This is a $14.95 access to the curriculum and website of a video conference.

We have watched previous Ball State University video conferences, and it's like being at the site with an expert without any of the hassles of time and travel.

The University students design the resource making it relevant and easy for other students to relate to while keeping it educational.

If there's a DVD included, that option would allow flexibility for large group viewing.

I am finishing my teaching degree and I had a class recently related to this. This resource covers everything from that class in a concise, clean, way that left me thoroughly impressed. I would definitely suggest this to other instructors who wish to educate their students on the basics of Planet Earth's history.

Nice solid color differentiation; Wish there would be more to see and more to do. My kids liked the ease of changing time periods and seeing the images.

When my children were studying about the ocean, my daughter asked how are pearls made? I had never read any material on just pearls until I came across this wonderful fact filled item.

My daughter has learned so much since then and she refers to it often when she shares with her friends about the history of pearls and how they are formed.

Pearls shine with an uniform iridescence unmatched by any other
gemstone. They compliment both piercingly clear diamonds or fiery opals
with equal aplomb. They have been treasured for millennia in every
culture, on every shore. Men and women. Children. All have died seeking
this product of undersea mollusks. Smithsonian brings you the story of
pearls in an easy-to-use website.

So what are they? Where do pearls come from? Smithsonian conducts their
usual thorough investigation into these questions. It traces the
spectrum of pearl lore front to back. The website is easy to use.
Children, adults and grandparents alike will find clear, concise writing
geared to impart knowledge quickly, but the site is never shallow.

Even shoppers can glean tips on how to judge pearls and weigh the
differences between natural and cultured pearls. Pearls are the only
gemstone that can be "grown." And you don't just use clams to grow them.
Abalone and other mollusks.

I had no idea there were so many different types of pearls. The high def images lend themselves easily to study and would make a good start to a research project on shellfish and their contribution to humankind and human history (timelines of ownership would be a cool project).

Exceptional resource - adaptable to any age group. Wish it would explain the difference between winter count name and name of the year. Disagree (strongly) that teachers should avoid comparing "white" history with Lakota - though topic would have to be done with sensitivity, comparison of two groups could encourage wonderful discussions on ethics, culture, concept of history.

Some students will never get the chance to go to an aquarium or museum or even the ocean for that matter. How cool is it that we have wonderful online resources like this one to expose them to so much more than they could ever experience!?!

This is a wonderful unit with excellent primary sources. I've used this for the last couple of years with my students. This is a very complete unit and is easy to build upon. My students have chosen a count and presented it in teams, and also have created their own counts. They love this!!

This activity was an excellent introduction to archaeology for a middle school beginning anthropology class. After this introduction, the students applied the methods learned to an excavation of part of our schoolyard.

This is an excellent resource and I use it often in my classroom to teach about Native Peoples. The teaching activities are up to date and provide useful information to introduce students to the subject.

My daughter has been showing a lot of interest in archaeology, and your sandbox idea is a great one. I think it could be an amazing learning experience, and would definitely help in fostering her interest (and let her know that archaeology isn't always like in the movies! ;).

This year my home schooled son and I are learning about Native American History in Georgia and the southeastern US. We will be using "RELATIVE DATING IN ARCHEOLOGY" as one of our lessons. This plan will help us to understand how scientists date the artifacts they unearth and how that helps us understand the chronological history of the peoples and how their cultures evolved over time.