Subtopic: History and Impact of Technology

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Resource	Grade Level	Media Type
Advances in Neurotechnology In this video segment from Greater Boston, learn how a man with severe motor disabilities can operate a computer and move a prosthetic hand by simply thinking the commands, thanks to the combined efforts of bioengineers and neuroscientists.	6-12	QuickTime Video
Anatomy of a Rover In this interactive activity from NOVA, learn about the sophisticated scientific instruments on two identical robotic rovers that have explored Mars — Spirit and Opportunity.	3-12	Flash Interactive
Ask an Engineer Explore some of the wonders of modern engineering in this video from the Sciencenter in Ithaca, New York. Hear a diverse selection of engineers explain how things work.	3-12	QuickTime Video
The Beginnings of the Telescope This animated essay from the NOVA Web site examines the design of Galileo's refracting telescope and Sir Isaac Newton's reflecting telescope.	6-12	HTML Document
Brain Trauma Find out how serious head concussions can be in this video segment adapted from NOVA scienceNOW.	6-12	QuickTime Video
Capturing Carbon In this video segment adapted from NOVA scienceNOW, a scientist, inspired by his daughter's science fair project, develops a synthetic "tree" to remove excess carbon dioxide from the air.	6-12	QuickTime Video
Carbon-Fiber Car of the Future In this video segment adapted from NOVA, find out how cars made of a material stronger than steel and half the weight can help combat climate change.	6-12	QuickTime Video
Chernobyl: What Really Happened? This text excerpted from Richard Rhodes' book, Nuclear Renewal and reprinted on the FRONTLINE Web site examines the causes of the Chernobyl accident.	6-12	HTML Document
Choosing a STEM Career Students will view video clips about graduate and middle school students with interests in STEM careers and compare technologies from yesterday with today. They will explore careers on-line before writing about their futures as STEM professionals.	6-12	Lesson Plan
The Cumberland Gap Tunnel This KET video chronicles the incredible engineering effort that built the tunnel through Cumberland Mountain as well as the challenges posed by the geological composition of the area.	6-12	QuickTime Video
Design Inspired by Nature In this stills collage produced for Teachers' Domain, see several examples of everyday inventions that were either inspired by nature or are similar in form and function to plants or animals.	3-12	Flash Image
Elements of Steel This resource from the AMERICAN EXPERIENCE Web site, which contains both an interactive activity and illustrated text, looks at the composition of different types of steel and their impact on technology.	6-12	Flash Interactive
Forgotten Inventors This illustrated feature from the American Experience Web site highlights the frequently forgotten inventors of several useful, innovative technologies.	3-12	HTML Interactive
Fusion: Testing the First Hydrogen Device This video segment adapted from AMERICAN EXPERIENCE features original footage of the U.S. test of the first hydrogen device, code-named "Mike", that would trigger thermonuclear fusion.	6-12	QuickTime Video
Fusion: The Hydrogen Bomb Just after World War II, nuclear scientists turned their attention from fission to fusion. This video segment adapted from AMERICAN EXPERIENCE looks at the beginnings of thermonuclear power generation.	6-12	QuickTime Video
Galileo's Telescope The invention of the telescope helped change our understanding of the universe. This video segment adapted from NOVA looks at Galileo's contribution to this technology.	6-12	QuickTime Video
Galileo: Timeline of His Life This illustrated timeline from the NOVA Web site turns back the clock to the late 1500's to relive the dramatic life of one of the world's most renowned scientists.	6-12	HTML Document
Geodesic Dome This video segment adapted from Building Big highlights the evolution of the geodesic dome, designed by legendary architect and inventor, Buckminster Fuller.	6-12	QuickTime Video
Global Warming: Beyond Fossil Fuels Martin Hoffert, professor of physics at New York University, discusses global warming and alternative energies in this interview from the NOVA/FRONTLINE Web site.	6-12	HTML Document
Global Warming: Graphs Tell the Story Examine these graphs from the NOVA/ FRONTLINE Web site to see dramatic increases in the temperature of Earth's surface and greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.	6-12	HTML Document
Global Warming: The Developing World This video segment adapted from NOVA/FRONTLINE looks at the future of global warming as developing nations, including India and China, increase their need for energy.	6-12	QuickTime Video
Hoover Dam and Hydroelectric Power How does a dam generate electricity and what are the environmental impacts of operating these mammoth structures? Find out in this video segment adapted from Building Big.	3-12	QuickTime Video
How Do You Get to the Moon? This video, adapted from NOVA, showcases the competing engineering plans designed for landing a person on the Moon for the first time.	6-12	QuickTime Video
Hubble's Expanding Universe This adapted video segment, using footage from NOVA and NASA, examines Edwin Hubble's work and how his findings laid the foundation for the Big Bang theory.	6-12	QuickTime Video
The Impact of Technology: Cars This video segment adapted from A Science Odyssey looks at the invention of the automobile and the development of mass production.	3-12	QuickTime Video
The Impact of Technology: Nylon This video segment adapted from A Science Odyssey looks at the invention of nylon.	6-12	QuickTime Video
The Impact of Technology: Society This video segment adapted from A Science Odyssey considers modern technology's impact on society.	6-12	QuickTime Video
The Leaning Tower: Where It Stands Today Will the Leaning Tower of Pisa give way to gravity? In this interview from the NOVA Web site, engineer John Burland relates the difficult job of saving the tower.	6-12	HTML Document
Levers: Raising the Moai on Easter Island In this video segment adapted from NOVA, a team of archaeologists and engineers explores different uses of the lever by recreating the engineering feats of the ancient Easter Island peoples.	3-12	QuickTime Video
Lightning! This video segment adapted from NOVA explains the mysterious force of lightning.	3-12	QuickTime Video
Luis von Ahn: Computer Scientist This video segment adapted from NOVA scienceNOW profiles Luis von Ahn, the computer scientist and award-winning college professor behind innovations to prevent e-mail spam and digitize rare books.	6-12	QuickTime Video
Mars Dead or Alive: Mars Up Close NASA scientist Steve Squyres narrates this visual tour from NOVA Online of the most revealing discoveries made by the Spirit and Opportunity rovers on Mars.	6-12	Flash Interactive
Melissa Franklin: High Energy Physics This video segment adapted from Discovering Women profiles Fermilab physicist and Harvard professor Melissa Franklin.	9-12	QuickTime Video
Motorcycles for Health In this video segment adapted from Rx for Survival, health care workers in The Gambia learn to use and maintain motorcycles in order to travel to isolated villages with a uniquely designed ambulance attachment that can mean the difference between life and death.	3-12	QuickTime Video
Nuclear Blast Damage This illustrated document from the AMERICAN EXPERIENCE Web site examines the "zones of destruction" caused by nuclear weapons.	6-12	HTML Document
Nuclear Blast Footage These video clips from the AMERICAN EXPERIENCE Web site feature actual footage of thermonuclear blast testing done in the 1950s.	6-12	QuickTime Video
Nuclear Reaction: Meltdown What happens when a nuclear reactor overheats? This video segment adapted from FRONTLINE looks at the nuclear reactor meltdown at Chernobyl, the worst accident of its kind.	6-12	QuickTime Video
Nuclear Reaction: Searching for Safety This text excerpted from Beyond Engineering: How Society Shapes Technology by Robert Pool and reprinted on the FRONTLINE Web site looks at the impact of nuclear power.	6-12	HTML Document
Nuclear Reaction: Three Mile Island This video segment adapted from AMERICAN EXPERIENCE examines the worst nuclear accident in U.S. history.	6-12	QuickTime Video
Nuclear Waste: Yucca Mountain What happens to nuclear waste? This video segment adapted from FRONTLINE explores the controversy surrounding the United States' first nuclear repository site.	6-12	QuickTime Video
Pantheon Dome This video segment adapted from Building Big: "Domes" illustrates how the design of the Pantheon Dome emerged out of another form, the arch.	3-12	QuickTime Video
Pilotless Flight: Timeline of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles Explore this NOVA interactive timeline and discover the many technological innovations in the history of unmanned flight, from hot-air balloons to miniature flying robots.	6-12	HTML Interactive
Quarks: Inside the Atom This video segment adapted from NOVA shows how the particle accelerator helped physicists find parts of the atom even smaller than protons and neutrons.	6-12	QuickTime Video
Raising an Obelisk: An Engineering Puzzle This video segment adapted from NOVA follows two teams as they each test a different engineering design in an effort to explain how ancient Egyptians raised a giant stone obelisk.	3-12	QuickTime Video
Segway Technology: What's Newton Got to Do with It? What do the laws of physics have to do with engineering? Find out in this video segment featuring inventor Dean Kamen and his inventions, the IBOT and the Segway.	6-12	QuickTime Video
Snapshot of U.S. Energy Use This video segment adapted from NOVA/FRONTLINE looks at American energy consumption and the resulting production of greenhouse gases.	3-12	QuickTime Video
Solar Paint Your Roof In this video segment adapted from NOVA, see how nanotechnology might be used to create a new, cheaper way to produce solar electricity for the home.	6-12	QuickTime Video
Solar Panels for Your Home In this video segment adapted from NOVA, take a look inside a solar panel to see how it works, and hear firsthand about the benefits from homeowners who are using this technology.	6-12	QuickTime Video
Stories in the Ice Take a journey back through time, on the NOVA/FRONTLINE Web site, using ice cores to learn about Earth's climatic history, including evidence of global warming and nuclear activity.	6-12	HTML Document
Technology at Home This interactive activity from A Science Odyssey offers a historic tour of 20th century home technologies.	3-8	Shockwave Interactive
Technology Timeline This interactive timeline from the AMERICAN EXPERIENCE Web site features influential technological innovations from 1750 to 1990.	3-12	Flash Interactive
Ten Fun Facts About Engineering In this stills collage adapted from the National Society of Professional Engineers, see examples of how engineering makes our lives more fun and exciting.	3-12	Flash Image
Three Mile Island: What Happened This interactive activity from the AMERICAN EXPERIENCE Web site looks at the worst nuclear accident in U.S. history.	6-12	Shockwave Interactive
Transforming the Future of Flight In this video segment adapted from NASA, learn how engineers are transforming the future of flight by designing airplanes based on principles found in nature.	3-12	QuickTime Video
Ways of Navigation This video, adapted from material provided by the ECHO partners, describes three different ways that people have navigated the oceans.	6-9	QuickTime Video
What If Engineering Disappeared for a Day? What would you do if engineering disappeared for a day? In this stills collage adapted from the National Society of Professional Engineers, see how engineering achievements impact a typical school day.	3-8	Flash Image
Your Carbon Diet Find out how much energy you use and some ways to conserve in this interactive activity from the NOVA/FRONTLINE Web site.	3-12	Shockwave Interactive

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Subtopic: History and Impact of Technology