Instructional Video
PBS

Pbs Learning Media: World Explorers: Eric the Red and Leif Ericson

4th - 8th
Learn about Norwegian explorers Eric the Red and his son Leif Ericson who lived five hundred years before Christopher Columbus and explored Greenland and North America. [4:50]
Instructional Video
PBS

Pbs Learning Media: World Explorers: Alan Shepard

4th - 8th
Learn about the life of astronaut Alan Shepard and how he came to be the fifth person on the moon. [5:22]
Instructional Video
PBS

Pbs Learning Media: World Explorers: Christopher Columbus

4th - 8th
Even today, the Italian explorer Christopher Columbus is a controversial figure. Learn about his life and voyages, and why there is so much disagreement about his legacy. [4:48]
Instructional Video
PBS

Pbs Learning Media: World Explorers: Neil Armstrong

4th - 8th
Learn about the life of Neil Armstrong, the first person to walk on the moon's surface. [5:59]
Instructional Video
PBS

Pbs Learning Media: World Explorers: Hernan Cortes

4th - 8th
Hernan Cortes was a Spanish conquistador who conquered and annihilated the Aztec Empire. This video examines his life and how he defeated the Aztecs. [5:37]
Instructional Video
PBS

Pbs Learning Media: World Explorers: Ibn Battuta

4th - 8th
Ibn Battuta, a learned Muslim explorer, traveled throughout Africa and Southeast Asia for thirty years and documented his experiences, providing an invaluable record of the Muslim world in the 14th century. [4:21]
Instructional Video
PBS

Pbs Learning Media: World Explorers: Samuel De Champlain

4th - 8th
Learn about the life and explorations of Samuel de Champlain, about his travels through the region that became Canada, and about the French colonies he established. [4:12]
Instructional Video
PBS

Pbs Learning Media: World Explorers: Rene Robert Cavelier De La Salle

4th - 8th
Learn about French explorer Rene-Robert Cavelier de La Salle. He established Fort Frontenac on the Great Lakes. He then traveled across the Great Lakes and explored the length of the Mississippi River, establishing Louisiana Territory at...
Instructional Video
PBS

Pbs Learning Media: World Explorers: Zheng He

4th - 8th
Listen to an account of what little is known about Chinese explorer Zheng He. Under instructions from the Emperor, he built a fleet of 317 ships and began the first of seven voyages. He visited over thirty countries and was responsible...
Instructional Video
PBS

Pbs Learning Media: World Explorers: Marco Polo

4th - 8th
Learn about the life of Marco Polo, a Venetian explorer who traveled 6,000 miles from Venice in the 13th century, to meet Kublai Khan in Asia, where no European had ever journeyed. The trip lasted twenty-four years. Later, his memories...
Instructional Video
PBS

Pbs Learning Media: World Explorers: John Cabot

4th - 8th
Examines the Italian explorer John Cabot. He is believed to be the first European to set foot on mainland North America, landing in Newfoundland. His voyages to the new land were financed by King Henry VII of England. [4:23]
Instructional Video
PBS

Pbs Learning Media: World Explorers: Francisco Vazquez De Coronado

4th - 8th
Learn about the life of Francisco Vazquez de Coronado, a Spanish explorer who traveled through the American Southwest and was the first European to reach the Colorado River and the Grand Canyon. [4:45]
Instructional Video
PBS

Pbs Learning Media: World Explorers: Juan Ponce De Leon

4th - 8th
Juan Ponce de Leon was a Spanish explorer and conquistador who is commonly thought to have been on a search for the fountain of youth. He is remembered for colonizing the Caribbean, and for discovering Florida and trying to establish a...
Instructional Video
PBS

Pbs Learning Media: Wild Kratts: Discovering Senses (A Sixth Sense)

K - 1st
A set of activities and a video on the senses. The activities have students explore the senses of taste, touch, smell, and sound. The video looks at the platypus's unique sense of electroreception which allows it to read electrical...
Instructional Video
PBS

Pbs Learning Media: Wild Kratts: Raising Monarch Butterflies

1st - 3rd
A set of activities and a video that look at the life cycle of the monarch butterfly and at its migration to Mexico. The activities include raising butterflies, tagging them, and creating a butterfly garden. [1:42]
Instructional Video
PBS

Pbs Learning Media: Wild Kratts: Mimic in the Grass

1st - 9th
In this episode of the Kratt brothers, we learn about cheetahs and other animals, and how they protect themselves through mimicry. The storyline has a baby cheetah being catnapped by a fashion designer. It escapes by imitating a honey...
Instructional Video
PBS

Pbs Learning Media: Wild Kratts: Kickin' It With the Roos

1st - 3rd
This episode of the Kratt brothers has them interacting with kangaroos after a joey steals their car keys. They learn about the differences between humans and kangaroos, and discover how powerful kangaroo feet are and the role they play...
Instructional Video
PBS

Pbs Learning Media: Wild Kratts: Koala Balloon

1st - 3rd
In this episode of the Kratt brothers, we learn about how animals adapt to their environment in order to survive. The storyline has them visiting the Australian Outback to help a young koala return to its eucalyptus forest home. They...
Instructional Video
PBS

Pbs Learning Media: Wild Kratts: Caracal Minton

1st - 3rd
In this episode of the Kratt brothers, we learn about the caracal and the serval, wild cats that lives on the African Savannah. The storyline has the team working to retrieve a birdie that was stolen by a caracal during a game of...
Instructional Video
PBS

Pbs Learning Media: Wild Kratts: Do the Lizard Walk

1st - 4th
A set of activities and a video on lizards. The activities have students use electrostatic attraction to mimic a gecko's grip, use capillary action to try to drink like a thorny devil, use camouflage to blend in like a chameleon, and...
Instructional Video
PBS

Pbs Learning Media: World Explorers: Amerigo Vespucci

4th - 8th
Amerigo Vespucci was an Italian explorer who is recognized as the first person to understand that the new land was not Asia. He did this by applying his cartography skills and mapping the stars he saw in the Southern Hemisphere. He is...
Instructional Video
PBS

Pbs Learning Media: World Explorers: Hernando De Soto

4th - 8th
Hernando De Soto was a Spanish conquistador who mercilessly exploited the native peoples in the new world, enslaving them, killing them, and plundering their gold and silver. His actions made Spain a wealthy country and helped to...
Instructional Video
PBS

Pbs Learning Media: Earth's Cryosphere: Antarctica

9th - 10th
Learn about the different features of snow and ice in Antarctica using satellite imagery in this video segment adapted from NASA. Includes background reading material and discussion questions. [2:37]
Instructional Video
PBS

Pbs Learning Media: Earth's Cryosphere: The Arctic

9th - 10th
In this video segment adapted from NASA, students will take a tour of the cryosphere in North America and the Arctic using satellite imagery. Includes background reading material and discussion questions. [3:59]