Acid Mine Drainage and Precipitates

In this video, environmental scientists measure the pH of water to detect acid mine drainage from an abandoned coal mine and then demonstrate how metals present in acid drainage fall out of solution as precipitates when a basic substance is added to the water.

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Controlling Water Run-off

This video shows how the environmentally friendly design of the Visitor Center at Bernheim Arboretum and Research Forest near Louisville slows down water run-off and helps to control non-point-source water pollution, conserve water, and prevent soil erosion

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What is Biodiversity?

This excerpt from the KET Kentucky Life Biodiversity series, offers a brief overview of what we mean when we refer to the biodiversity of a particular area or region.

Environmental Impact of Acid Mine Drainage

This video shows how acid mine drainage from an abandoned coal mine has affected Wildcat Branch in Kentucky's Daniel Boone National Forest. Because the creek has a very acidic pH of 2.9, most organisms cannot survive there, and Wildcat Branch is essentially dead.

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Reusing Wastewater

This video demonstrates how peat filtration beds at Bernheim Arboretum and Research Forest near Louisville, Kentucky purify and conserve wastewater and eliminate one cause of non-point-source water pollution.

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The Three Levels of Biodiversity

This interactive adapted from Kentucky's Natural Heritage: An Illustrated Guide to Biodiversity, introduces learners to the three levels of biodiversity: genetic, species, and ecosystem.

Think Garden: A Year in the Garden

This video tells the story of a traditional summer garden over the course of a year. Learn how to prepare for a garden during winter months. See students get their gardens ready for planting, and then watch as they tend to their gardens all summer.

The Geology of Coal

In this video, a geologist describes how coal, a sedimentary rock, was formed when organic materials piled up in swamps millions of years ago. Over time, heat and pressure transformed the buried materials into forms of coal that cause acid mine drainage when exposed to oxygen.

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Recycling and Restoration

This video explains how Bernheim Arboretum and Research Forest near Louisville, Kentucky used recycled cypress from pickle vats to build its visitor center and then “paid back” nature by creating a cypress-tupelo swamp at one end of a lake on the park grounds.

Select Species Groups of Kentucky

In this interactive adapted from Kentucky’s Natural Heritage: An Illustrated Guide to Biodiversity, students will learn about the variety of species that call Kentucky their home.

Think Garden: What's a Food Chain?

This video illustrates why all living things need food and explains how organisms provide energy to each other. Colorful graphics show the difference between a food chain and a food web, and an animation and poem make food chains easy to understand.

High-Sulfur Coal and Acidic Water

In this video, a geologist measures the pH of water after high-sulfur coal from a Kentucky coal mine has been added to it. This test demonstrates that the sulfate salts found on the coal’s surface cause the water to become much more acidic.

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Think Garden: The Importance of Water

This video explores why plants need water to survive, and how they tell us they’re thirsty. Learn about the part water plays in the process of photosynthesis, and find out how to conserve and improve water quality. Also an animation explains the water cycle and transpiration process.

Rain Gardens

This video shows how a rain garden at Bernheim Arboretum and Research Forest near Louisville, Kentucky slows down the flow of water from the forest’s parking lot and helps prevent soil erosion.

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Select Natural Communities

In this interactive adapted from Kentucky's Natural Heritage: An Illustrated Guide to Biodiversity, students will learn about the four major natural communities and the types of organisms that live in each.

Cave Species and Karst Landscapes

In this interactive adapted from Kentucky's Natural Heritage: A Guide to Biodiversity, students will learn about karst landscape, where caves are most prevalent, as well as the different species that can be found in and around caves.

Think Garden: Location, Location

This video shows how location is important to the health of a garden. Learn about the factors that go into choosing a location for a garden. See a variety of alternatives to a traditional garden plot like raised beds, container gardens, hoop houses, and small kitchen gardens.

Mycoremediation

This video explores the process of mycoremediation: planting fungi such as oyster mushrooms to mitigate non-point-source water pollution caused by oil, gasoline, and other toxic substances.

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Restoring Lower Rock Creek

This brief video describes how Lower Rock Creek’s location between two National Wild and Scenic Rivers caused Kentucky environmentalists to choose the creek as a target for acid mine drainage remediation.

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Acid Mine Drainage Remediation

In this video, an environmental technologist visits an abandoned coal mine in Kentucky to talk about how a remediation system (a series of settling ponds and treatment cells) is neutralizing the acid drainage flowing from the mine and keeping it from damaging a creek downstream.

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Applying the Scientific Method

This video provides a real-life example of the scientific method: testing hypotheses about which plants will grow most successfully on a green roof in Kentucky.

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Migratory Songbirds

Adapted from the Kentucky Life Biodiversity series, this video interactive offers information about the different species of birds and their migration patterns.

Think Garden: Soil Composition

This video explains why soil is more than just dirt. Learn how to tell if soil is rich and healthy or lacking in nutrients, which nutrients are essential, and what happens if plants lack these nutrients. Also find out how to improve soil, and find out what compost is, and how to use it.

Think Garden: A Gardener's Poem

This video explores the many roles of a gardener through a short, fun poem.

Results of Acid Mine Drainage Remediation

In this video, a biologist visits Rock Creek in Pulaski County, Kentucky to show how acid mine drainage remediation has increased the stream’s pH from acidic levels to almost neutral. Although the ecosystem has not been completely restored, many species have returned to Rock Creek.

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Scientific Tools and Methods

Adapted from the Kentucky Life Biodiversity series, the videos in this interactive explore three examples of researchers applying the scientific method in various field situations.

Stream Restoration

This video explores how Bernheim Arboretum and Research Forest near Louisville, Kentucky has restored a channelized or straightened stream to its original meandering path, thereby improving the stream’s water quality and creating a better habitat for wildlife.

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Aquatic Insects

In this brief video, a biologist talks about the macroinvertebrates (typically aquatic insects) that form the basis of food webs in healthy Kentucky streams.

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Detached Wetlands

This video depicts a detached wetland, a small pool that forms beside a shallow meandering stream when it overflows its banks. These wetlands are important breeding grounds for the invertebrates that live in and beside streams

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Indicator Species: Hooded Warbler

Adapted from the Kentucky Life Biodiversity series, this video interactive offers information about the Hooded Warbler and its role as an indicator species in the Natural Bridge region of Kentucky.

Follow Kentucky Through Geologic Time

This interactive shows the location of Kentucky through different geological eras of time.

Think Garden: Plant Families

This video breaks down the scientific classification of living organisms. Learn about the order of classification: kingdom, phylum, class, order, family, genus, and species. Also get a closer look at some specific plant families to find out which fruits and vegetables are in the same family.

About the Seasons

Children learn how seasonal weather changes affect everything, from the behavior of animals to the way we dress and play.

Think Garden: Cool Crops

This video explores the possibilities of gardening in the cooler temperatures of spring and fall. Learn about which vegetables like cool weather, and techniques to help plants grow in these conditions like raised beds and hoop houses. Also find out why cool crops are ideal for school gardens.

Life in a Kentucky Village

The mural in this rollover interactive shows the Mississippian people in their day-to-day activities.

Think Garden: Photosynthesis

This video explains the process of photosynthesis through a fun poem with stop motion animation. Learn about what chloroplasts and chlorophyll do, and why sunlight, water, carbon dioxide, oxygen, glucose, and carbohydrates are important to the process.

Watersheds in Kentucky

This interactive with a short video clip, provides students with a definition of watershed, as well as information about where they can be found in the state of Kentucky.

Biodiverse Regions: Blood River

Adapted from the Kentucky Life Biodiversity series, this video looks at the natural significance of the Blood River region of southwestern Kentucky.

Think Garden: Garden Pests and Helpers

See how some creatures benefit the garden by being pollinators, while other creatures help by eating insects that attack garden plants. Also learn techniques to prevent bigger pests from damaging the garden.

Biodiverse Regions: Black Mountain

Black Mountain in southeastern Kentucky is one of the most biodiverse regions in the state. This KET video offers a brief overview about the factors that make this area so unique.

Think Garden: Sustainable Gardening

This video examines methods of practicing sustainable gardening. Examples explored include companion planting, composting, and more. Also learn about things not to do in a sustainable garden.

Lentic Communities

In this interactive students learn about the three types of lentic communities and examples of species that are unique to each.

Lotic Communities

This interactive provides a way for students to learn about lotic communities and the fish, mollusks, and invertebrates that live in these communities.

Think Garden: Garden Health and Maintenance

This video explores what a garden needs to remain healthy. See the ways thriving gardens depend on humans, and find out special needs of specific plants.

Think Garden: Plant Structure

This video examines plant structure by taking a closer look at the root and shoot systems. Learn about roots, stems, leaves, flowers, seeds, and fruit through engaging illustrations and animations.

1900 Air Pollution

Examine this graph from FRONTLINE/NOVA: "What's Up with the Weather?" Web site to see dramatic increases in three greenhouse gases over the last two hundred years.

Acidic Seas

For years, our oceans have been hard at work absorbing the carbon dioxide that humans create through burning fossil fuels. Find out what effect that extra CO2 is having on our seas.

Acid Lake

Add acidity to a healthy lake and see what happens to the plants and animals in this interactive activity adapted from EcoKids.

Adaptation

Students examine some of the behaviors and physical characteristics that enable organisms to live successfully in their environment.

Adaptive Radiation: Darwin's Finches

Finches on the Galapagos Islands have evolved to exploit almost every possible niche. This diagram shows the range of food sources available on the island and the different beak shapes adapted to exploit each of them.