Media Menu for August 20, 2011

Here are home viewing suggestions for the week, selected from online advanced TV program listings and aligned with the state and national K-12 academic standards available online. Please consult local listings also, since actual broadcast times may vary. The Websites cited in the “Log on“ box below the TV listing provide further details about the show’s topic and may contain links to video clips from the show or a complete streaming video version of the show.

Saturday, August 20, 2011,
6-7 p.m. E/P
Planet Green Channel
Science
Middle and High School

Giant Squid Caught On Camera

This documentary follows the 2006 mission to find the giant squid wherever in the world it might be. This species lives so far down in the ocean- 3,000 feet and below – that it never sees light. It’s as long as a sperm whale and a fierce predator. It’s never been filmed in its natural habitat.
Log on http://www.squid-world.com/giant_squid_caught_on_camera.html

Sunday, August 21, 2011,
8-9 p.m. E/P
CNN
U.S. History and Economics
Middle and High School

Battle for Blair Mountain: Working in America

In this documentary CNN anchor and special correspondent Soledad O’Brien reports on a battle that is dividing communities in West Virginia and beyond. On one side are coal miners, their families, and the mining industry who are collectively supportive of mountain top removal – a destructive, yet highly-effective form of strip mining. On the other side of this debate is a mix of interests: community activists, environmentalists, and the EPA feel mountaintop removal threatens the environment; and still others feel the practice threatens future coal mining. All sides feel their arguments support a way of life that has existed for generations. With nearly 50 percent of America’s relatively inexpensive electrical power still coming from coal, it’s a battle whose outcome affects everyone.
Log on http://www.cnn.com/2011/US/08/13/blair.mountain.history/index.html?iref=allsearch

Monday, August 22, 2011,
8-9 p.m. ET, 5-6 p.m. PT
National Geographic Channel
U.S. and World History
Middle and High School

Remembering 9/11: CIA Confidential - Hunt for Bin Laden

Just days after the horrific attacks of 9/11, a team of seven CIA agents snuck into northern Afghanistan and began to lay the groundwork for war. Dubbed operation "Jawbreaker," their goal was to take out al Qaeda, find Osama bin Laden and kill him. This documentary tells the story of this dangerous covert mission from the point of view of the CIA officers and top-secret Delta Force operators involved.
Log on http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/series/remembering-9-11/4199/Overview

Tuesday, August 23, 2011,
9-10 p.m. E/P
PBS
U.S. History, Science and Economics
Middle and High School

FRONTLINE: Football High

High school football has never had a higher profile, with nationally televised games, corporate sponsorships and minute-by-minute coverage on sports websites. In northwest Arkansas, this documentary examines one ambitious high school team working its way towards national renown. With a superstar quarterback at the helm, tiny Shiloh Christian is striving to join the ranks of the country’s best high school teams—teams whose workout schedules, practices, and styles of play increasingly imitate the pros. But as high school players grow bigger, faster, and stronger, there are growing concerns about the health and safety of these young players—with rising rates of concussions, career-ending injuries, even death. In Arkansas, the program documents a tragic story of heat-stroke injuries that reveal how weak regulation has created a crucial lack of athletic trainers at most high schools. It all raises a critical question: has the amped-up culture of high school football outrun necessary protections for the boys who play the game?
Log on http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/football-high

Wednesday, August 24, 2011,
9-10 p.m. E/P
PBS
Science and Math
Middle and High School

NOVA: Hunting the Hidden Dimension

What do movie special effects, the stock market, heart attacks and the rings of Saturn have in common? They're all connected by a revolutionary new branch of math called fractals, which has changed the way we see the world and opened up a vast new territory to scientific analysis and understanding. This documentary tells the story of a group of pioneering mathematicians who developed fractals from a curiosity that few took seriously to an approach that is touching nearly every branch of understanding — including what happened after the Big Bang and the ultimate fate of our universe. TV-PG
Log on http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/physics/hunting-hidden-dimension.html

Wednesday, August 24, 2011,
10-11 p.m. E/P
PBS
Science and Geography
Elementary, Middle and High School

Earth: the Operator’s Manual

An operators’ manual helps keep your car or computer running at peak performance. Earth science can do the same for the planet. Viewers of this documentary can follow geologist Richard Alley as he travels the world, from New Zealand to China, Brazil, Spain and Morocco with stops in New Orleans, Texas and military bases in California. This accurate, understandable and upbeat report on the interconnected stories of humans and fossil fuels, Earth’s climate history and our future energy options will leave you amazed at the beauty and bounty of the planet, inspired by human ingenuity, and optimistic about the future. TV-G
Log on http://www.pbs.org/programs/earth-the-operators-manual

Thursday, August 25, 2011,
10-11 p.m. E/P
National Geographic Channel
Science and Technology
Middle and High School

Earth Overhaul

A group of scientists are thinking outside the box for ways to reverse the effects of global warming. And who better to save the earth than NGC's host of the World's Toughest Fixes, Sean Riley? In this documentary he will join these experts in the labs and in the field to see what wacky new technologies are being developed, like sending mirrors into space and reducing the greenhouse emissions chickens produce.
Log on http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/episode/earth-overhaul-5686/Overview

Friday, August 26, 2011,
10 p.m. – Midnight E/P
CNBC
History and Technology
Middle and High School

Sprawling From Grace: The Consequences of Suburbanization

You will never look at your car the same way again. This feature length documentary explores the ravages of American suburban sprawl, what America has lost as a result, and the perils we face if we don't change the way in which we build our cities. Americans have been lulled into a false sense of security by cheap energy that has allowed us to spread endlessly into our landscape. We are trapped behind the wheels of our automobiles. With the demand for oil outpacing the Earth's ability to supply it, this suburban living arrangement will fail. America's love affair with the automobile is unsustainable and, like Nero, we are fiddling away, confident that tomorrow will be as promising as today.

Saturday, August 27, 2011,
10-11 p.m. E/P
National Geographic Channel
World History and Economics
Middle and High School

Explorer: Secret History Of Gold

Gold is in the news this year because, when economic times are troubled, people buy gold for protection. Gold's appeal and value span time and cultures, but there is a little-known secret to the story of gold. Most of the gold mined throughout history remains in circulation today -- even the gold closest to your heart may have dark origins. From the Amazon jungle to the markets of Dubai, this documentary examines the underbelly of the modern gold trade with a treasure hunter and an illegal miner to expose its volatile history.
Log on http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/series/explorer/3822/Overview