McNamara's Whiz Kid
Alain Enthoven, an MIT economist, was the country's first assistant secretary of defense for systems analysis from 1965 to 1969. In this video segment, Enthoven recounts how public interpretation of 'flexible response' strategy ran counter to both the administration's overriding goal-to prevent nuclear war-and its bottom line: that nuclear war is unwinnable. In his interview conducted for War and Peace in the Nuclear Age: 'The Education of Robert McNamara,' Enthoven sets the stage for the missil
The Impact of Nuclear Fallout
Earl Ubell is a pioneer among science and health writers in America. After a long, distinguished career at The New York Herald Tribune from 1943 to 1966, he went on to work at both CBS and NBC News. Prominent in the emerging scientific writing community in the 1950s and early 1960s, he was a recipient of the Lasker Medical Journalism Award 1957. Milton Stanley Livingston was a leading physicist in the field of magnetic resonance accelerators. Working first with professor Ernest O. Lawrence at th
Ellis Island (a work in progress)
'Ellis Island (a work in progress)' is a haunting, reflective piece on Ellis Island and the immigrants who passed through there. Black-and-white, near-static shots of actors and actresses realistically portraying turn-of-the-century immigrants are combined with color shots of a modern-day tour guide conducting a tour of the buildings. Re-creations of the medical examinations the immigrants underwent and the conditions they lived through are filmed in the run-down buildings of Ellis Island before
Car wash sequence from 'Easy Living'
'Easy Living' follows the movements and activities of individuals represented by miniature objects, most notably the kinds of dolls, locations, and accessories affiliated with model construction. This miniature suburban world traces a typical day in suburbia. Shown here is a short excerpt of a car as it progresses through a miniature car wash.
Galactic Inquiry
In this inquiry activity, students view NASA images of galaxies and develop a galaxy classification scheme. Students then compare and contrast their classification scheme with that developed by Edwin Hubble.
Every Picture Tells a Story: K-4
These activities are designed to create a sense of disequilibrium in the visual perception of students to make them aware of different ways to to view a picture. The students will view the images, decide what they see in each, record their ideas, and write a story based upon these findings.
Lunar Plant Growth Chamber
This site invites students to design chambers for growing plants on the moon. (Plants may be used to supplement meals of astronauts during space exploration.) Teacher guides include lessons on providing light and water for the plants, choosing plant species, exploring the moon, and designing, building, and evaluating plant growth chambers.
Earth Explorers Series
Who Are NASA's Earth Explorers? The elementary school student questioning if El Nino occurs anywhere besides the Pacific Ocean... The researcher investigating connections between Arctic ozone depletion and global climate change... The consumer comparing hydrocarbon versus hydrogen-powered cars... And the business person projecting future needs for harvest, delivery, and storage of crops... All of these people are Earth Explorers -- they are all connected by their curiosity about Earth system pro
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.
Ciencia@NASA
ofrece las ltimas noticias de la ciencia. La clase de jueves proporciona nuevos planes y actividades de la leccin basados en una historia actual del ttulo y conecta la ltima investigacin de NASA con la instruccin. Pasados asuntos incluyen Buck Rogers, Cuidado!, Adis a la MIR, Despus de tres intentos, se retira La Nia?, y ms.
Seeing the Invisible
Students will be instructed to make an observation of a flower (tulip) given the one stipulation that they will only be allowed to detect the parts of the plant that are green. Through observation and discussion, students will be led to understand that only seeing parts of the flower leads to an incomplete and even inaccurate understanding of its structure.
Students will construct their own knowledge of the Sun emitting light above and below the visible spectrum by using UV beads to detect ultr
Is there water on Mars?
Is there liquid water on Mars? By experimenting with water as it changes state and investigating some effects of air pressure, students not only learn core ideas in physical science but can deduce the water situation on Mars by applying those concepts.
Cosmic and Heliospheric Learning Center
This site explores the universe through interactive activities and learning resources such as the question and answer service, Ask a Physicist. Students can also learn astrophysics basics, or find out the history of cosmic ray studies beginning with the Mesopotamian and Egyptian astronomers mapping the heavens, and more.
Investigating the Climate System: Weather
This activity helps students learn how to find, interpret, and describe weather data. Students learn also about drought, flooding, wind and dust storms, hurricanes, and lightning, as well as the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) satellite -- the information it provides and why that information is important.
Radio JOVE in Your School
The concepts involved with Radio JOVE involve the interaction of moving charges with magnetic fields. The appropriate position within the course outline and the level that the material should be presented at are best determined by the teacher. What is provided here are some general descriptions of the topics and some
suggestions about their integration into the science curriculum at the ninth grade (Physical Science and Earth Science) and twelfth grade (Physics) levels.
Volcanic Clouds and the Atmosphere
The common plastic water bottle makes a useful container for demonstrating properties of gases and liquids. As typical examples, we know that “air” is a gas (made up of nitrogen, oxygen, water vapor, ozone, carbon dioxide, and several “trace” gases) and water is a liquid. We should also note that gases and liquids are both “fluids”. That is, they can flow or change shape, rather than having a fixed shape like a solid. So what happens when a water bottle is opened? Usually not much. W
Magnetic Field Activities for the High School Classroom
The following unit is designed to acquaint the student with the magnetic field. The assumed average student has some familiarity with the uniform gravitational field of classical Newtonian dynamics and kinematics lessons. This is not required however. The unit is meant to introduce the idea of a field through investigations of magnetic fields as produced by various common magnetic materials and direct currents. The difference between a magnetic field and a gravitational field is that a gravitati
Infrared Astronomy Tutorial
examines infrared light, how it was discovered, infrared astronomy, atmospheric windows, and more. An infrared astronomy timeline is included, along with links to news and discoveries, images, and classroom activities.
Chandra X-ray Observatory
features news and information about NASA's newest space telescope. As the world's most powerful X-rayobservatory, Chandra joins the Hubble Space Telescope and NASA's other observatories in a study of our universe, providing insights into the universe's structure and evolution. Visitors can track Chandra in orbit, watch live images from NASA-TV, and learn more about prior shuttle launch preparations.
The Lifestyle Project
This innovative project offers a way for students to learn about environmental alternatives by modifying their own lifestyles. It is a three-week exercise for students to reduce their impact on the environment by changing the way in which they live from day to day. This website contains an article about the Lifestyle Project and all the materials needed to teach the project. Materials include a baseline quiz, worksheets, energy facts and figures, and an Excel spreadsheet for students to calculat
