This program is about the air that is covering the earth. Air’s weight pressing on the Earth is called atmospheric pressure, and it contributes to weather patterns, as does the sun; together they “drive” the process of weather and make life on earth possible. More Details

Today, two-thirds of the world’s humans live near coasts. The Mediterranean coastal climate is so mild that many civilizations were born here, and still thrive. But summer’s dryness often results in fierce fires. More Details

Desert regions have hot, dry climates where rain sometimes comes only once every few years. Subtropical climates can also be dry and hot, such as in the thorny Australian bush country. More Details

The tropics are the region of rainforests and savannahs. Tropical rainforests are very warm and humid throughout the year. In a savannah, there is also little variation in seasons. But the dry climate means fewer trees and more grass, so savannahs are home to herds of large animals. More Details

The weather changes every day. Climates also change, but slowly—over centuries or even millennia. The earth has had cycles in which ice ages alternate with periods of warmth. These cycles have always been natural phenomena, but humans may be responsible for the current bout of global warming. More Details

Explore the adaptations that people, plants, and animals have made to survive in the harsh climates of mountains and steppes. In high mountainous regions there is snow cover for many months of the year, but some plants and animals have adapted to this frigid environment. More Details

Oceans act as temperature regulators, bringing mild weather to coastal areas. The moderate temperatures and moisture-laden winds of coastal and island environments are optimal conditions for living things, so islands have been widely colonized by plants, animals, and humans. More Details

This program explores the Earth's polar and subpolar regions and describes the people, plants, and animals that live there. Computer animations show how the angle of the earth’s axis produces the “land of the midnight sun” and how the planet's magnetic field causes the aurora borealis, or northern lights. More Details

Live-action film footage, maps, and computerized animations help explain the reasons for the summer monsoon season in South Asia. Both the positive and negative effects of the monsoon are covered, life-giving water for the region's rice crops and misery for the many people who are flooded out of their homes. More Details

With the aid of computer animations, this program explains how cumulonimbus clouds develop into thunderstorms and how cyclones or hurricanes form over tropical oceans. Tornadoes occur over landmasses—especially in the United States—and cover a much smaller area than cyclones or hurricanes. More Details

Live-action film footage, maps, and computer animations introduce the climate of temperate regions in Europe and compare them the continental regions of both Europe and North America. More Details

Humidity has helped life develop on Earth. The water cycle, the process of evaporation, condensation, and precipitation, leads to the formation of clouds and to water falling as rain, snow, fog, mist, drizzle, and other solid or liquid types. More Details

Explore the causes of global winds, including the daily rotation of the earth on its axis, the changing seasons, and the uneven heating of the Earth’s surface by the sun. A section on weather forecasting stresses the importance of accurate observations and explains the pivotal role of satellite imaging and computer modeling in predicting the weather. More Details

This program reviews the changes brought by the Pilgrims, how the colonists established Williamsburg, and how settlers advanced into the West. More Details

This program is about how rules are linked to safety, that they are designed to support fairness and that there are consequences for breaking them. This helps the students see that the rules of their classroom community are just as important as the rules in their town. More Details

An environmental scientist who provides clean water to the city of Philadelphia explains how this water is used in homes, parks, and swimming pools and to fight fires. More Details

A family doctor explains that all kinds of people visit him in the medical center for check-ups and referrals to specialists. More Details

A firefighter named Kevin talks about his job, detailing his training as a young man to his present day-to-day activities. More Details

This program illustrates how the history of different geographic communities and the jobs that people do there are directly related to the environment. More Details

A pharmacist and a professor of pharmacy tell viewers what they need to know about medicines and drugstores. More Details

An enthusiastic recycling coordinator takes viewers through the recycling process for cans, plastics, and newspapers, emphasizing the useful products and hundreds of jobs that are created by recycling. More Details

A second-grade teacher explains that she loves observing how her students change over the course of the year. Her students relate why they love her and how she helps them learn. More Details

This program defines community in a global context that includes all the countries of the world and both urban and rural populations and stresses that diversity is the fundamental strength of all communities. More Details

Answering the question, "Why do people work?" this program introduces key economic concepts such as wants, needs, money, economy, goods, services, importing, and exporting. More Details

The relationships of children and parents and of husbands and wives in colonial America are depicted in this engaging program, which clearly shows the role each person played. More Details

This is an excellent reenactment of a seminal period in European settlement of the New World. More Details

The free but difficult life of the first wave of American settlers to cross the Appalachian Mountains is colorfully re-created in this program. More Details

This live-action program features realistic sixteenth-century reenactments in both Elizabethan England and America at the beginning of European settlement in the New World. More Details

Even though the availability of land gave American colonists more self-determination than their European cousins, there were still class divisions. How these differences were overcome as the Revolution approached is explored in this enlightening program. More Details

Using actors in period costumes, this engaging program re-creates the founding of Plymouth Plantation. More Details

The importance of family, social class, religion, and self-government in the American colonies created a unique set of values. More Details

The program reminds viewers that not all prayers are benign; some promoted slavery. For unwilling African American slaves, their prayers and other cultural practices did not elicit conflict so much as an intense expression of suffering. More Details

In the 20th century, civil rights movements led by César Chávez and Martin Luther King Jr. were informed by unique religious values and prayer practices. More Details

America’s prayer practices are so diverse and multicultural that they may at times, like religions themselves, divide as well as unite. More Details

Many American public schools began the day with organized public prayer until 1962, when the U.S. Supreme Court outlawed this practice as a violation of the Constitution’s Establishment Clause, causing an ongoing controversy. More Details

Faith-based reform movements have a long history in America, some focusing on the individual and some on broader social issues. More Details

Some people have wanted scientific proof of prayer’s effectiveness, and some studies suggest that prayer and ritual may positively impact humans. More Details

The story of Chief Joseph and his leadership in the land of Nez Perce. He and his men were chased down by the U.S. Army where he managed to outwit them till the end. More Details

Crazy Horse was a famous warrior, he was captured and killed by U.S. soldiers, but was secretly buried and is still venerated by his people. More Details

A famous medicine man from Apache's tribe, Geronimo, and his band, stayed free long after American and Mexican invaders had defeated many of their tribe. He was later on captured and died in exile. More Details

Quanah Parker was born to a Comanche chief and his white wife, and for awhile he led the Native Americans’ fight against the early settlers. But he successfully adopted white ranchers' ways, living between two worlds and becoming famous in both. More Details

The Ohio Valley, or Old Northwest, was a good refuge from Iroquois attack for the Shawnee, until European settlers arrived. More Details

The Seminoles, Native American people originally of Florida. The U. S. acquired Florida and fight to retain their land. The tribe never officially surrendered. More Details

The Navajo, second largest Native American tribe in the North America. They resisted Spanish and American encroachment on their land but eventually were defeated and transported. More Details

Cheyenne, Native American people that reside on the Great Plains. Their name means the beautiful people and they were known for their strong religious beliefs and for their strong warrior class, the Dog Soldiers. More Details

Also known as the "Five Nations" consists of the Mohawk, the Oneida, the Onondaga, the Cayuga, and the Seneca tribes. They negotiated the Great Law of Peace or the League of the Iroquois, which influenced American political thinkers. More Details

Part of a confederation of seven related Sioux tribes. For many years, the Lakota Sioux dominated the high plains country. As they lost much of their lands to white settlement, the Black Hills became their sanctuary. More Details

Sacagawea life story begins from when she was forcible brought to the Mandan tribe and her assistance to lead the Lewis & Clark expedition. More Details

This program details Sacagawea and the Lewis & Clark troupe routes, their disappointment at not finding a continuous water route to the Pacific, and their luck that Sacagawea's lost tribe had the horses they needed to survive the great mountains. More Details

The bleak weather at Ft. Clatsop makes the explorers happy to return over the Rockies. The conclusion of this program includes the important achievements of the expedition. More Details

The programs begins with the Polynesian migrations to the Hawaiian Islands, this program chronicles the people, events, and social attitudes that created a distinctly Hawaiian culture. Traces how a new immigrant Hawaii emerged with the development of the sugar trade and how native Hawaiians became a disrespected minority. More Details

This program explores seven geographical regions of Florida, including the sites in the major cities of Miami, Fort Lauderdale, Jacksonville, St. Augustine, Daytona Beach, Orlando, Tampa, St. Petersburg, and Sarasota. More Details

Texas, a land of big skies, big oil, big cities, and big ideas. This program explores Texas's history, from its first Native American inhabitants to its rule by Spain, France, and Mexico before it gained independence and statehood. More Details

This program shows the eight geographical regions of California, including major cities such as San Diego, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Sacramento, the rich agricultural land of central California, and the splendors of the Cascades and the Sierra Nevada. More Details

The westward movement begins with Daniel Boone expanding the old Cumberland Gap Trail into a road capable of handling wagonloads of emigrants from the eastern seaboard states. More Details

Whose prayer is America’s prayer? Lincoln’s great second inaugural address exemplified America’s civil religion at its best when he said, "the prayers of both could not be answered . . . the Almighty has his own purposes," that Americans must "achieve . . . lasting peace among ourselves and with all nations." But some historians say an interventionist American civil religion also exists that may not set the example of America as "the city on the hill," in its own or the world’s eyes. More Details

The world's climates and weathers range from arctic to tropical, from desert to monsoon. Live-action, on location footage from around the world and computer animated graphics take you inside the environmental adaptations of those who live in each of these regions. More Details

Using period locations, sets, and costumes, as well as dialogue typical of the American colonial era, this series explores the events and social history that led to the formation of the United States. More Details

This eleven-part series shows seven of the helpers on whom communities depend. Each community helper discusses his or her role and how it relates to children's lives. Five programs show how history, size, and geography reveal differences and similarities in communities and how rules and work help communities serve most people's needs. More Details

Historic photographs and graphics, dramatic reenactments, maps, haunting music, and their own words of four of the greatest Native American leaders. More Details

Six of America's representative Native American nations from five major geographic areas are portrayed here by historic photographs and graphics, dramatic reenactments, maps, haunting music, and the people's own words. More Details

This program shows the reenactments of the well-known events of this epic journey, supported by period-inspired maps and sweeping imagery of undiscovered wilderness, illustrate what the teenage girl experienced and how she may have felt. More Details

An introduction for middle-school grades, covering each state’s history, geography, economy, and people, as well as how it relates to its geographical region and to the entire United States. States available include California, Florida, Hawaii, and Texas. More Details

Using realistic reenactments of the pivotal battles of the Civil War, this award-winning series humanizes the struggle through the use of portraits and readings from letters, speeches, and diaries. Narrated by James Whitmore. More Details

This program covers three major battles. Fort Sumter revealed America’s willingness to fight to preserve the nation, Manassas brought home the reality that the war would be prolonged, and Fort Donelson displayed the qualities of leadership needed to achieve victory. More Details

The path to Vicksburg and Gettysburg, when the war finally turned in the North’s favor, is paved with South-won battles at Fredericksburg and Murfreesboro. Portraits of Generals Bragg, Rosecrans, and Sheridan are provided. More Details

Beginning with Shiloh and ending with Antietam, this program shows that 1862 was the worst year of the war. Massive numbers of men were killed and wounded, and Lee seemed to be on the verge of victory, when Lincoln changed the war with the Emancipation Proclamation. More Details

With Grant in charge of the Union Army and Sherman marching through Georgia, the South begins to crumble. Lee soon realizes surrender is his only option, and he and Grant meet at Appomattox in a moving ceremony. More Details

The United States of America became the first country in history to put aside public lands solely for the enjoyment and education of its people, and not for economic purposes when Yellowstone, Yosemite, and Grand Canyon National Parks were established. This idea also led to the Conservation. More Details

The Mogollon, the Hohokam, and the democratic Anasazi were three most significant Native American societies in the Southwest. More Details

From the Hopewell culture’s to the Cahokia Mounds, the hub of culture and commerce in ancient America, the widespread mound builders and woodland peoples are brought to life in this program. More Details

This program explores the legends, traditions, and lifestyles of the Northwest Indians who shares similar characteristics. More Details

The Great Basin Indians are among the most inventive of the Native Americans. The tools, dwellings, and lifestyles of the Plateau Indians, the Plains Indians, and others are discovered in this program. More Details

This program studies the American Indian cultures showing the complex history that led to the rich diversity. More Details

This series tells a compelling but little-known tale of the early days of conflict among Native Americans, Europeans, and American settlers. Students will expand their knowledge of American history between the French and Indian War and the War of 1812 beyond the conventional. More Details

George Rogers Clark led a daring raid during the Revolutionary War to capture British forts and neutralize their efforts on the frontier west of the Alleghenies. His victories helped bring Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, and other Midwest states into the U.S. after the war. More Details

Pontiac and his people had been treated with more dignity by the French than by the British. Though his confederacy had many successes, it ultimately had to accept defeat along with the French. More Details

Robert Rogers went into military service in the 1750s on the side of Britain, fighting Native Americans. He learned that guerrilla warfare was more suited to the frontier and led many successful tactical maneuvers against the French. More Details

Tecumseh is a great Native American leader in battle. He took sides with the British in the War of 1812, during which he died heroically. More Details

Beginning with a comparison of today’s map of Europe with that of 1914, shows how the old empires chose sides against each other. We see the four major fighting fronts, and how more and more nations joined the fray, eventually pulling America into the first worldwide conflict. And, we see how the new world map at the war’s end did not solve the problems, but created the seeds of World War II. More Details

Shows how the ruined European infrastructure, economies, governments, and the treaties from World War I, made World War II inevitable. Japan, small in geography but giant in ambition, launches its conquest of Asia in the 1930’s, until the Pearl Harbor attack on the U.S. drags American and Asian continents in World War II, making it a true global conflagration. More Details

Fought 1861-1865, the American Civil War was the result of decades of tensions between the North and South. Focused on slavery and states rights, these issues arise following the election of Abraham Lincoln in 1860. More Details