Perkins School for the Blind
The Germinator
How does a plant grow from a seed? Observe the process with a clever idea from the PBS television show ZOOM. Watch the video, then have your young botanists create their own germinators. The lesson described here is for visually impaired...
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Origins: Earth Is Born
Students develop a timeline of all the major events involved in the formation of the Earth and the emergence of humans. In groups, they focus on a specific topic by watching a PBS program and taking notes. After the video, they list...
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Mystery, Myth, and Wonder: The White Elephant
Students examine the role of the elephant in the culture of Thailand through many different class activities based on a PBS program "The White Elephants of Thailand with Meg Ryan". Students also look at the impact of technology on...
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PBS - Scientific American Frontier:Affairs of the Heart:Teaching Guide:Exploring Vessel Physics
Students explore the relationship between pressure and vessel diameter. They are given an open-ended design challenge in which they engineer their own remote repair device. Students see a model that represents how elevated blood...
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America's Stone Age Explorers
Students watch a Nova program examining the earliest in habitants of the Americas. In groups. they take notes on various topics covered in the program. Among the topics covered are: the Clovis people, Solutrean culture, migration...
PBS
The Planets of the Solar System
Launch a lesson that's sure to capture middle schoolers' interest! Exploration enthusiasts examine the planets of our solar system using an activity from PBS's Space series. The resource includes images and information for each planet,...
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Getting Up the Nerve
Students examine the basics of the nervous system through an interactive program. They discover how the brain is linked to muscle movement. They can test cells through the interactive program to see how it reacts to different stimuli.
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Religion and Ethics: Living with Special Needs
Students explore human behavior by exploring mental and physical disabilities. In this learning disability lesson, students identify the different disabilities students have which prevent them from working at the same pace as the rest of...
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Patagonia or Namib, Where Do I Belong?
Learners compare and contrast the African Ostrich from the Namib Desert and the Rhea from Patagonia. They watch and discuss a PBS video, identify and record characteristics of each bird in their science journal, and create life-size...
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Dig Into Ireland
Students study Ireland and its distinctive culture. In this exploring Ireland lesson plan students view a program on Ireland, answer questions then divide into groups and research the Irish connection.
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Fact or Opinion-Manatees
Students decipher factual information about manatees. In this biological science lesson, students research characteristics about manatees. They use that information to separate facts from common opinions about the...
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Disease Warriors
Students explore the importance of vaccines in fighting childhood disease. In this health lesson, students play a game to model how vaccines protect against the spread of infectious disease. Students play a tag based game in which...
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The Ultimate Choreography
Eighth graders research the required elements of the short programs in men's and women's figure skating. They analyze the physical requirements of each move and relate the types of muscles, bones, and joints required to perform them.
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The Buzz about Fact and Opinion
Students distinguish facts from opinions. For this biological science lesson, students research information on bees to decipher what things are proven true versus assumed. They view a video and discuss what makes the...
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Comparing and Contrasting-Grassland, Desert, and Forest Elephants
Learners compare and contrast different types of elephants. In this environmental science instructional activity, students examine the characteristics of three species of elephants. Learners view a video of each type of...
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Determining Main Idea and Supporting Details-Wild in the City
Students discuss the main idea of a story. In this writing process lesson, students use a video about parakeets as a tool to find the main idea of a story. After viewing the video, they engage in a discussion about...
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Form an Opinion-Cats
Students discuss which animal makes a better pet. In this statistics lesson, students examine the factors that cause people to choose one animal over the other (cat or dog). Students discuss their own opinions, and then view...
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Designing a Poster to Communicate Information: Yellowstone National Park
It's not hard to convince someone to visit the beauty of Yellowstone National Park. But there's more than meets the eye in this region! Learners watch a short historical video and conduct research before creating an advertisement for...
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Pieces of Mind: Remembering What Matters
Young scholars watch the program "Pieces of Mind" from PBS and participate in a class discussion about PET scans and their advantages. Students then brainstorm activities a PET scan could be used for.
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Crocodiles
Work on research procedures in this lesson, which prompts writers to collect and evaluate information pooled from a number of sources. They work in teams to collect information about crocodiles from different sources. They compare the...
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The Trial of the Bloody Sucker
A blood sucking what? Grade schoolers identify the characteristics of blood sucking parasites. They organize their information, identify their arguments, and present them to the class in persuasive arguments. They participate in a debate...
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Survival in Antarctica
Explore the harsh climate of Antarctica and its wildlife. Participate in experiments to determine how humans survive in the continent's climate, and address the difficulties faced by scientists.
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PRIMARY AND SECONDARY SUCCESSION IN AMERICA'S FORESTS
Students examine forest organisms, features of some of the different types of forest, classify organisms based on the type of forest they come from, and explore how certain species are connected with other, particular species within...
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What Is Happening To My Species?
Learners select and research an animal that lives in the rainforest of Manu, Peru. They watch and discuss a video, create masks and costumes to role-play various rainforest animals, conduct research, and write a short story of their...