External Resources

Agriculture and the Environment, Teacher's Guide This booklet includes six lesson plans on agricultural and environmental issues, pesticides and pest management, food safety and regulation, water quality, understanding wetlands, endangered species, and a summary section–think globally, act locally. The new publication also includes two examples of student science experiments that relate to these topics and shares their experiences with public perceptions versus scientific realities. >> More Detail America's Heartland—TV Series (Video/DVD, 50 minutes each) America's Heartland is a new weekly public television series that celebrates and profiles the people, places, and processes of our nation's agriculture. >> More Detail America the Bountiful (DVD, 138 minutes, 6 sections) Travel back in time and experience the conflicts, rewards and challenges faced by those who helped build America. Step aboard this exciting series and experience six fun-filled sections— Horn of Plenty, Land, Swords & Plowshares, Torchlight, The Ever-Normal Granary and Whereby We Thrive. From the mid-18th century Americans to Thomas Jefferson to the Cold War era, students will take a guided tour of the enormous contributions responsible for developing our bountiful nation. 138 min, 6 sections, 6 printable resources and 10 web resources. >> More Detail Eli Whitney’s Cotton Gin Animation Separating the cotton seeds from the cotton fiber was a labor-intensive proposition before the invention of the cotton gin. As you watch the operation of the gin, think both about the relatively simple construction of the machine and how the gin reduced the labor involved in this phase of cotton production. >> More Detail Cotton...From Field to Fabric (DVD, 10 minutes) Explore how cotton is produced "from field to fabric" and processed into cotton cloth in on a modern farm and in a modern textile mill. This DVD was produced by the National Cotton Council of America. Also check out the online presentation Cotton: From Field to Fabric in Forty Frames. >> Purchase for $10 from Utah AITC. Cotton...The Perennial Patriot (DVD, 9 minutes) Cotton has been grown and used throughout the history of the United States. This DVD teaches how cotton has impacted and changed the history of the United States. From the production of blue jeans to the filament in the first light bulbs, you will be amazed to learn some of the many uses of cotton, past and present. Produced by the National Cotton Council of America. >> Purchase for $10 from Utah AITC. Guns Germs and Steel (Book, Video/DVD, 180 Minutes, 2-Discs) Based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning book and national best seller, Guns, Germs, and Steel is an epic detective story that offers a gripping expose on why the world is so unequal. Professor Jared Diamond traveled the globe for over 30 years trying to answer the biggest question of world history. Why is the world so unequal? The answers he found were simple yet extraordinary. Our destiny depends on geography and access to: Guns, Germs, and Steel. >> More Detail Harper's Weekly: The American West This website contains the published works of the period. Harper's Weekly kept its audience well informed about the most intriguing development of the era: the exploration and settlement of the American West. The West represented opportunity and adventure. Americans were fascinated with the stories which Harper's Weekly brought to life with illustrations. The editorials and commentary describe a life which many readers could barely imagine. >> More Detail History Channel Video Gallery View short agriculturally related clips from the award winning series "Modern Marvels." >> More Detail Key Ingredients - 500 Years of American Food Travel through 500 years and from coast to coast as you explore how Americans grow, prepare, and serve foods. Through this activity, you will discover how American cuisine is a product of both our regional uniqueness and international diversity. >> More Detail Lazy B: Growing up on a Cattle Ranch in the American Southwest (Teacher Reference Book) Deep in the granite hills of eastern Arizona in 1880, H.C. Day founded the Lazy B Ranch, where U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor and her brother Alan spent their youth, a time they recall in this affectionate joint memoir. "We belonged to the Lazy B, and it belonged to each of us," write O'Connor and Day. This fascinating glimpse of life in the Southwest in the last century recounts an important time in American history, and provides an enduring portrait of an independent young woman on the brink of becoming one of the most prominent figures in America. Author: Sandra Day O'Connor. Printed by Random House Trade Paperbacks. ISBN: 0812966732 Modern Marvels: Butcher (DVD, 50 minutes) See how the old-time neighborhood butcher has been replaced by a sophisticated, multi-billion dollar operation. >> More Detail Modern Marvels: Harvesting (DVD, 50 minutes) Trace the development of the massive machines that have transformed a season's labor into the work of mere hours. >> More Detail Modern Marvels: Harvesting 2 (DVD, 50 minutes) Discover the often bizarre extremes to which food-handling technology has gone to deal with the incredible variety of the plants we eat. >> More Detail Modern Marvels: Farming Technology (DVD, 50 minutes) It is the industry that feeds the world, an industry so efficient that, in America at least, it is possible never to think about it. But behind your fully-stocked local market stands an extraordinarily sophisticated network that has revolutionized every step from seed to shelf. >> More Detail Modern Marvels: The Supermarket (DVD, 50 minutes) A trip to the market is much more than a stroll down the aisles, as you'll learn in this fascinating DVD. >> More Detail