Earth and Space Science

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NOVA on Teachers' Domain

RESOURCE	GRADE LEVEL	MEDIA TYPE
Antarctica: A Challenging Work Day What happens when the ground under your feet is ice and it's moving? This video segment adapted from NOVA features some of the dangers faced by scientists conducting research in Antarctica.	3-12	Video
Are We Alone? This video segment adapted from NOVA features a variety of scientific perspectives on the age old question, "Are we alone in the universe?" Animations make vivid the improbability that we could intercept a radio wave signaling extra terrestrial intelligence.	6-12	Video
Astronauts in Hard Hats This media-rich series of interviews from the NOVA Web site explores the unique challenges faced by astronauts doing construction work in outer space.	6-12	Document
Astronauts Speak: Gene Cernan In this audio resource from NOVA, astronaut Gene Cernan recounts his harrowing experience during America's first attempt to do work in outer space.	3-12	Audio
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	Document
Birth of a Supernova, Type Ia In this interactive activity from NOVA Online, learn about a type of exploding star — a Type Ia supernova — that is so bright that astronomers can measure the distance to the galaxy in which it resides, and even learn which elements make up the star.	6-12	Interactive
Birth of a Supernova, Type II In this interactive activity from NOVA Online, learn about a type of exploding star — a Type II supernova — that is so large it has a mass 10 times greater than the mass of our Sun.	6-12	Interactive
Caves: Extreme Conditions for Life This video segment adapted from NOVA raises the provocative idea that if life can exist in the most extreme environments on Earth — such as in dark, toxic caves — then perhaps living things can also survive in harsh environments on other planets.	6-12	Video
Climate Change This video segment adapted from NOVA explains the difference between weather and climate and features groundbreaking analysis revealing that Earth's climate has changed much faster than previously believed.	6-12	Video
Detecting Life on Other Planets In this video from NOVA scienceNOW, learn how scientists detect potential signs of life on distant planets.	6-12	Video
Eclipse of the Century This video segment adapted from NOVA features spectacular footage from the 1991 solar eclipse that fortuitously occurred directly over several major astronomical observatories in Hawaiʻi.	3-12	Video
Einstein: A Timeline of His Life This illustrated timeline from the NOVA Web site follows Albert Einstein's life, including 1905, his "Miracle Year," during which he developed his Special Theory of Relativity and the equation, E=mc².	6-12	Document
Einstein: How Smart Was He? This essay from the NOVA Web site explores the impact Einstein made on physics and most everything we know about the cosmos.	6-12	Document
Einstein's Thoughts on the Ether Do light waves travel through the ether like waves on a lake travel through water? In this video segment adapted from NOVA, a young Albert Einstein grapples with this question while examining the speed of light.	6-12	Video
The Elements: Forged in Stars The story of how elements from lithium to uranium are created by stars is illustrated through animation and a hands-on periodic table in this video segment adapted from NOVA.	6-12	Video
Evidence for the Big Bang Theory This video segment adapted from NOVA tells the story of two scientists who inadvertently discovered microwave radiation that is now believed to be heat left over from the Big Bang.	9-12	Video
Extreme Temperatures on the Moon In this video segment adapted from Interactive NOVA, astronaut John Young experiences extreme temperatures on the Moon that are a result of the Moon's low gravity and lack of atmosphere.	3-12	Video
Free-Falling and "Weightlessness" Discover the difference between free-falling and weightlessness in this interactive activity from the NOVA Web site.	6-12	Interactive
Galileo: Discovering Jupiter's Moons This video segment adapted from NOVA shows how Galileo, using his newly developed refracting telescope, observed four of Jupiter's moons, the first astronomical bodies to be discovered since ancient times.	3-12	Video
Galileo: His Place in Science Einstein called Galileo the "father of modern physics." This media-rich essay from the NOVA Web site looks at Galileo's quest to understand the mathematics of motion.	6-12	Document
Galileo on the Moon Watch Apollo 15 astronaut David Scott perform Galileo's falling objects experiment on the Moon in this video segment from NASA.	3-12	Video
Galileo's Big Mistake Scientists don't always get it right. This video segment adapted from NOVA looks at Galileo's failed theory for the motion of the tides.	6-12	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	Video
Galileo's Thought Experiment How can Earth move through space without our feeling its motion? This video segment adapted from NOVA answers this question by dramatizing one of Galileo's thought experiments.	6-12	Video
Galileo: Sun-Centered System In the early 1600s, most people believed that the Sun revolved around a stationary Earth. This video segment adapted from NOVA tells how Galileo proved that the Sun, not Earth, is at the center of our universe.	3-12	Video
Galileo: Sunspots This video segment adapted from NOVA shows how Galileo used his telescope to carefully observe and study sunspots.	3-12	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	Document
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	Document
Gravity and the Expanding Universe This video segment, adapted from NOVA, traces the evolving history of theories about gravity and a force that may oppose it, along with our understanding of the impact of both of these forces on our expanding universe.	6-12	Video
History of the Universe This interactive timeline from the NOVA Web site recaps the theoretical origin and formation of the universe, and forecasts its eventual fate.	6-12	Interactive
How Big Is the Universe? In this media-rich essay from the NOVA Web site, astronomer Brent Tully of the University of Hawaiʻi walks you through the latest scientific theories about the size of the universe.	6-12	Document
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	Video
Imaging with Radar This interactive activity from NOVA features synthetic aperture radar (SAR), which uses radio waves to create high-quality images. Examine SAR images of Washington, D.C., and learn about this technology's unique advantages.	6-12	Interactive
Ingredients for Life: Carbon This video segment adapted from NOVA illustrates why carbon is at the center of life on Earth. It also asks whether carbon-based life might exist on other planets.	6-12	Video
Ingredients for Life: Water This video segment adapted from NOVA goes on a whimsical journey in search of life forms thriving in extreme conditions on Earth and in outer space. Animations show ice on Jupiter's moon, Europa, and signs that water once existed on Mars.	3-12	Video
Jupiter: Earth's Shield Jupiter's immense gravity protects Earth from asteroids. In this video segment adapted from NOVA, scientists searching for signs of life in the universe identify solar systems with Jupiter-like planets that may be shielding smaller nearby Earth-like planets from comets and asteroids.	6-12	Video
Mammals Get Their Chance In this video segment adapted from NOVA, animations of an asteroid hitting Earth are used to illustrate this widely accepted theory of dinosaur extinction and the resulting conditions that favored mammals.	K-5	Video
Mars Dead or Alive: A Hostile Environment This NOVA video segment describes the challenges presented by the frozen desert environment of Mars to NASA engineers designing two robots that will journey millions of miles to the red planet.	6-12	Video
More on Galileo's Big Mistake Even great scientists make mistakes! This illustrated essay from the NOVA Web site looks at Galileo's theory of the tides, which, while well thought out, was wrong.	6-12	Document
A Nanotube Space Elevator In this video adapted from NOVA scienceNOW, find out about the discovery of a new building material, the carbon nanotube, whose physical properties could theoretically enable the creation of a 22,000-mile elevator to space.	6-12	Video
Newton's Third Law of Motion: Astronauts in Outer Space In this video segment adapted from NOVA, NASA learns hard lessons from the first American attempt to do work while "walking" in space. The video also explores Newton's third law of motion.	3-12	Video
The Origin of the Elements This video segment adapted from NOVA explains the origin of the elements and how scientists use unique element profiles to identify supernova types.	6-12	Video
The Origin of the Moon This video segment adapted from NOVA follows the Apollo 15 astronauts as they collect samples of ancient rock from the Moon's crust, whose discovery helps lead to a radical new theory about the Moon's origin.	6-12	Video
Origins of the Solar System This video segment adapted from NOVA scienceNOW examines the scientific debate over the events that triggered the birth of our solar system.	6-12	Video
Relativity and the Cosmos This illustrated essay from the NOVA Web site introduces the basic concepts of Einstein's General Theory of Relativity and what we know about cosmology as a result.	6-12	Document
Sagan on Time Travel Astronomer Carl Sagan discusses the possibility of time travel in this audio-enhanced interview from the NOVAWeb site.	9-12	Document
Solar Magnetism This video segment adapted from NOVA describes how the Sun's magnetism can have an effect here on Earth, from dramatic auroras to a mini-Ice Age in the 1600s.	6-12	Video
Sound Waves Underwater: True or False This interactive quiz from the NOVA Web site features an array of interesting facts about the nature of sound underwater.	3-12	Interactive
Sources of Radiation This interactive activity from the NOVA Web site explores sources of radiation, both harmful and beneficial, natural and manmade.	6-12	Interactive
Speed of Light: How Fast Is That? How fast is 300,000 kilometers per second? This text from the NOVA Web site offers a few real-world comparisons for the speed of light.	6-12	Interactive
Speed of Light: Time Traveler This interactive game from the NOVA Web site explores what happens to time as a traveler approaches the speed of light.	6-12	Interactive
Stellar Velocity: The Doppler Effect This interactive activity from the NOVA Web site illustrates the Doppler effect and shows how it applies to measuring the direction and speed of stellar objects.	6-12	Interactive
A Strange New Planet This video segment adapted from NOVA features the first planet to be discovered outside our solar system. Its surprisingly large size and short orbit sent scientists back to their data and led them to discover similar planets.	6-12	Video
String Theory: A New Picture of Gravity This video segment from NOVA describes the general theory of relativity and the theory of electromagnetism.	6-12	Video
String Theory: A Strange New World This video segment from NOVA chronicles Einstein's quest to unify the forces of electromagnetism and gravity.	6-12	Video
String Theory: Newton's Embarrassing Secret This video segment from NOVA chronicles Newton's theory of gravity and Einstein's discovery that contradicted it.	6-12	Video
String Theory: Strings to the Rescue This video segment from NOVA discusses the challenge of unifying the force of gravity and the forces described by quantum mechanics into a single theory of unification.	9-12	Video
Think Like Einstein This interactive activity from the NOVA Web site challenges you to think like Einstein and understand how time travel might be possible.	6-12	Interactive
Tidal Curiosities This illustrated essay from the NOVA Web site answers questions about irregularities in the tides.	6-12	Document
Total Solar Eclipse Animation This brief animation adapted from NOVA illustrates how total solar eclipses form and explains the stages from first contact to totality.	3-12	Video
What Causes the Gulf Stream? This video segment adapted from NOVA visualizes how Earth's rotation and uneven heating from the Sun cause prevailing winds and influence ocean surface currents. An animation and infrared satellite image illustrate the shape and direction of the Gulf Stream System in the Atlantic Ocean.	6-12	Video
What Is a Planet? This video segment, adapted from NOVA scienceNOW, presents the ongoing debate over the definition of a planet, including the status of Pluto.	3-12	Video