An Exploration
Since its inception in 2005, Exploring North Carolina has been watched with particular excitement by students, teachers and school administrators across the state. Each episode in the series — a unique partnership between the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences, UNC-TV and Natural World Productions — is a mini-adventure featuring detailed information on the plants, animals, geology and history (natural and social) of North Carolina’s greatest places. Now, thanks to the support of the William R. Kenan Trust, DVDs containing selected episodes of the series are being delivered at no cost to middle and secondary public schools statewide.
A dedicated group including teachers, naturalists from the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences and staff from series creators Natural World Productions, have been working for the past year to segment a dozen ENC episodes into smaller topic-driven chapters. These three- to five-minute chapters are designed to assist educators in bringing images and stories of the natural world into their classroom, as well as to provide students with accessible home study aids. In addition, the group developed curriculum-correlated lesson plans and viewing guides to help educators explore specific subjects more deeply.
The episodes — which range from the importance of butterflies to the extinction of the wooly mammoth — are available not only on DVD but also online here and at iTunes University. The William R. Kenan Trust has already provided funding to develop the next set of shows and curriculum materials.
Museum on iTunes U - Exploring NC & Science Cafe (you must have iTunes installed)
Enhanced Episodes
If you run into problems before or during playback, we recommend downloading the video then playing it on your native platform (e.g. Windows Media Player). To download a video, right-click on a chapter then select "Save Target As" (Internet Explorer) or "Save Link As" (Firefox or Chrome). You may or may not be prompted for a save location. Either way, click Save. After a couple minutes, the video file will reside on your local hard drive. Navigate to the file and double click on it. The appropriate video player should automatically open and the file should play.
Season One
101: Birds of Winter — see large but graceful birds of winter (Snow Geese and Tundra Swans) in action as they make their way around their seasonal southern home.
Video Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 3 | Chapter 4 | Chapter 5 | Chapter 6
- Student Guide
- Teacher Guide
- Related Activity: Migrating Swans and Geese
102: Roanoke Superhighway — discover this major historical corridor for Native Americans and European settlers and one of the state’s greatest conservation success stories.
Video: Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 3 | Chapter 4 | Chapter 5 | Chapter 6
- Student Guide
- Teacher Guide
- Related Activities: Taking the Pulse of a River; The Way
103: Measuring the Mountain —learn the storied history and controversies behind the tallest mountain east of the Mississippi River.
Video: Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 3 | Chapter 4 | Chapter 5 | Chapter 6
- Student Guide
- Teacher Guide
- Related Activity: Pressure on the Mountain
104: Fire in the Longleaf Pine —take a long, hard look at the natural history and future of these tall timbers, whose current scarcity is in part due to a lack of forest fires.
Video: Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 3 | Chapter 4 | Chapter 5
- Student Guide
- Teacher Guide
- Related Activities: Caring for the Land: The Debate; Life in the Hot Seat
105: Colors of the Earth — examine the geologic processes that helped create the mountains, Piedmont and coastal plain of North Carolina and the precious stones thereon.
Video: Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 3 | Chapter 4 | Chapter 5
- Student Guide
- Teacher Guide
- Related Activities: A Golden Opportunity; Classroom Rock Museum; Gems Rock!
106: Fossil Fields — travel back in time to visit lost worlds beneath Piedmont clay and the sandy soils of the Coast.
Video: Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 3 | Chapter 4 | Chapter 5
- Student Guide
- Teacher Guide
- Related Activities: Chipping Away at Fossils; Fossils: Evidence of Change
107: Edge of Life — take a closer look at the numerous plants and animals whose southern- or northern-most ranges occur in North Carolina.
Video: Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 3 | Chapter 4 | Chapter 5
- Student Guide
- Teacher Guide
- Related Activities: Estimating Population Size; Salt Marsh Connections; Salt Marsh Word Web
Season Two
202: Natural Boundary — look at the many regional factors affecting our climate, including ocean currents, elevation differences and rainfall.
Video: Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 3 | Chapter 4 | Chapter 5 | Chapter 6
- Student Guide
- Teacher Guide
- Related Activities: Come Live in the Boundary!; North Carolina from the Tropics to the Arctic
203: Man and Mammoth — examine the most prominent theories relating to the demise of wooly mammoths and other mega fauna in the Southeast and North America.
Video: Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 3 | Chapter 4 | Chapter 5
- Student Guide
- Teacher Guide
- Related Activity: Mystery of the Missing Megafauna
Season Three
301: Beauty with Six Legs —visit the world of Lepidoptera (butterflies and moths) and learn why these species are among our most important neighbors.
Video: Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 3 | Chapter 4
- Student Guide
- Teacher Guide
- Related Activities: Building a Butterfly Garden; Building A Butterfly, Making a Moth; Caring for the Land: The Debate
304: Invaders Among Us — Non-native plants and animals have invaded all parts of North Carolina. Find out more about how they got here, what problems they are causing, and how we can help control their spread.
Video: Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 3 | Chapter 4 | Chapter 5 | Chapter 6
- Student Guide
- Teacher Guide
- Related Activities: Invasion Game; The Problem with Invaders; Calculating Exponential Growth of Knapweed; Spotting the Bad Guys
Please read before playing or downloading chapter 304 videos
307: Climate Change — look at the factors that have affected climate change in the past and those that will influence our climate and sea level in the future.
Video: Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 3 | Chapter 4 | Chapter 5 | Chapter 6
- Student Guide
- Teacher Guide
- Related Activities: Climate Change: What does the data say?; North Carolina from the Tropics to the Arctic
309: Homecomings — Many animals migrate to and from North Carolina. Discover the fascinating lives of Chimney Swifts.
Video: Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 3
- Student Guide
- Teacher Guide
- Related Activity: The Chimney Swift Lifestyle
Please read before playing or downloading chapter 309 videos
311: Form and Function — Discover ways that animals and plants are adapted to their environments, including camouflage, mimicry and special morphology.
Video: Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 3 | Chapter 4 | Chapter 5
- Student Guide
- Teacher Guide
- Related Activity: Adaptation and Survival Tools
Please read before playing or downloading chapter 311 videos
Season Four
402: The Naturalists — Learn more about the early naturalists who explored our state, including John Lawson, William Bartram, Mark Catesby and Andre michaux.
Video: Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 3 | Chapter 4 | Chapter 5
- Student Guide
- Teacher Guide
- Related Activity: Plant Taxonomy: What’s in a Name?
Please read before playing or downloading chapter 402 videos
404: Giving Nature A Hand — Discover how and why the Civilian Conservation Corps helped restore North Carolina’s forests.
Video: Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 3 | Chapter 4 | Chapter 5 | Chapter 6 | Chapter 7 | Chapter 8
- Student Guide
- Teacher Guide
- Related Activities: Soil Erosion and the Civilian Conservation Corps
Please read before playing or downloading chapter 404 videos
405: The First Lost Colony — The earliest settlers arrived from Spain, and established Fort San Juan in the North Carolina mountains before the arrival of the English. Find out more about the study of this “first lost colony.”
Video: Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 3 | Chapter 4 | Chapter 5 | Chapter 6 | Chapter 7
- Student Guide
- Teacher Guide
- Related Activities: Excavating the Past; Mapping a New Settlement
Please read before playing or downloading chapter 405 videos
408: Basin Basics — Discover North Carolina’s seventeen river basins and learn about ways to protect the water quality and natural resources of these habitats.
Video: Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 3 | Chapter 4
- Student Guide
- Teacher Guide
- Related Activities: Mapping Your River Basin; Soil Conservation in River Basins
Please read before playing or downloading chapter 408 videos
Season Five
502: Smoky Mountain Diversity — The Smoky Mountains have exceptional species diversity. Find out how we inventory the diversity of the park and learn more about Elk and Black Bear populations.
Video: Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 3 | Chapter 4 | Chapter 5 | Chapter 6
- Student Guide
- Teacher Guide
- Related Activities: Discover a Species; Nature’s Inventory
Please read before playing or downloading chapter 502 videos
503: Stuck in Clay — North Carolina is home to many famous potters. Learn more about the physical properties of clay and how it has impacted the states history.
Video: Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 3 | Chapter 4 | Chapter 5 | Chapter 6
- Student Guide
- Teacher Guide
- Related Activities: Making a Coil Pot; Soil Particle Exploration
Please read before playing or downloading chapter 503 videos
504: Forgotten Kingdom — Explore the amazingly diverse world of the fungus kingdom.
Video: Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 3 | Chapter 4
- Student Guide
- Teacher Guide
- Related Activity: The Fabulous Fungi
Please read before playing or downloading chapter 504 videos
507: 10,000 Years Before Contact — Learn more about the Native Americans of North Carolina, who lived and thrived in the area thousands of years before the settlers arrived.
Video: Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 3 | Chapter 4 | Chapter 5
Please read before playing or downloading chapter 507 videos
508: Changing Sands — Learn more about North Carolina’s outer banks and the geologic history of our barrier islands.
Video: Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 3 | Chapter 4
- Student Guide
- Teacher Guide
- Related Activities: Barrier Island Migration; Ecotourism on the Outer Banks
Please read before playing or downloading chapter 508 videos