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Classroom

Welcome to How We Got To Now in the classroom. The resources offered here are designed to help you use the documentary series with students in grades 6-12 in science, math, social studies, and English language arts.

Get started by watching Steven Johnson's recommendations for using the series in the classroom:

Explore video clips, background essays, discussion questions, and activities on the PBS LearningMedia site for the following episodes.

TIME

Making the Modern Clock: Understand how Galileo discovered that a pendulum could be used to regulate clocks.

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CLEAN

The Quest for Clean Water: Discover how John Leal found the solution to ridding bacteria from dirty water with chlorine at the turn of the 20th century.

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LIGHT

Invention of the Light Bulb: Though we often credit Thomas Edison with the invention of the light bulb, he and his team built on more than 40 years of research by other inventor...

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COLD

Keeping Ice Frozen Before Refrigeration: Explore the myth of the "Eureka moment" in innovation as you learn how Frederic Tudor figured out how to move ice long distances in the ...

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SOUND

Noise Control and the Decibel: Stand on the corner of 34th Street and 6th Avenue in New York City with How We Got To Now host Steven Johnson, and explore the history of attempts...

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