Showing results by narrator "Dan Schoeneberg" in All Categories

Have you ever gotten bored when the weather is too bad to go outside for recess? Bored students and bad weather inspired James Naismith to invent the game of basketball in the late 19th century. Using a soccer ball and peach baskets, Professor Naismith worked out the rules of the new sport at the local YMCA.

Why does a baseball travel much faster when hit with a bat than if pitched? Learn how force is applied in this fun experiment! Using a marker, a ruler, and a can, you can perform your own lever experiments. You'll understand the power of weight, such as how a balance beam operates, but on a smaller scale, while learning about the science behind balance.

On a chilly day in 1947, a Japanese inventor named Momofuku Ando observed people waiting out in the cold for a hot meal. He dreamed of bringing fast-cooking noodles to the whole world. And he did—with ramen noodles! Sometimes the simplest inventions are the best!

Yoga is a great way to stimulate your mind and keep yourself active by learning how to mimic animal behavior. Even kids can do yoga too! Enjoy posing as a sitting butterfly, stretching your arm and leg muscles with downward dog, or posing like a cat while stretching your body and mind.

No one knows for sure just how the ancient Egyptians built the Great Pyramid of Giza, which is taller than the Statue of Liberty. How could an ancient civilization have achieved this engineering feat? Perhaps the solution to this mystery can be answered with simple machines!

After a long drought caused a food shortage, Makani is one of the islanders chosen to head out in a canoe across the Pacific Ocean in search of a new home. The dangerous journey requires a skilled navigator to find their way across the open sea with no land in sight. They hope to reach what we today call Easter Island.

During the early 18th century, colonist John Peter Zenger printed a newspaper called the New-York Weekly Journal. Zenger helped bring information to the colonists of New York City. However, after publishing an editorial that opposed the actions of a local governor, Zenger was arrested for eight months before his trial. How would Zenger escape this situation?

Moshe is a frightened young boy when he and his family must flee their hometown from the Nazis. He risks starvation to find his way into the home of a Good Samaritan. Afraid he has lost his family in the Holocaust, Moshe carries on in the only way he knows how: by playing his violin.

Kashima, a god in Edo, Japan, resides in his shrine to protect the people from Namazu, a catfish, from causing earthquakes that devastate the lives of the villagers. When Kashima helps one of the villagers, Namazu must decide whether to obey Kashima and stay put or swim and potentially endanger the lives of the villagers.

Sean develops a troubled relationship with his father after his parents' divorce, which is complicated by his inability to retain the sailing maneuvers his father teaches him. When Sean reluctantly takes the helm and the wind suddenly picks up, he finds himself in a situation where he must act quickly to prevent disaster.

Spiders are nothing to fear! Even though they are carnivores and hunt all sorts of bugs, many spiders cannot harm humans. Spiders can only eat their prey by using their venom to liquefy a bug's insides—in other words, they make bugshakes! Follow along to learn more about common spider mealtime habits.

In this Lithuanian folktale, the king wants to know why the sun is red! He sends his horseman on a quest to find a house made of amber, inside which the answer lies. Follow along with him on his adventure!

Garden spiders belong to a group called orb weavers, which spin wheel-shaped webs. Some webs are funnel-shaped and some are very sticky. In this essay about different kinds of spider webs, listeners will learn all about nature's masters of silk weaving.

It was once common for children to work at jobs with little pay. Then a photographer named Lewis Hine urged this dangerous practice stop to with the power of his camera and the assistance of lawmakers. Learn more about the history of child labor in the United States and how it became outlawed.

Do you know how new fruit is made? Learn about the different parts of a fruit plant’s flower—the stigma, pistil, and stamen—and how they use pollen to make seeds in a process called pollination! The seeds grow into new flowers, which turn into fruit after they’re pollinated!

Have you ever wondered why most people can eat foods like chocolate, but dogs cannot? Or why you may get sick after drinking one too many sodas? Learn more about how some poisons are used for good. Some poisons can be used in medicines, but remember: too much of a good thing can be bad for you!

Jesse and his family visit the library. Jesse is looking for a book on fish and keeping an aquarium. What do you think he will find? When Jesse finds the books on animals, he learns how to check out books with his brand new library card.

Did you know hot air balloons were dreamed up by a French boy in the 1700s? Joseph Montgolfier devoted his life to experiments that he hoped would allow him to fly. With the help of his little brother, his invention allowed humans to fly for the first time in history!

Mattias is getting ready to leave for his hockey game when his mother suddenly falls ill. His father is away tending their reindeer herd, so it’s up to Mattias to get her down the mountain through the snow and ice and find emergency help.

Have you ever wondered how pasta is made? While pasta only takes a few ingredients—flour, water, salt, and sometimes eggs—the process can be quite complex. Luckily, modern technology has greatly simplified the process from grain to flour, to dough, and finally to the pasta you find at the grocery store.