Explains how to prepare a wet mount slide, use stains to examine the features of plant and animal cells, and calculate magnification, field to view and scale. Examines the growth, division, and differentiation of cells.
Grade levels: Senior High (10-12)
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Canadian Pioneers: The Peace River Country
Narrated by country music artist, Gary Fjellgaard, this program is about the last great agricultural frontier in North America: the Peace River Country; and how brave men and women overcame adversity on the historic Edson Trail (before rail and road finally opened things up). It features interviews, archival stills, and aerial shots as we follow the Alberta Bison Association on their commemorative wagon trek along the old route.
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The Kingdoms
Explains how the electron microscope has enabled scientists to probe the most elemental boundaries of life. Investigates the nature, transmission and harmful effects of viruses and notes the similarities and differences between prokaryotic and eukaryotic cells.
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Systems, Energy and Matter
Examines how living organisms, as open systems, exchange energy and matter with their environment. Explains the absorption, transportation and waste removal of water, minerals and gases in plants and animals.
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Maintaining Equilibrium
Explores the concepts of equilibrium and homeostasis in living systems. Examines diffusion, osmosis and tonicity at the cellular level. Illustrates the exchange of energy and matter in open systems.
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Water’s Structure
Reveals that water is a polar molecule, attracted to both positive and negative charges. Bohr’s model explains how hydrogen and oxygen form a covalent bond. This leads to a description of how hydrogen bonds give water its extraordinary qualities.
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Water: The Highway of Life
Shows how the ability of water to dissolve substances makes it the primary system of transport in living organisms. The process of diffusion is described and a lab performed to show the rate of diffusion in gelatin.
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Water Through the Ecosystem
Examines how transpiration affects climate. Explores the properties of semi-permeable membranes, and relates these to living cells. Discusses how plants adapt to climate and the effect of large bodies of water on climate patterns.
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Weather Systems
Reveals how the meeting of high and low pressure systems causes unstable weather conditions. Discusses how global conditions affect weather, how data is collected for weather forecasts, and how storm activity can be predicted.
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Harnessing Energy
Investigates several energy-transfer situations that harness energy: wind power, the transfer of potential to kinetic energy of water in hydro-electric production, and the use of fossil fuels to produce steam.