Summary: Are advocates of the intelligent design theory really creationists in disguise? To what extent has the I.D. argument widened America's cultural divide? And if a clear winner emerges, who loses? This program thoroughly examines those questions, describing the theory's quasi-scientific origins and documenting the Pennsylvania court battle over teaching I.D. in biology classes. A historical...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006
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Summary: Confronting one of the most complex and potentially divisive issues on the American cultural landscape, this ABC News program examines the intellectual and political forces that support the teaching of intelligent design in public schools. The video focuses on the Discovery Institute, a Seattle-based think tank that has generated widespread enthusiasm-and criticism-for making I.D. part of...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006
View online at AVOD
Summary: If we're all born with creative potential, why do many children lose their inventive tendencies as they grow older? What role does organized education play? This program observes a group of 25 seven-year-olds and their families in order to study childhood creativity, why it frequently fades, and why it matters. Exploring the impact of school and whether or not it dampens the creative impulse,...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2008
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Summary: In this interview, Robert Slavin, Ph.D., talks with Hedrick Smith about Success for All, a comprehensive, research-based reading and math program for elementary and middle schools. The most important objective, says Dr. Slavin, "is to get every single child to be successful, every single child to master the basic curriculum, to achieve the higher-order objectives that every parent would want...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006
View online at AVOD
Summary: Teacher and musician John Hunter is the inventor of the World Peace Game and stars in the documentary World Peace and Other 4th-Grade Achievements. He's known for compiling a list of all the problems of the world, arranging them on a 4'x5' plywood board, and letting his 4th-graders solve them. In this TED2011 talk, he explains how his teaching methods prompt spontaneous and surprising responses...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2011
View online at AVOD
Summary: In a philosophy-for-children session, a teacher uses a story, picture, news item, or piece of music to stimulate critical thinking and imagination. Children are encouraged to express themselves, to challenge what is being said, and to ask questions that intrigue them. This program explores the concept and supporting methodology of P4C at Gallions Primary School in East London, where such...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2009
View online at AVOD
Summary: This program, sponsored by the National Science Foundation, showcases innovative teaching techniques as performed by science and math professors at Hampshire College, the University of Massachusetts, and Springfield Technical Community College. In seminars and full-blown lectures, these instructors have succeeded in increasing their students' engagement with the subject matter by applying...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2005
View online at AVOD
Summary: Geared specifically to educators and produced by a working drama teacher, this program offers practical, hands-on guidance for creating an original high school musical. Viewers learn six essential components and ten key steps to writing and staging a production that entertains, engages, and boosts ticket sales! Designed for step-by-step viewing, the video is divided into two main...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2009
View online at AVOD
Summary: Using three simple ingredients-a microphone, audio software, and server space-anyone can publish lectures, readings, and performances on the Internet. So what's stopping teachers from incorporating such an exciting new technology into the classroom? This program helps educators realize the power of podcasting and put it into action. Viewers will learn how podcasts can disseminate class...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2010
View online at AVOD
Summary: As the controversy over intelligent design and science education heats up, open-minded discussion about the issue can be in short supply. This ABC News program sorts through arguments on both sides, examines the debate in the context of America's larger political climate, and explores its fundamental questions: Are evolution and I.D. incompatible? Is exposure to both ideas harmful or beneficial...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006
View online at AVOD
Summary: Why is it that involvement in physical activity for girls drops off more rapidly than for boys? This is a serious concern, as participation in school physical education programs has been shown to have a positive influence on a person's physical activity later in life. Do girls lose the attention of PE teachers who favor nurturing the physical development of boys, or do they make a conscious...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006
View online at AVOD
Summary: Tabitha is the best runner on her high school track team. She has learned both physical and mental techniques that help her win long-distance races. But this spunky runner is a mega-procrastinator when it comes to schoolwork. That's all about to change as her best and brainy friends take a closer look at the techniques Tabitha uses to win races and then coach her to apply them academically....
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006
View online at AVOD
Summary: When fewer than 6% of high school graduates can read a newspaper, write a cohesive essay, or solve a simple two-step arithmetic problem (according to the National Assessment of Education Progress), something is obviously wrong with the American educational system. This program illustrates how old assumptions about school administration, teaching methods, and testing are being challenged, and...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2009
View online at AVOD
Summary: Whether it's English, Spanish, Chinese, or Urdu, babies and young children are able to pick up their native language with remarkable ease; no one language seems any more difficult than any other. Yet few children who are taught a language in school have anything to show for it when they grow up. Why is learning a second or third language so difficult? Are the teaching methods at fault? Enough...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2007
View online at AVOD
Summary: In this interview, Anthony Alvarado, the dynamic architect of controversial principal-centered educational reforms in New York City and San Diego schools, and Eric Smith, Ed.D., who has risen to national prominence as superintendent of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg and Anne Arundel County school districts, join Hedrick Smith to describe their methodologies and examine the results of their policies...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006
View online at AVOD
Summary: In spite of a growing dependence on technology, studies show that as students move through grade levels they become progressively less interested in the sciences. This program illustrates how teachers can use inquiry-based learning, a powerful teaching method, to motivate students to deepen their understanding about the world around them. Students tackle problems and ask questions instead of...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2005
View online at AVOD
Summary: Endowed with an elementary representation mechanism, the human brain is naturally predisposed toward mathematics. This program seeks to understand the biological basis of humankind's "gift for math"-and why, beyond that baseline computational ability, some people are capable of scaling the highest peaks of mathematical comprehension. Experiments with animals, studies of very young children,...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2005
View online at AVOD
Summary: This teleconference for teachers, administrators, and parents addresses the issues of improving comprehension; cognitive coaching; the link between thinking, reading, and writing; and the integration of instruction and assessment. The program features Syracuse University Professor Harold Herber, Professor Dorothy Strickland of Rutgers University, Robert Peterkin of Harvard University's Urban...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006
View online at AVOD
Summary: General chemistry-the starting point for understanding many different sciences-is a rigorous discipline. This program, filmed at Dartmouth College, will help students stay engaged with the coursework as it explains the necessity and the benefits of making a wholehearted commitment. The nine strategies presented by a mix of professors and students are: set goals, manage your time, keep up with...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2007
View online at AVOD
Summary: This program travels the globe as it surveys a large portion of the world's languages-25 percent of which are spoken by a mere 0.1 percent of the Earth's population. Moving from Africa to Oceania and up to Asia and then west to Europe and across the ocean to the Americas, the program assesses how many languages are spoken in each region, the characteristics they share, and misconceptions about...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2007
View online at AVOD
Summary: Every goal, every touchdown, every home run is the product of years of arduous training-and, in most cases, a scientific strategy that melds the power of body and mind. This program explores the methods that help athletes become the competitors they long to be. In addition to weight training concepts, viewers learn the basics of a warm-up/cool-down system, focusing on decreasing the chance of...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2010
View online at AVOD
Summary: This program explores the process approach to writing instruction, asserting that the act of writing is more than simply the completion of a product; it is a complex, creative, and unpredictable progression of ideas and strategies. With commentary from veteran writing instructors—including Dr. Lois Matz Rosen, author of Within and Beyond the Writing Process in the Secondary English Classroom,...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2005
View online at AVOD
Summary: Writing is a relative latecomer to the history of language. This program tracks its emergence in Mesopotamia, China, and Mesoamerica and its spread down through the millennia via conquest-usually violent, sometimes benign-and colonization. The creation of creoles and pidgins resulting from the interaction of specific populations is also addressed, and speculation is made about the first things...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2007
View online at AVOD
Summary: Smart athletes put their trust in their coaches. So what do smart coaches do to earn that trust? This program offers detailed suggestions, examining the physical and mental areas of a player's development in which a successful coach operates. Using interviews with professional coaches, training experts, and student athletes, the film explores various aspects of the coach's responsibilities....
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2010