Teachers

Episode #606: TEAM SPIRIT (CC)
Thrilled to take part in Zeus's Mount Olympus games, the CyberSquad uses numbers to overcome a hot-headed dispute and choose the best lineup against Hacker.
Math topic: Number & Operations

Episode #607: PVC KAYAK (CC)
Trapped in a pyramid by Hacker, the CyberSquad must use diagrams to play their way out of a challenging backetball-like game.
Math topic: Representation

Episode #608: GREEN MACHINES (CC)
When Buzz and Delete waltz off with Inez, Jackie must be Hacker's partner in a dance competition to ensure her friend's safe return.
Math topic: Number & Operations

Episode #609: GRAVITY BIKES (CC)
Overpowered by Hacker's team of titans, the kids track patterns in player performance to improve their chances of winning.
Math topic: Data Collection in Sports

Episode #206: BACKYARD THRILL RIDE (CC)
The teams bring the adrenaline rush of an amusement park ride to the backyard of 13-year-old Andreas Hoffman. D-Squad Pro File: What is more fun then riding a roller coaster? Ask mechanical engineer Chris Gray and he’d say building one! At Greater Coaster International, Chris applies his creativity and engineering know how to build exhilarating (and safe!) roller coasters.

Episode #207: BIG BUGS (CC)
Design Squad gets back to nature as the teams sculpt large-scale insects from found forest materials. The winning arthropod will be on display at the New England Wild Flower Society’s Big Bugs exhibit. D-Squad Pro File: Matt Sisul and Wil Cao are 20-something structural engineers who volunteer for Engineers without Borders to promote urban development in Africa and South America.

Episode #208: AQUATIC ROBOTICS (CC)
Super Duck Excursions, the Boston-based terra-amphibious touring company, challenges the teams to create underwater radio-controlled robots to spice up their narrated tours.
D-Squad Pro File: Mikell Taylor, a systems engineer at Bluefi n Robotics, not only builds Autonomous Underwater Vehicles (AUVs) for the U.S. Navy, but she’s also taken the lead in creating a new consumer product: a personal training device for swimmers.

Episode #209: BAND CAM (CC)
There’s nothing like the World Music rhythms of Zili Misik to send the Design Squad teams into an artistic groove. The eight-member all-female band challenges the teams to create remote-controlled aerial camera systems to cover their live performance.
D-Squad Pro File: Mark Caylao, Head Engineer for Airship Management Services in North Carolina, maintains and operates some of the world’s largest blimps for everyone from presidential candidates to the military.

Episode #210: NO CRYING IN BASEBALL (CC)
The teams must hit a home run for Del “The Dogman” Christman—local celebrity and hot dog vendor for the Lowell Spinners (a Class A affi liate of the Boston Red Sox)—who is in need of an onion dispenser to dress up his dogs. D-Squad Pro File: 25-year-olds Curtis Cruz and Becky O’Hara, engineers for Rawlings Sporting Goods, have a dream job that combines their passion for baseball with their love of math and science.

Programs 211-213 will continue through June.

Enter the Design Squad Trash to Treasure Contest!

Recycle, reuse, and re-engineer everyday materials into an out-of-the-box invention. Your invention should:
 Move things or people or
 Protect the environment or
 Be used for indoor or outdoor play

GRAND PRIZE
 $10,000
 A Dell˙ laptop powered by Intel®
 A trip to Boston to see your design built

4 FINALISTS
Receive Dell˙ laptops powered by Intel® The winner and his or her product will appear on the Design Squad˙ show or Web site <http://www.pbs.org/designsquad> ! For ages 5ˆ19.

Enter online until June 30, 2008.

Episode #708: HIGH PERFORMING TEACHERS: Leading Students to Success in the 21st Century (CC)

May’s broadcast will will explore how effective teaching is at the core of America’s long-term economic competitiveness; highlight progressive strategies to recruit, train, and reward effective teachers; and, feature award-winning educators from across the country who are dedicated to improving student achievement and ensuring student success in today’s global economy.  Educators, policymakers, and practitioners will discuss key questions such as:

• What does “effective teaching” mean and what is the Department doing to promote it?
• What is the link between effective teachers and student achievement?
• What can we do to overhaul the recruitment, training, and compensation of teachers, especially those teaching critical subjects like math and science?
• How can we populate America’s high need schools with effective teachers?
• What is the Teacher Ambassador Fellowship Program and how will it contribute to the field?
• What questions should parents ask to ensure their child’s teacher is high performing and effective in the classroom?

How would key programs and initiatives—like the Teacher Incentive Fund, student loan forgiveness programs and the Adjunct Teacher Corps—help to fill teaching shortages in high-need schools and subject areas critical to America’s competitiveness and economic viability?

Family Choice for May!

Episode #101: FAMILY AFFAIR (CC)
It's all in the family as FROM THE TOP: LIVE FROM CARNEGIE HALL features a sister-and-brother act from Orinda, California: 10-year-old Clark (inspired by Yo-Yo Ma's appearance on MISTER ROGERS' NEIGHBORHOOD) on cello and 14-year-old Chloe Pang on piano; 13-year-old Leeza Ali, from a musical family in Mendota Heights, Minnesota; and 17-year-old trumpeter Conrad Jones, from Sayville, New York, whose parents are both music educators.

Episode #102: THE PRINCESS AND THE COWBOY (CC)
FROM THE TOP: LIVE FROM CARNEGIE HALL welcomes two dazzling young artists to the show: 13-year-old cellist Tessa Seymour from Berkeley, California, and 18-year-old violinist and "Asian Cowboy" Charles Yang from Austin, Texas. Tessa and Charles join host Christopher O'Riley for riveting performances of Debussy, Monti and Dvorak; and cellist Yo-Yo Ma reveals the "Top Ten Reasons Why Cello Is the Coolest."

Programs #201-213 will continue beginning May 17th.
Programs #103-113 will continue in August 2008.

Episode #2512: SUPERFISH (CC)
They slice through the water's surface with explosive power, sail, spear and a half ton of muscle flashing in the sun. Their journeys through the open ocean are epic, their life cycle, bizarre. They are the billfish -- marlin, sailfish, spearfish and swordfish -- the largest and most highly prized of all gamefish. Emmy award-winning filmmaker and biologist Rick Rosenthal brings these incredible sea creatures to the screen as he observes tiny billfish nurseries in the wild, dives deep into secret undersea canyons, films incredible color-changing behavior and embarks on a quest for an elusive thousand-pound "grander."

Episode #2513: PRINCE OF THE ALPS (CC)
High in the Austrian Alps, a female red deer, a leader in her herd, gives birth to a calf. Her status makes him a prince among the other calves. The two are at the center of a wilderness story that features not only the wild alpine herds of majestic red deer, but also a variety of other wildlife that lives in the mountains, including roe deer, ibex, fox, chamois and marmots.

Episode #2405: RHINOCERUS (CC)
Millions of rhinos once roamed the Earth. There were hundreds of species of all shapes and sizes. But today, the rhinoceros is one of the planet's rarest animals, with three of its species on the brink of extinction. The program follows a team of experts who are working to protect rhinos from poachers -- relocating them to better habitats and breeding them in captivity.

Episode #3405: FIRST FLOWER (CC)
Flowers hold a special place in the plant world as well as in the human heart. There are somewhere between 220,000 to over 400,000 different flowering species on earth. They dominate our gardens and landscapes, and provide many of our staple foods. Yet until recently, almost nothing was known about their origins; Charles Darwin called it "an abominable mystery." In the search for answers, First Flower (w.t.) takes NOVA viewers on a spectacular journey of discovery to a remote mountain region of China, to explore our fascination with flowers and the puzzle of how they began.

Episode #101: FERDINAND MAGELLAN - Circumnavigation (CC)
In 1522 the Victoria was the first ship to circumnavigate the globe and turned Ferdinand Magellan into one of the most celebrated explorers in history. But the real hero of the voyage was the little known Sebastian Elcano. Magellan had no intention of circling the globe, and when he was killed en route the command fell to Elcano, who made the decision to continue westward, which resulted in finding the western route to the Pacific and numerous other discoveries.

Episode #102: JAMES COOK (CC)
In 1768, Captain James Cook was part of a huge international scientific collaboration that set sail around the world. Cook's measurements would help establish the distance between all the planets in the solar system and unlock the secrets of the cosmos. He accurately charted New Zealand for the first time, unexpectedly discovered the Great Barrier Reef, and came upon thousands of new samples of flora and fauna.

Episode #103: THE ICE KING (CC)
In the spring of 1892, Norwegian Fridtjof Nansen aimed to become the first to set foot on the North Pole by allowing his ship to become stuck in pack ice and carried north with the ocean currents. He didn't make it all the way, but this was the most successful failure ever since he pioneered a series of polar survival techniques which are still used today. His work is also helping NASA and laid the foundations for the study of the planet's ocean currents.

Episode #104: THE FIGURE OF THE EARTH (CC)
In what was to become a legendary tale of greed, adultery and despair,a French expedition set sail in 1735 for what is now Ecuador to determine the shape of the Earth. Just to reach Peru took 6 months. The expedition members argued, split up and made their way separately to Quito. On his way, Charles-Marie de la Condamine became lost in the jungle where he discovered rubber and realized its true potential for industry. He went on to figure out the basics of the metric system and, by pure chance, discover a cure for malaria.

Episode #105: HANGING BY THE THREAD (CC)
On May 23, 1939, the US Navy submarine Squalus suffered a catastrophic malfunction, taking her to the ocean floor. No one had ever been saved from a stranded sub before, but a distress flare was spotted by her sister submarine USS Sculpin and a dramatic rescue mission began under the command of Charles 'Swede' Momsen. He would use a new invention to save the stranded crew: a rescue diving bell. Paul Rose meets the last living survivors of both the Squalus and the rescue team.