Instructional Video
PBS

Pbs Learning Media: Is It Alive?

Pre-K - 1st
What is it that distinguishes a living organism from a nonliving object? This video presents examples that aren't as clear-cut as one might think, enticing students to question what it means to be alive. [3:02]
Instructional Video
PBS

Pbs Learning Media: Masters of Disguise

Pre-K - 1st
In the face of danger, what's a spineless animal to do? This video segment introduces the concept of camouflage -- how animals achieve it and how this form of disguise benefits both predators and prey. Footage from NOVA: "Animal...
Instructional Video
PBS

Pbs Learning Media: Biological Invaders

9th - 10th
This video segment from Evolution: "Extinction!" shows the impact of invasive species on native ecosystems. [3:23]
Instructional Video
PBS

Pbs Learning Media: Fish With Fingers

9th - 10th
In this video segment from Evolution: "Great Transformations," paleontologist Jenny Clack explains that vertebrates evolved fingers before they invaded land. [3:49]
Instructional Video
PBS

Pbs Learning Media: Evolving Ideas: How Does Evolution Really Work?

9th - 10th
The process of evolution through natural selection is the focus of this video segment from Evolution, which presents a field study of hummingbird speciation in Ecuador. [6:41]
Instructional Video
PBS

Pbs Learning Media: Evolution of the Eye

9th - 10th
Zoologist Dan-Erik Nilsson demonstrates how the complex human eye could have evolved from simple light-sensitive cells. From a PBS show called "Evolution: Darwin's Dangerous Idea." Includes background reading material and discussion...
Instructional Video
PBS

Pbs Learning Media: Tale of the Peacock

9th - 10th
The peacock provides a classic example of sexual selection, the force behind nature's extravagances. From Evolution: "Why Sex?" [4:02] Includes background reading and discussion questions.
Instructional Video
PBS

Pbs Learning Media: Alzheimer's Disease

9th - 10th
This video segment from the Secret of Life School Video: "Genetic Medicine: Tinkering with Our Genes" explores the potential for gene therapy to cure diseases like Alzheimer's. [2 min, 48 sec]
Instructional Video
PBS

Pbs Learning Media: Double Immunity

9th - 10th
Dr. Stephen O'Brien of the National Cancer Institute discovers a 700-year-old mutation that makes a person resistant to HIV infection. From Evolution: "Evolutionary Arms Race."
Instructional Video
PBS

Pbs Learning Media: Who Owns the Genome?

9th - 10th
This video segment from NOVA: "Cracking the Code of Life" examines the social and ethical implications of genome research. [4 min, 8 sec]
Instructional Video
PBS

Pbs Learning Media: A Mutation Story

9th - 10th
This video segment describes the role of the sickle cell gene in natural selection. Footage courtesy of the PBS series Secret of Life: "Accidents of Creation." [4:49]
Instructional Video
PBS

Pbs Learning Media: Single Celled Organisms

9th - 10th
This video segment explores the astounding diversity of the world's smallest life forms: single-celled organisms. [3:43]
Instructional Video
PBS

Pbs Learning Media: Designing the Citigroup Skyscraper

3rd - 8th
This video segment adapted from the PBS series "Building Big" shows how a structural engineer overcame the challenges of building New York's Citigroup skyscraper over a church by using triangles to add muscle and stability to the...
Instructional Video
PBS

Pbs Learning Media: Curious George: Build a Wall

Pre-K - 1st
In the video "Keep Out Cows," Curious George tries to build a wall to keep the cows from munching on a flowerbed. He uses newspapers attached to a clothesline, but will they be strong enough to keep Leslie Cow and her friends away?...
Instructional Video
PBS

Pbs Learning Media: Gaining Catfish Aquaculture Skills

9th - 10th
See how Mississippi high school students confront the uncertainty and untidiness of science and develop problem-solving strategies in the context of local catfish farming. [5:40]
Instructional Video
PBS

Pbs Learning Media: Habitat and Diet in Racehorse Development

3rd - 8th
This animated segment from KET's Electronic Field Trip to a Horse Farm demonstrates one of the ways calcium, a naturally occurring mineral derived from limestone, enters a horse's diet to give it an advantage in bone strength. [1:09]
Instructional Video
PBS

Pbs Learning Media: It's Cool to Be a Civil Engineer

3rd - 8th
Who decides how massive structures like skyscrapers are made? This video segment adapted from the PBS series "Building Big" showcases the job of a civil engineer. [3:11]
Instructional Video
PBS

Pbs Learning Media: Building the Channel Tunnel

9th - 10th
How do you build a tunnel 32 miles long--under water? This video segment, adapted from the PBS series "Building Big," follows the construction of the Channel Tunnel (nicknamed "Chunnel"), the engineering wonder that connects England to...
Instructional Video
PBS

Pbs Learning Media: Arctic Climate System

9th - 10th
Learn how the Arctic is a part of a global climate system in this video segment adapted from the National Film Board of Canada.
Instructional Video
PBS

Pbs Learning Media: Radiometric Dating

9th - 10th
In this video segment from A Science Odyssey, scientists explain how Earth's age was determined by examining the radioactive rocks in Earth's crust.
Instructional Video
PBS

Pbs Learning Media: Asexual Reproducers

9th - 10th
This video segment explores the benefits and pitfalls of cloning as a means of reproduction. From Evolution: "Why Sex?" [3:17] Accompanied by a short background essay.
Instructional Video
PBS

Pbs Learning Media: Metamorphosis: How Frogs, Dragonfiles & Butterflies Grow

3rd - 8th
All animals develop and grow over time. The animals in this video segment, however, undergo very dramatic changes on their way to adulthood--a developmental process known as metamorphosis. [4:45]
Instructional Video
PBS

Pbs Learning Media: Experimenting With a Pendulum

3rd - 8th
In this video segment, members of the ZOOM cast experiment with a pendulum and discover what they need to do to make the pendulum complete one back-and-forth swing in five seconds. [3:57]
Instructional Video
PBS

Pbs Learning Media: Lightning!

9th - 10th
This video segment adapted from NOVA explains the mysterious force of lightning.