Picasso’s Guernica

CLASSROOM AT A GLANCE Teacher Meghan Zingle Language Spanish II Grades 10 School Glastonbury High School, Glastonbury, Connecticut Lesson Date March 1 Class Size 22 Schedule 40 minutes daily   Video Summary In this lesson, students interpret and discuss Pablo Picasso’s Guernica. First, as a class, students list vocabulary words suggested by the images in…

session: Japanese: Promoting Attractions of Japan

CLASSROOM AT A GLANCE Teacher Yo Azama 2012 ACTFL Teacher of the Year Language Japanese III-IV Grades 10-12 School North Salinas High School, Salinas, California Lesson Date May 14 Class Size 16 Schedule Block schedule, 100 minutes every day for one semester Video Summary In this lesson, students learn about the regions and tourist destinations…

video: Monopoly (Microeconomics)

In 1890, the Sherman Anti-Trust Act broke up the monopoly that John D. Rockefeller and his company, Standard Oil, had on the oil industry. In 1914, the federal government was sold on the concept of universal telephone service provided by Ma Bell, a monopoly that was ended by the development of a new technology. In…

session: Latin: Music and Manuscripts

CLASSROOM AT A GLANCE Teacher Lauri Dabbieri Language Latin II-III, IV AP Grades 10-12 School Westfield High School, Chantilly, Virginia Lesson Date March 19 Class Size 33 Schedule Block schedule, 90 minutes every other day Video Summary In this multilevel lesson, students learn to distinguish between translation and interpretation in a classical language class. While…

video: Oligopolies (Microeconomics)

Competition with General Motors eventually rendered Ford’s single-option Model-T obsolete. In 1959, a reporter for the Knoxville News-Sentinel discovered a price-fixing scandal between three big-name electric companies in each of their closed bids to the Tennessee Valley Authority. In the late 1970s, President Jimmy Carter ordered Professor Alfred Kahn to deregulate the airline industry, which…

session: Russian: Russian Cities, Russian Stories

CLASSROOM AT A GLANCE Teacher Jane Shuffelton Language Russian I and IV Grades 9-12 School Brighton High School, Rochester, New York Lesson Date March 6 Class Size 20 Schedule 45 minutes; modular schedule* In this lesson, Russian I and Russian IV students meet to discuss Russian geography and the origins of Russian city names. Working…

video: Pollution and the Environment (Microeconomics)

In 1977, the federal court system told the Reserve Mining Company to build a $400 million disposal site for carcinogenic materials. After 1970, Los Angeles was looking for a broad-ranging smog-reduction policy to reflect recently amended Clean Air Act standards. In 2009, the House of Representatives introduced the first piece of comprehensive clean energy legislation,…

session: Spanish: Routes to Culture

CLASSROOM AT A GLANCE Teacher Pablo Muirhead Language SpanishII Grades 9-10 School Shorewood High School, Shorewood, Wisconsin Lesson Date November 14 Class Size 19 Schedule 49 minutes daily Video Summary In this lesson, students explore some historical and cultural aspects of the African presence in Latin America. After a warm-up activity of charades, students participate…

video: Labor and Management (Microeconomics)

The International Ladies Garment Workers’ Union (ILGWU) strike in the early 1900s was inspired by poor working conditions and low wages. In 1984, Congress bailed out the Chrysler Auto company after Chairman Lee Iaccoca and Douglas Fraser, chief of the United Auto Workers, came to an agreement. Why does Walmart choose low prices over high…

video: Profits and Interest (Microeconomics)

In response to rising interest rates in the 1970s, the Maryland legislature raised usury ceilings so that more home loans would be available. In December of 1980 Apple Computers went public, affirming four years of hard work with substantial compensation for its founders. Pharmaceutical companies invest millions in bringing new drugs to market. How much…

session: Japanese: Happy New Year!

CLASSROOM AT A GLANCE Teacher Leslie Birkland Language Japanese II Grades 9-11 School Lake Washington High School, Kirkland, Washington Lesson Date January 10 Class Size 32 Schedule 55 minutes daily Video Summary In this lesson, students learn about the products and practices of the Japanese New Year’s celebration. First, half of the class participates in…

unit: The Fundamental Interactions

This unit takes the story of the basic constituents of matter beyond the fundamental particles that we encountered in unit 1. It focuses on the interactions that hold those particles together or tear them asunder. Many of the forces responsible for those interactions are basically the same even though they manifest themselves in different ways….

session: Arabic: A Place I Call Home

CLASSROOM AT A GLANCE Teacher Manar Mayalah Language Arabic II and III Grades 9 and 10 School Granada Hills Charter School, Los Angeles, California Lesson Date March 10 Class Size 22 (filmed with 12) Schedule 55 minutes daily اضغط هنا للترجمة باللغة العربية Video Summary In this lesson, students learn vocabulary used to describe the…

video: Reducing Poverty (Microeconomics)

After the Great Depression President Franklin D. Roosevelt put forth a social security program, using money from employer/employee wages. In 1996 President Bill Clinton signed the Welfare Reform Act, providing childcare assistance for mothers in the work force. The Perry School for Community Services, a Washington, D.C. poverty-reduction program, offers after-school programs for kids and…

video: Modernist Portraits

Jazz filled the air and wailed against the night. Caught in the sway, American prose writers sought out the forbidden – the slang, the dialects, and the rhythms of the folk and of everyday life. Writers such as Hemingway, Stein, and Fitzgerald forged a new style: one which silhouetted the geometry of language, crisp in…

video: Teaching Content Through Literacy

Lynn Gilbert helps students discern fiction from nonfiction text and to determine which is easier to read in the context of science literacy. Teacher: Lynn Gilbert School: Conrad Ball Middle School, Loveland, CO Grade: 7 Discipline: Science Lesson Topic: Using a graphic organizer to explore nonfiction text; the connection between photosynthesis and deforestation Lesson Month:…

unit: Big Ideas in Literacy – English

Introduction The English language arts classroom has always been the primary place where students are taught academic literacy practices. These days, as teachers of other subjects, like math and science, are asked to incorporate academic literacy into their classrooms, some English teachers ask each other, “If reading and writing are taught in science, math, and…

session: Spanish: Creating Travel Advice

CLASSROOM AT A GLANCE Teacher Fran Pettigrew Language Spanish III Grades 11 School McLean High School, McLean, Virginia Lesson Date March 20 Class Size 30 Schedule Block schedule, 90+ minutes every other day Video Summary In this lesson, students learn to communicate about vacations. They work individually and in pairs to express their personal travel…

video: Economic Growth (Microeconomics)

By 1916 Henry Ford’s assembly line had lowered the price of the Model T to $360, making it affordable and increasing its production exponentially in two years. In 1972 a group of experts known as the Club of Rome issued a report called “The Limits to Growth,” predicting that raw materials could run out and…

session: Spanish: Interpreting Literature

CLASSROOM AT A GLANCE Teacher Barbara Pope Bennett Language Spanish III (IB) Grades 11 School Benjamin Banneker Academic High School, Washington, D.C. Lesson Date December 12 Class Size 23 Schedule 45-90 minutes; alternate week block schedule* Video Summary In this lesson, students discuss Dos caras (Two faces), by New Mexico author Sabine Ulibarri. Having read…

video: Economic Efficiency (Microeconomics)

In preparation for WWII, the Roosevelt administration instituted wage price and price controls to curb inflation and better focus production on war materials. When the Nixon administration set up price controls for beef, farmers attempted to stifle the supply by withholding animals from the markets. Following WWII, rent controls established to aid returning war veterans…

video: Perfect Competition/Inelastic Demand (Microeconomics)

Farmers lured into producing massive food surpluses for WWI could no longer profit when the war ended and demand plummeted. After 1933, President Franklin D. Roosevelt sought to improve the conditions of farmers via policies in his New Deal plan. Government subsidies later allowed for corporate ownership of a majority of farmers. The Freedom to…

program: Research Methods

From Question to Conclusion To begin, imagine you are a research psychologist. You will learn about and then put into practice some of the key terms and concepts you will need to master if your research is to succeed. Even if you never conduct your own research, mastering this information can help you become a…

session: Chinese: Exploring New Directions

CLASSROOM AT A GLANCE Teacher Haiyan Fu Language Mandarin Chinese II-IV Grades 9-12 School Northside College Preparatory High School, Chicago, Illinois Lesson Date January 15 Class Size 19 Schedule Block schedule, 96 minutes twice a week Video Summary In this lesson, students in Chinese II-IV work on the theme “directions.” The class begins by reviewing…

session: Arabic: Vegetables We Like

CLASSROOM AT A GLANCE Teacher Rita Lahoud Language Arabic Grades 2 School Public School 261 Philip Livingston, Brooklyn, New York Lesson Date May 23 Class Size 17 Schedule 50 minutes once a week اضغط هنا للترجمة باللغة العربية   Video Summary In this lesson, Miss Lahoud’s second-grade Art and Arabic students develop vocabulary through art,…

session: Spanish: Fruits of the Americas

CLASSROOM AT A GLANCE Teacher Carina Rodriguez Language Spanish Grades 4 School The Columbus Academy, Gahanna, Ohio Lesson Date November 11 Class Size 22 Schedule 40 minutes three times every six days Video Summary In this lesson, students learn vocabulary for fruits grown in Latin America. Using iMovie and PowerPoint technologies to illustrate the fruits,…

session: Chinese: Communicating About Sports

CLASSROOM AT A GLANCE Teacher Jie Gao Language Mandarin Chinese Grades 6 School Bigelow Middle School, Newton, Massachusetts Lesson Date February 4 Class Size 12 Schedule 50+ minutes, four times during a six-day schedule   Video Summary In this lesson, students talk about sports. While their classmates learn the names and characters for eight sports,…

session: French: A Cajun Folktale and Zydeco

CLASSROOM AT A GLANCE Teacher Paris Granville Language French Grades 8 School Pleasant Hill Middle School, Pleasant Hill, California Lesson Date January 13 Class Size 22 Schedule 80 minutes every other day Video Summary In this lesson, students learn about music and storytelling in the Cajun culture. They begin by comparing Louisiana and California life….

session: French: Touring a French City

CLASSROOM AT A GLANCE Teacher Robin Neuman Language French Grades 8 School Concord Middle School, Concord, Massachusetts Lesson Date January 17 Class Size 19 Schedule 48 minutes, four days a week Video Summary In this lesson, students practice how to give and follow directions. Students begin by describing several buildings in a classroom-sized model they…

session: Spanish: Hearing Authentic Voices

CLASSROOM AT A GLANCE Teacher Davita Alston Language Spanish Grades 8 School Shue-Medill Middle School, Newark, Delaware Lesson Date December 10 Class Size 26 Schedule 50 minutes, six times in a seven-day schedule Video Summary In this lesson, students talk about what they like to do when they are not in school. They begin by…

session: Arabic: Comparing the Weather

CLASSROOM AT A GLANCE Teacher Wael Fawzy Language Arabic Grades 6 School LaSalle II Magnet Elementary School, Chicago, Illinois Lesson Date April 6 Class Size 8 Schedule 45 minutes, 4 times a week اضغط هنا للترجمة باللغة العربية   Video Summary In this lesson, Mr. Fawzy’s sixth-grade class continues to learn about the weather in…

session: Spanish: Food Facts and Stories

CLASSROOM AT A GLANCE Teacher John Pedini Language Spanish I Grades 8 School Michael Driscoll School, Brookline, Massachusetts Lesson Date January 9 Class Size 14 Schedule 40 minutes daily Video Summary In this lesson, students make connections to science, health, and math during a nutrition discussion. They talk about the effects of a fast-food diet,…

session: Arabic: How We Spend Our Free Time

CLASSROOM AT A GLANCE Teacher Katie Quackenbush Language Arabic I Grades 8 School Boston Latin Academy, Boston, Massachusetts Lesson Date May 8 Class Size 14 Schedule 47 minutes daily   اضغط هنا للترجمة باللغة العربية Video Summary In this lesson, eighth graders in Katie Quackenbush’s Arabic I class continue a unit on hobbies and practice…

session: Arabic: Making Sales Calls

CLASSROOM AT A GLANCE Teacher Eric Bartolotti Language Arabic I Grades 9 and 11 School Watertown High School, Watertown, Massachusetts Lesson Date April 13 Class Size 10 Schedule 1 hour, 4–5 days per week اضغط هنا للترجمة باللغة العربية Video Summary In this lesson, high school students demonstrate their ability to use basic greetings and…

session: French: Comparing Communities

CLASSROOM AT A GLANCE Teacher Ghislaine Tulou Language French III Grades 9-12 School McLean High School, McLean, Virginia Lesson Date March 21 Class Size 26 Schedule 94 minutes every other day Video Summary In this lesson, students discuss community life at home and abroad and practice new grammatical structures. First, students share what they like…

session: French: Interpreting La Belle et la Bete

CLASSROOM AT A GLANCE Teacher Michel Pasquier Language French IV Grades 9-12 School Herricks High School, New Hyde Park, New York Lesson Date February 27 Class Size 23 Schedule 43 minutes daily Video Summary In this lesson, students discuss the classic 1946 film La Belle et la Bête, written and directed by Jean Cocteau. The…

session: French: Performing With Confidence

CLASSROOM AT A GLANCE Teacher Yvette Heno Language French IV-V, Advanced Placement Grades 10-12 School Westside High School, Houston, Texas Lesson Date April 10 Class Size 15 Schedule Block schedule, 90 minutes every other day Video Summary In this lesson, students participate in activities that improve their oral proficiency and prepare them for the AP…

video: Markets (Microeconomics)

The return of U.S. troops from overseas following World War II created a massive demand for cheap housing. Rising labor and energy costs in the United States in the ’60s and ’70s forced domestic steel manufacturer NUCOR to find ways to lower production costs. In 2009, rookie pitcher phenomenon Stephen Strasburg signed the largest rookie…

session: German: Sports in Action

CLASSROOM AT A GLANCE Teacher Denise Tanner Language German I Grades 9-11 School Hightower High School, Missouri City, Texas Lesson Date April 9 Class Size 15 Schedule Block schedule, 90 minutes every other day Video Summary In this lesson, students learn new vocabulary about sports. After several warm-up activities, students focus on terms related to…

video: The Firm (Microeconomics)

In 1980, renowned soda company Coca-Cola replaced sugar with high-fructose corn extract in order to lower production costs. In 1963, Studebaker closed its plant, unable to increase sales and take advantage of economies of scale. In the 21st century, printing and publishing company PrintPOD, Inc. avoided increasing domestic labor expenses by tapping into the workforce…

video: Exploring Borderlands

Chicana writer Gloria Anzaldúa tells us that the border is “una herida abierta [an open wound] where the lifeblood of two worlds is merging to form a third country — a border culture.” This program explores the literature of the Chicano borderlands and its beginnings in the literature of Spanish colonization….

session: Italian: U.S. and Italian Homes

CLASSROOM AT A GLANCE Teacher Marylee DiGennaro Language Italian II Grades 9 School North Haven High School, North Haven, Connecticut Lesson Date October 9 Class Size 11 Schedule Block schedule, 82 minutes every other day Video Summary In this lesson, students practice vocabulary relating to homes, furnishings, and directions. First, they compare typical U.S. and…

video: Supply and Demand (Microeconomics)

A two-year drought in California in the 1970s motivated areas such as Marin County to conserve by reducing their water consumption by as much as 66 percent. Following the Arab oil embargoes of 1973, the Nixon administration latched onto the world price of “new” oil, encouraging domestic oil suppliers to drill again. Jordache designer jeans…

video: Public Goods and Responsibility (Microeconomics)

In 1937 the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA), a government-owned utility company, was created to electrify rural communities and control flooding. 1965 marked the first U.S. attempt at national health insurance in the passage of Medicare and Medicaid. In response to 9/11, the U.S. Transportation and Security Administration replaced private security firms with federal employees. A…

section: Journey to the West – Getting Started

There and Back The first thing to know about Monkey is that it is a version of a story called Journey to the West. Journey to the West was first published in 1592 with the Chinese title Hsi Yu Ki, (Records of the Western World); this was translated into English as Journey to the West….

video: The Energy in Chemical Reactions: Thermodynamics and Enthalpy

The phrase “chemical reaction” conjures up images of explosions, bubbling gases, flames, and smoke. So many chemical reactions have visible results because energy is being transferred from one form to another—the realm of thermodynamics. Thermodynamics provides rules for predicting the progress of a reaction and for harnessing the energy released. It is key to solving…

video: Migrant Struggle

Americans have often defined themselves through their relationship to the land. This program traces the social fiction of three key American voices: John Steinbeck, Carlos Bulosan, and Helena María Viramontes.

video: Monetary Policy (Macroeconomics)

Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volker pushed us through two deep recessions using monetary policy and increased interest rates to combat inflation in the 1980s. His successor Alan Greenspan used a different tactic in the early 1990s and 2000s: flood the market with liquidity to prevent freezing. And under Chairman Benjamin Bernanke the Fed has struggled…

unit: Dark Matter

Most of the mass in galaxies like our own Milky Way does not reside in the stars and gas that can be directly observed with telescopes. Rather, around 90 percent of the mass in a typical galaxy is “dark matter,” a substance that has so far evaded direct detection. How can scientists make this astonishing…

video: International Trade (International)

The U.S. auto industry lost a lot of mileage in 1973 with the rise of the more efficient Japanese imports. In the 1970s, the “trigger/price mechanism” was developed in order to differentiate between fair and unfair trade practices. Debate over the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) included accusations that American jobs would suffer and…

video: Exchange Rates (International)

By 1925 Great Britain went off the gold standard, managing to increase exports and lessen imports. The U.S. market was flooded with British goods and U.S. industry suffered. In July, 1944 world economic leaders met in Bretton Woods, NH for a “new world economic order” and soon the dollar became the new standard. In 2002…

section: The Tale of Genji – Getting Started

The Poetic Loves of a Shining Prince A thousand years ago, a Japanese woman began writing a story that was not quite fiction, not quite non-fiction, telling the story of the world of the Japanese imperial court but creating its own world, too—the world of Genji. The Tale of Genji is the story of the…

unit: Gravity

Although by far the weakest of the known forces in nature, gravity pervades the universe and played an essential role in the evolution of the universe to its current state. Newton’s law of universal gravitation and its elegant successor, Einstein’s theory of general relativity, represent milestones in the history of science and provide the best…

section: Online Textbook

section: Assignments + Projects

video: Understanding Research

Essay: Research in Action Research often begins with a question. Traditionally, answers have been found in lab experiments, surveys, test groups, and interviews. This program provides an example of research in a field setting. Psychologist Dr. Christina Maslach of the University of California at Berkeley studies job burnout, what causes it, and what can be…

video: Federal Deficits (Macroeconomics)

During WWII, our national debt had more than quadrupled, so government encouraged citizens to buy war bonds and federal stamps to pay some of it off. In 1960 President Eisenhower achieved a surplus and reduced the debt, a feat not repeated until the 1990s. But a large tax cut in 2001, three wars, a down…

video: Matter and the Rise of Atomic Theory: The Art of the Meticulous

This program traces the story of how humans have always practiced chemistry; how, over time, it developed from a practical discipline into a science. Today, we keep up the chemists’ tradition to refine and purify substances. A current, real-life application of the “art of the meticulous” is the refining and purification of pure silicon from…

video: The Behaving Brain

Essay: The Brain and Amnesia The human brain is an extraordinarily complex organ made up of different regions and parts, each with its own function. Chemical molecules and electrical impulses constantly flow between regions of the brain, sending signals and messages to other parts of the brain and body. Much like an orchestra, brain functioning…

video: The Behavior of Atoms: Phases of Matter and the Properties of Gases

This program explores the phases of matter—solids, liquids, and gases—and how particles in a given phase interact with each other. Phase diagrams explain at what temperature and pressure a given substance will be in a solid, liquid, or gas phase. Practical problems, like how to safely store enough hydrogen gas to power an automobile, are…

video: The Responsive Brain

Experiment: The African Cichlid Fish Dr. Russell Fernald is a neuroethologist at Stanford University. Neuroethology integrates brain science with the study of behavior in natural habitats. The goal is to illustrate the interaction among brain, behavior, and environment. Dr. Fernald’s long-term work focuses on the African cichlid fish and how its social system regulates not…

video: Atoms and Light: Exploring Atomic and Electronic Structure

In the early 20th century, identification of the internal parts of the atom (electrons, protons, and neutrons) led to a modern subatomic theory. Meanwhile, the study of atomic spectra—the light given off by atoms at definite wavelengths—led to the Bohr model of the atom, where electrons exist at distinct energy levels and move between these…

video: The Developing Child

Interview Excerpt: Judy Deloache on Symbolic Reasoning Researcher Judy Deloache describes how children’s recognition of scale models as representations reflects development of symbolic reasoning. One of the most distinctive human characteristics is the ability to understand and use symbols. We have a variety of symbol systems in our everyday lives. We use language, we read,…

video: Organizing Atoms and Electrons: The Periodic Table

For centuries, chemists tried different methods to organize elements around patterns of chemical and physical trends, or regularities, eventually leading to the modern periodic table. Electron configuration is a powerful predictive tool, a simple extension from the periodic table. Physical characteristics, including atomic radius and reactivity, all depend on electron configuration and can be teased…

video: Making Molecules: Lewis Structures and Molecular Geometries

Molecules can form when atoms bond together by sharing electrons and can be represented by a useful shorthand called Lewis Structures. These visual representations provide information to predict the three-dimensional shapes of molecules using valence shell electron pair repulsion (“VSEPR”) theory. Understanding how atoms bond within molecules provides insight into cell replication. Building on this…

video: Quantifying Chemical Reactions: Stoichiometry and Moles

Stoichiometry gives us the quantitative tools to figure out the relative amounts of reactants and products in chemical reactions. Balancing the number of atoms on each side of the equation, calculating the amount of each reactant, and figuring out which reactant will run out first are all fundamental principles when designing any chemical reaction. These…

workshop: Engaging With Communities

Our goal is to prepare students to not only take what they have learned in the classroom and use it outside the classroom, but to take the love of that language and the interest in the culture that has happened in the classroom and take it into a community where they can continue learning it….

workshop: Planning for Assessment

[Students] want to believe that every performance they complete, regardless of what that task or product might be, that they’re working to get better over time. Assessments are their opportunity to demonstrate knowledge, skill, and understanding. – Allison Zmuda, education consultant, Understanding by Design Learning Goals How do you plan and carry out an assessment…

session: Spanish: Politics of Art

CLASSROOM AT A GLANCE Teacher Lori Langer de Ramirez Language Spanish V Grades 12 School Herricks High School, New Hyde Park, New York Lesson Date February 26 Class Size 22 Schedule 43 minutes daily Video Summary In this lesson, students read a letter written by prominent Colombian artists and intellectuals to Spain’s prime minister. The…

workshop: Person to Person

Classroom interaction is simple. It is the talk that occurs in classrooms between teachers and students and among students. It’s also a very complex thing in that it is the primary medium by which learning occurs in classrooms, and that’s any kind of classroom, be it a history classroom or a math classroom or a…

video: Resources and Scarcity (Macroeconomics)

Faced with dwindling resources, Congress fiercely debated whether to preserve 100 million acres of Alaskan land as a national park, or open the land for mineral exploration. World War II saw an unprecedented period of economic growth. The need to mobilize resources overseas quickly was palpable. In the 1970s U.S. textile industries risked competitive advantage…

session: Arabic: Making Plans

CLASSROOM AT A GLANCE Teacher Belal Joundeya Language Arabic V/VI Grades 9-12 School Lincoln High School, Portland, Oregon Lesson Date March 8 Class Size 20 Schedule 92 minutes, 2–3 times per week اضغط هنا للترجمة باللغة العربية Video Summary In this lesson, high school students in Belal Joundeya’s Arabic V/VI class engage in authentic conversations…

video: GNP/GDP (Macroeconomics)

In 1929 following the stock market bottoming out, Simon Kuznets led an investigative study resulting in the first national data collection of Gross National Product (GNP). Able to assess the overall production to consumption ratio of the U.S., Franklin Roosevelt entered World War II without jeopardizing the basic needs of his citizens. Although GNP was…

session: Japanese: Daily Routines

CLASSROOM AT A GLANCE Teacher Margaret Dyer Language Japanese Grades 5 School Clarendon Elementary School, San Francisco, California Lesson Date May 16 Class Size 26 Schedule 45 minutes daily Video Summary In this lesson, students practice vocabulary related to daily routines in Japan and in the U.S. First, Ms. Dyer uses Total Physical Response and…

video: Boom and Bust (Macroeconomics)

The nation’s cycles of economic booms and busts were considered intrinsically capitalistic by Joseph Schumpeter who called them “methodic economic growth,” and by Karl Marx who lambasted capitalism as inherently flawed. John Maynard Keynes held that recessions depended on the balance of aggregate demand and aggregate supply. Economist Hyman Minsky provided a promising explanation for…

video: The Great Depression and the Keynsian Revolution (Macroeconomics)

In 1932 President Herbert Hoover spoke enthusiastically about financial recovery while John Maynard Keynes expressed doubts. Keynes published The General Theory of Employment, Interest & Money in 1936, displaying ideas that later became the basis for public policy in Washington. Franklin D. Roosevelt did not generally trust economists, but his increased government spending during WWII…

video: Facilitating a Socratic Seminar

Kristen Ferrales demonstrates how having students write to prepare for discussions creates a deeper understanding of the topic and leads to a more productive Socratic seminar. Teacher: Kristin Ferrales School: The Urban Assembly School for Law and Justice, New York, NY Grade: 11 Discipline: History (Global Research) Lesson Topic: Socratic Seminar: Lasting impacts of the…

workshop: Meaningful Interpretation

Invoking the interpretive mode is one of the most creative ways to make a text personal to all kinds of learners. Every student in a classroom can come to appreciate a text on his or her own level. – Virginia Scott Chair of French and Italian Vanderbilt University Learning Goals How can you build your…

video: Fiscal Policy (Macroeconomics)

In 1954 relying on “automatic stabilizers,” President Dwight Eisenhower withheld raising taxes in order to encourage consumer spending. In the 1960s, newly elected John F. Kennedy and economic advisor Walter Heller pushed Congress to approve a $12 billion tax cut stimulus. The Employment Act of 1946 was the first time that government tried to employ…

video: Inflation (Macroeconomics)

In the 1960s President Lyndon Baines Johnson continued fueling the domestic agenda of his “Great Society,” keeping a low profile on the Vietnam War. But the U.S. overspent and inflation bubbled over. Anyone living on a marginally fixed income endured harsh consequences under inflation, and workers’ strikes only brought costs up more. After his election…

video: Productivity (Macroeconomics)

In the 1970s, businesses struggled with rising energy costs, newly imposed environmental regulations, and inflation that contributed to the slowing of productivity. By 1980, a new group of economists called “supply-siders” were calling for government deregulation to spur productivity, amidst great objections from Democrats and some economic experts. Some thought that productivity was at an…

video: The Banking System (Macroeconomics)

The Knickerbocker Bank’s failure led to the Bank Panic of 1907, and ultimately inspired a need for a central bank. When thousands of banks failed in the 1930s, President Roosevelt declared a National Bank Holiday closing individual banks, and created new regulatory agencies to guard the system. But in the wake of the 2008 Great…

video: Past, Present, and Promise

Experiment: Tracking Racial Bias Psychology is defined as the scientific study of the behavior of individuals and their mental processes. Like many sciences, psychology has evolved with technology, giving doctors and researchers new tools to measure human behavior and analyze its causes. In this program, Dr. Mahzarin Banaji from Yale University uses the Implicit Association…

workshop: Subjects Matter

By creating content-based activities, you create a context in which there’s a reason to learn the language, there’s a reason to learn the grammar, there’s a reason to learn the vocabulary. And you’re not putting the students in the position of waiting until they know the language well enough to be able to talk about…

video: The Federal Reserve (Macroeconomics)

The Federal Reserve was originally created in 1913 as an emergency lender to banks–a sort of bank of last resort. The Banking Act of 1935 and the Fed Accord of 1951 broadened the powers of the Fed, widening the range of options and tools it could use to manage the economy. Up to about 2010,…

video: Designing the Classroom to Support Understanding

Kristen Ferrales explains how she intentionally designs her classroom to create an effective learning environment. Teacher: Kristin Ferrales School: The Urban Assembly School for Law and Justice, New York, NY Grade: 11 Discipline: History (Global Research) Lesson Topic: Socratic Seminar: Lasting impacts of the Haitian Revolution Lesson Month: March Number of Students: 21 Other: This…

workshop: Rooted in Culture

I think the fruits of exploring [the appropriate ways to interact with native speakers] helps to lead the individual not only to learn more about the target language and its culture, but, through comparisons and reflection and introspection, to discover more about one’s own language and one’s own culture. — Alvino Fantini, School for International…

video: Stagflation (Macroeconomics)

1970s America saw a new kind of inflation, based on supply and not demand: “stagflation,” caused by Arab oil embargoes and worldwide crop failures. In 1973 President Ford and Fed Chairman Arthur Burns tried to control inflation by choking the money supply. They failed. In the 1990s the U.S. had three ways to ease inflation:…

workshop: Valuing Diversity in Learners

When learners come into the classroom, they don’t divest themselves of their cultural experiences or their linguistic background. They bring all of that with them to the classroom. So it’s incumbent upon the teacher to accommodate that wide array of learners. – Marjorie Hall Haley, Ph.D., Associate Professor, George Mason University Learning Goals How do…

session: German: Sports Stats

CLASSROOM AT A GLANCE Teacher Amy Garcia Language German Grades 5 School Brockett Elementary School, Tucker, Georgia Lesson Date March 26 Class Size 16 Schedule 30 minutes, four days per week Video Summary In this lesson, students talk about their sports likes and dislikes. They begin by reading their personal journal entries to review the…