Elementary
February 5, 2014 - February 11, 2014

Find the latest educational resources from Iowa Public Television.

Percy Julian: Forgotten Genius

Grades: 3-12

In 1950, Percy Julian was one of the few African Americans with a Ph.D. He was Chicago's man of the year and a groundbreaking scientist. But it wasn't an easy road. Denied teaching positions and the target of death threats, Julian struggled to get ahead in a racially hostile world. Learn more about Percy Julian's contributions to science and civil rights. These resources, adapted from NOVA: "Forgotten Genius," explore how Julian revolutionized chemistry with the first synthesis of a chemical compound, as well as the challenges he overcame as an African American facing legalized segregation. Also check out the teacher's guide for this NOVA program.

African American History
Grade Range: 4-13+

Understanding the history of African Americans is crucial to understanding the history of America. The experiences of African Americans have shaped many aspects of the United States. These lesson plans are based on History Detectives episodes that examine artifacts from three distinct eras in American history: the Civil War, World War I, and the Civil Rights movement of the 1960s.

Teaching Environmental Public Health: An Introduction
Grade Range: K-13+

This lesson designed for professional development is a general introduction to the subject of environmental public health. Explore how people's environment relates to their health and how they can learn to reduce exposure to health hazards. View videos, use interactive activities, and answer questions to explore five basic topics in environmental public health: conditions and diseases, exposures and risk, research methods, community action, and health policy. Finish the lesson by using the five topics as a framework to examine an environmental health hazard of your own choosing.

Down to the Core Challenge
Grade Range: 3-8

Analyzing samples from a planet, moon, or asteroid helps scientists learn about its chemistry, geologic history, and potential to support past or present life. Nearly every NASA surface mission collects samples. In this video from Design Squad Nation, kids design and build coring devices that can poke into a potato "asteroid" and extract a core sample. The kids use the engineering design process, apply a variety of science concepts, and learn about NASA's exploration of the solar system. This resource is useful for introducing components of Engineering Design (ETS) from the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) to grade K-8 students.

Personification: Cowbirds
Grade Range: 5-8

In this blended lesson supporting literacy skills, students learn about the cowbird through a documentary video and explore how the video uses personification to present information about this bird. Students develop their literacy skills as they explore an English language arts focus on personification as a literary device. During this process, they read informational text, learn and practice vocabulary words, and explore content through videos and interactive activities.

Graphing Distance and Time: Travel
Grade Range: 5-8

In this blended lesson supporting literacy skills, students watch videos and complete interactive activities to learn how to represent a young man's unicycle trip on a graph. Students develop their literacy skills as they explore a mathematics focus on expressing distance-time relationships with graphs. During this process, they read informational text, learn and practice vocabulary words, and explore content through videos and interactive activities.

American Stories: Teens and Immigration
Grade Range: 5-8

In this blended lesson supporting literacy skills, students watch documentary video about four teens who immigrated to the United States. Students develop their literacy skills as they explore a social studies focus on the factors that drive immigration and the challenges immigrants face in the United States, particularly in learning English. During this process, they read informational text, learn and practice vocabulary words, and explore content through videos and interactive activities.

Comic Cam: Follow Through

Grade Range: 1-3

A runner describes all of the races she lost because of her failure to follow through and completely read signs and instructions before doing anything.

Resources | PBS LearningMedia | PBS KIDS | Iowa Public Television