The Restless Atmosphere Quiz
Establish how well they know the Coriolis effect.
Defending the Wheat Farmer: "The Farmer and Three Dollar Wheat"
Modern Americans, disconnected from the nation's rural heritage, often imagine farm life of the past as simple and uncomplicated by market pressures. Farmers in the years before World War I, however, faced relentless and thoroughly modern economic stresses and labor conflicts as the scale of their enterprises increased. In the wheat-growing regions of the Midwest and the Great Plains, growing more wheat resulted in lower prices per bushel, ironically increasing costs (for equipment, fertilizer,
"We Are Literally Slaves": An Early Twentieth-Century Black Nanny Sets the Record Straight
In folklore the black nursemaid was seen as a dutiful, self-sacrificing black woman who loved her white family and its children every bit as much as her own. Yet the popular images of the loyal, contented black nursemaid, or "mammy," were unfortunately far from the reality for the African-American women who worked in these homes. In 1912 the Independent printed this quasi-autobiographical account of servant life, as related by an African-American domestic worker, which dispelled the comforting "
Beyond Bed Pans: The Life of a Late 19th-century Young Nurse
In this autobiographical account of the life that awaited new nursing recruits in 1893, former nurse Mary Roberts Rinehart painted a vivid portrait of the daily obstacles that stood between nurses and the professional status they hoped to attain. Rinehart described the "simple, plain hell" faced by the young nurse, a description that challenged conventional expectations about professional work.
"We Didn't Have Flies Until the White Man Came": A Yankton Sioux Remembers Life on the Plains in the
In the era before the U. S. Army conquered the Great Plains Indians the region's giant buffalo herds provided the primary food and clothing source for the Indians who lived there. Indeed, in 19th century America buffalo were more numerous than people. The various Lakota Sioux tribes who lived in the area that became South Dakota and Nebraska depended largely on the buffalo hunt according to Paul Picotte, a Yankton Sioux born in 1880. In this transcript of a 1968 interview with historian Joseph C
"Everything Was Lively": David Hickman Describes the Prosperity Late Nineteenth-Century Railroads Br
The availability of rail connections often determined whether a western community would survive or die. The rails fostered prosperity by bringing both goods and people. This trade, and the local service industries that sprouted up to capitalize on the movement of people and goods, drove many local economies. Here, David Hickman talked about the boom years that followed the arrival of the railroad in the Latah County, Idaho town of Genesee in the 1880s.
"Cast Down Your Bucket Where You Are": Booker T. Washington's Atlanta Compromise Speech
In 1895, Booker T. Washington gave what later came to be known as the Atlanta Compromise speech before the Cotton States and International Exposition in Atlanta. His address was one of the most important and influential speeches in American history, guiding African-American resistance to white discrimination and establishing Washington as one of the leading black spokesmen in America. Washington's speech stressed accommodation rather than resistance to the racist order under which Southern Afric
Developing Analytical and Communication Skills in a Mock-Trial Course Based on the Famous Woburn, Ma
This Journal of Geoscience Education article discusses a mock trial in which undergraduates serve as expert witnesses and law students serve as their attorneys. The article identifies the trial as an effective vehicle for developing quantitative skills and enhancing written and oral communication skills. The course discussed is unabashedly about applying scientific principles to solve real-world problems. The entire course revolves around the analysis, interpretation, and presentation of scienti
Radar Resources
The National Climatic Data Center (NCDC) provides radar data and derived products are on their Radar Resources webpage. The system from which these data are collected is the Weather Surveillance Radar-1988 Doppler network (WSR-88 Radar) which began operation at a few sites in 1991. Users can get and view online radar data, access products and publications, review data inventories, access the online library and find information regarding NCDC radar research. Data sets include a storm events datab
Mount St. Helens, Washington homepage
This USGS web page contains images from the Mount Saint Helens eruptions. The site contains information about the 1980 eruption, activity before, during, and after and previous eruptions. The site also contains maps, current hazards reports, background information and more.
The Living Edens: Virtual Yellowstone Tour
This Starting Point page describes a virtual tour of Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming featured on the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) website. In this tour, students act as park rangers to research geological features of Yellowstone, locate these features on maps, and describe and define associated geologic terms. The features discussed include geysers, hot springs, canyons, waterfalls and mudpots. On this page, users can find learning goals, teaching notes and tips, teaching materials, as
Education Resources for Paleontology
The United States Geological Survey (USGS) Paleontology Divisions offers educational resources on their website. Resources include booklets on geologic time, fossils, dinosaurs, and plate tectonics. Users can follow links to USGS resources including teaching sources and general interest information and non-USGS resources.
Investigative Case-Malama Keone'o'oi
This Starting Point teaching module highlights a case study of Malama Keone'o'oi. Students will learn techniques for conducting a local environmental assessment in an ecologically sensitive area. Identification of native plants and methodologies for sampling will be taught in the classroom and then reinforced in the field. The module also includes a community awareness and conservation aspect. Users will find information regarding learning goals, context for use, teaching notes and tips, teachin
Home, Home on the River
In this case study activity, students will examine the complex issues that result from human use of ecologically sensitive areas. The students will investigate these issues from the point of view of their major/career path. This example page is part of the Starting Point collection and was adapted from the Lifelines Online case study. Users can access information about the exercise's learning goals, context for use, teaching notes and tips, teaching materials, assessment ideas, references and to
Holy Starbucks, Batman!
In this case study activity, students will investigate caffeine as a potential new pollutant in a northwest river system. Effects of caffeine on invertebrates and salmon fry will be explored through field work and lab work. This example page is part of the Starting Point collection and was adapted from the Lifelines Online case study. Users will find information including learning goals, context for use, teaching notes and tips, teaching materials, assessment ideas, references and topics covered
Changing Military Doctrine
General Pierre-Marie Gallois, often regarded as the 'father' of the French nuclear strategy, served with the Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe (SHAPE) and with French president Charles de Gaulle. In this video segment, Gallois provides a perspective that was shared by many Europeans, including General de Gaulle: that to replace the strategy of 'massive retaliation' with 'flexible response' meant a weakening of the United States' commitment to defend Europe with nuclear weapons. In his in
Superior Threat
Dr. Randall Forsberg is executive director of the think tank she founded in 1980, the Institute for Defense and Disarmament Studies. In this video segment, she recalls the moment during arms negotiations between the United States and the Soviet Union when she determined that the arms race is not driven by basic deterrence but by the imperative to gain superiority in threatening to win-without actually waging-nuclear war.In her wide-ranging interview for War and Peace in the Nuclear Age: 'Visions
J. S. Bach
'Video artist Downey uses dramatic special effects to examine the life and works of composer Johann Sebastian Bach. Shot mostly in the wintery East German towns where Bach lived and worked, this layered, impressionistic video portrait of the composer reconstructs a path through Bach's eighteenth-century life and the source of his musical inspiration.' The piece is divided into three sections -Death, Flashback, and Counterpoint. Text by Nobel Peace Prize winner and Bach biographer Albert Schweitz
California School Garden Network Curriculum
The curriculum section provides over one hundred garden-based lessons to create, expand, and sustain garden-based learning experiences. It offers practical ideas and resources for every level of garden-based learning from sprouting seeds to understanding the food system.
This curriculum section was compiled by the University of California Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources Garden-Based Learning Workgroup. The content for this section was borrowed, with permission, from various resour
For Kids Only: Earth Science and Technology Enterprise
This site helps students learn about aerosols, ozone, air pressure, tropical rainfall and hurricanes, plate tectonics, earth science careers, and more.
