Social Studies
February 26, 2014 - March 4, 2014

Find the latest educational resources from Iowa Public Television.

Fresh Protest Violence Erupts in Ukrainian Capital

Grades: 7-13+

Fire erupted in the Ukrainian capital of Kiev this week and more than a dozen people killed in the latest anti-Russian protests that have embroiled the country for almost three months.

We are the Music: Native Americans

Grades: 3-4

With cultural diversity comes different food, clothing, languages, art and dance. In this "We are the Music" segment, learn about the 700-year history of the Native American culture in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Explore the characteristics of the Native American people through music, dance and storytelling sequences.

Bronx Princess

Grade Range: 6-12

"Auntie" Yaa Otoo has a great blessing in her life. The Ghanaian immigrant owner of a Bronx beauty shop has a daughter, Rocky, who is bright, vivacious, popular and poised to graduate from high school and be the first woman in her family to attend college. But Auntie Yaa, who dispenses warmth and wisdom to people in the neighborhood along with beauty lotions from her store, also has a problem. Rocky is willful, disrespectful and determined to leave the Bronx behind.

The Boys of Baraka
Grade Range: 7-12

Devon, Montrey, Richard, and Romesh are just at that age - 12 and 13 years old - when boys start to become men. But in their hometown of Baltimore, one of the country's most poverty-stricken cities for inner-city residents, African-American boys have a very high chance of being incarcerated or killed before they reach adulthood. The boys are offered an amazing opportunity in the form of the Baraka school, a project founded to break the cycle of violence through an innovative education program that literally removed young boys from low-performing public schools and unstable home environments. They travel with their classmates to rural Kenya in East Africa, where a teacher-student ratio of one to five, a strict disciplinary program and a comprehensive curriculum form the core of their new educational program. The Boys of Baraka follows along with their journey, and examines each boy's transformation during this remarkable time.

The Tailenders
Grade Range: 9-12

Global Recordings Network (GRN), founded in Los Angeles in 1939, has produced audio versions of Bible stories in over 5,500 languages, and aims to record in every language on earth. They distribute the recordings, along with ultra-low-tech hand-wind players, in isolated regions and among displaced migrant workers. The Bible stories played by the missionaries are sometimes the first encounter community members have had with recorded sound, and, even more frequently, the first time they have heard their own language recorded. GRN calls their target audience "the tailenders" because they are the last to be reached by worldwide evangelism. Filmed in the Solomon Islands, Mexico, India and the United States, The Tailenders focuses on the intersection of missionary activity and global capitalism and raises questions about how meaning, carried by the simple sound of a human voice, changes as it crosses language and culture.

Leadership Within the Black Community

Grade Range: 9-12

This video clip describes how William Valentine served as an influential black leader, particularly because of his ability to navigate the existing racial hierarchy to satisfy all parties.

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