California Academy of Science
Why Protect Pollinators?
Would you rather having biting flies or chocolate? The question may seem absurd, but cocoa trees rely on pollination from biting flies. Viewers come to understand the importance of pollinators to our food supply, flowers, and entire...
Amoeba Sisters
Biomagnification and the Trouble with Toxins
Our relationship with toxins is, well, a little toxic. Explore how harmful substances work their way throughout the environment with a video from an expansive biology playlist. Topics include DDT and mercury, trophic levels, and water...
Kurzgesagt – In a Nutshell
Are GMOs Good or Bad? Genetic Engineering and Our Food
In many households across the country, GMOs are a big no-no. Is our mistrust of genetically-engineered food misguided? Biology scholars examine the facts with an animated video from the Kurzgesagt playlist. Topics include the...
MinuteEarth
Bedbugs. Seriously!?
Want to drastically reduce the number of naps attempted in class? Show a video about bedbugs! Learners discover a pest so persistent that entomologists are confounded by their resilience and adaptability. The narrator discusses our...
Be Smart
Why Are The Bees Dying?
Honeybees fly at 15 miles per hour — not bad for such a small animal! These speedy llittle creatures are the subject of a video that shows viewers how honeybees are incredibly important in the pollination world. The narrator...
SciShow
What's Happening to Honey Bees?
Worker bees used to disappear at a rate of around 5 percent per year; then in 2006 that number jumped to 30 percent, and, by 2013, it was as high as 50 percent. The video focuses on what is happening to the honey bees. It considers...
Be Smart
Inside the World of Fire Ants!
Did you know that fire ant colonies are seen as small mounds on the surface of Earth but underground, tunnels can extend as far as 25 feet away? Viewers learn about the unique history of fire ants, from the pain of their sting to their...
TED-Ed
Do We Really Need Pesticides?
How do we balance feeding an increasing population and using pesticides? Decide for yourself if the use of pesticides is necessary to keep up with the growing demand for food supply.
Amoeba Sisters
Biomagnification and the Infamous DDT
People once recommended that you should wear a mask when spraying DDT onto the skin of the food you would later eat. The video explains biomagnification and the impact that giving toxins to producers has on the largest consumers. It uses...
Curated OER
The Future of Food - Introduction
A highly informative, and thought-provoking video on the history of the growing and selling of food awaits your students. It's a topic not often covered in social studies classes, so this video could be a good addition to a unit on...
PBS
Pbs Learning Media: American Experience: Lessons From Silent Spring for Controlling Disease: Rachel Carson
Find out why, decades after the 1962 publication of Rachel Carson's 'Silent Spring' exposed the unintended consequences of popular pesticides like DDT, some critics are connecting a renewed rise in malaria around the globe to Carson's...
PBS
Pbs: Fooling With Nature
This article discusses Rachel Carson's Silent Spring and its impact upon environmentalism and pesticide use in the United States.
Smithsonian Institution
Smithsonian National Zoo: Smithsonian Migratory Bird Center
This site provides a series of fact sheets on migratory birds. It cover topics such as avian adaptations and pesticides. Each fact sheet is available in both English and Spanish. [6:00]
PBS
Pbs Learning Media: Environmental Public Health: Reducing Household Chemical Risks
In these three public service videos from the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, learn how to minimize exposure to pesticides, chemical contaminants, and secondhand smoke. Through simple demonstrations, the videos...
PBS
Pbs Learning Media: Environmental Public Health: The Effects of Pesticides on Children
This video segment adapted from Playing with Poison describes how children in the Yaqui Valley, one of the largest farming areas in Mexico, have been harmed by chronic exposure to pesticides. To study the long-term health effects of...
PBS
Pbs Learning Media: Environmental Public Health: Groundbreaking Pesticide Ban
Hear the personal story of Jamie Armstrong, a 10-year-old girl in Halifax, Nova Scotia, who developed a rash and serious asthma as a baby after her apartment was sprayed for cockroaches. Years later, Jamie still has severe asthmatic and...
PBS
Pbs Learning Media: American Experience: Rachel Carson's Silent Spring
This video segment adapted from American Experience: "Rachel Carson's Silent Spring" tells the story of how biologist Rachel Carson was driven to write Silent Spring, a book that questioned the safety of pesticide use in the United...
PBS
Pbs Learning Media: Environmental Public Health: Greater Boston: Can Organic Farms and Mosquito Control Coexist?
This video segment from 'Greater Boston' examines the issue of spraying pesticides to combat disease-carrying insects. Massachusetts had been planning to use aerial spraying to control the spread of eastern equine encephalitis, a disease...