West Oakland: Bruce Beasley
SPARK catches up with world-renowned sculptor Bruce Beasley in his West Oakland studio complex. This Educator Guide is about the work of Bruce Beasley and the history of modernist sculpture.
Work in Progress: Andy Goldsworthy
SPARK visits with international artist Andy Goldsworthy as he installs his commissioned work "Drawn Stone" in the entrance courtyard of the de Young Museum in San Francisco. This Educator Guide is about Goldsworthy and the history of artists working with the landscape and environment.
KQED Education Network, Art in Public Places: Jo Kreiter, Discipline: Dance
SPARK follows choreographer/dancer Jo Kreiter and the Flyaway Productions company members as they mix art and politics in a site-specific work about the history of protest on San Francisco's Market Street. This Educator Guide addresses the history of public performance art.
Sunlight and the Seasons
Children study seasonal change in sunlight in a global game of hide and seek. Students try to find 10 "mystery classes" hiding around the globe. The amount of sunlight is the central clue. Other clues link to each location's history, geography, culture, and more. Through these interrelated investigations, students discover that sunlight drives all living systems and they learn about the dynamic ecosystem that surrounds and connects them. This project reinforces a key concept: Changing sunlight d
Continents and Currents
Continents and Currents beautifully demonstrates how the position of continents affects the movements of ocean currents. It serves as an engaging introduction for discussions of plate tectonics, currents, climate, and even Earth history.
Native American Powerpoint Project
For this project students will research a Native American group that played an influential role in Alabama history. The students will then create a powerpoint describing the primary aspects of that group's heritage.
Calendars Through the Ages
This exhibit looks at the astronomical basis of calendars, the history of our (Gregorian) calendar, and when various countries moved from the Julian to the Gregorian calendar. Learn about Leap Year, the solar cycle, equinoxes and solstices.
FBI Youth
This site invites students to take the special agent challenge, spend a day in the life of an FBI employee, follow a case through the FBI lab, learn about investigations throughout the world, see specially trained dogs that locate bombs and drugs, and read about the history of the FBI.
Extreme Global Makeover
Modernization is an important issue in the New York State Global History and Geography curriculum. Students are expected to understand how modernization may impact such areas as society, politics, the economy, and the environment. In the Global History and Geography curriculum, a study of historical examples of modernization includes examples of attempts to transform society, such as the Meiji Restoration or Kemal Ataturk. In this lesson, two PBS WIDE ANGLE documentaries -- "To Have and Have Not
One Nation: Two Futures?
Since the mid-l970s, economic reforms have transformed China from one of the most egalitarian societies into one of the most unequal in the world. Wide disparities currently exist between the income levels of a relatively few rich and middle-class Chinese and their fellow citizens who number in the hundreds of millions. This "wealth gap" is particularly acute when one compares the incomes of urban and rural residents, between Chinese living in the interior of the country and those living in the
Henry Johnson comments on significance of the 1972 African Liberation Day March
Film-maker Henry Johnson comments on the way the media played down the impact of the African Liberation Day March in Washington, 1972, and on-going significance of the march.
Driving Through Geologic Time - An analogy
This activity uses an analogy to illustrate the scale of geologic time and our limited view of the Earth's history. It relates the history of the Earth to a drive across the country. The drive is 4560 km (rough distance between Washington D.C. and Seattle), with 1 km equaling one million years of Earth's history. This analogy is used by the author as a springboard to talk about the limits of our personal perceptions and experiences when making conclusions. Learning goals, context for use, teachi
Earth's history in 4.56 meters: constructing a timeline with calculator tape
In this short activity, students make a timeline of Earth's history using calculator tape. The tape is 4.56 meters long, so that one billion years is equal to one meter. This exercise is designed to introduce students to the scale of Earth's history and help them gain a familiarity with some major events. It also teaches about scaling, the metric system, as well as the concepts of large numbers and deep time. The activity may be used in an introductory geoscience course. Learning goals, context
Winter Field Lab: Pond Hydrology
This field activity may be implemented during late winter or early spring when things have not quite thawed. From a frozen pond, students collect bathymetric data, measure water temperature and conductivity, locate ground-water inputs, and extract a sediment core. Back in the lab, they make hand and computer-contoured bathymetric maps, temperature and conductivity cross-sections, and run visual-core log, loss-on-ignition, and magnetic susceptibility tests. Then they draw conclusions about water
Toilet Paper Analogy for Geologic Time
This in-class demonstration involves using a 1000 sheet roll of strong toilet paper to demonstrate the vast length of time involved in Deep Time. Important events in geologic history are marked on the toilet paper. As the toilet paper is unrolled, from the front of the room to the back and around the room, students begin to get a sense of how little time humanity has been on Earth and how much time is really involved. Learning goals, context for use, teaching tips, materials, assessment tips and
The Geologic Story of the Great Plains
This site provides a non-technical description of the origin and evolution of the landscape of the Great Plains physiographic province. Information about the history and descriptions of the various landforms of the Great Plains is included.
NYC Preservation
This game will test your knowledge of New York City and its history. And you will play the role of a landmarks commissioner - and decide in five specific cases what is worth preserving for future generations.
Suggested Lesson Plans Using the CIA Web Site
The CIA Kids' Page has a wide range of information that you can incorporate into your classroom. We have compiled several ideas for lesson plans to get you started. These plans – which emphasize history, communication, and problem solving – are adaptable for students of any age.
The Estimation of Species Richness in Pennsylvanian Coal Swamp Communities
This resource is a detailed manual of protocols and instructional information for carrying out an undergraduate laboratory exercise in paleoecology and natural history, including student outlines, background information, and instructors notes.
Using Bromelain in Pineapple Juice to Investigate Enzyme Function
This investigation introduces students to the structure and function of the proteolytic enzyme, bromelain, which is present in large quantities in the fruit, leaves, and stems of pineapple. In this lab exercise, students study the rate at which bromelain catalyzes the hydrolysis of gelatin (substrate) at different temperatures and pHs. Strips of developed black and white photographic film are placed in freshly squeezed pineapple juice under different experimental conditions. The time it takes fo
