The Michigan Learning Channel celebrates Women’s History Month throughout the month of March with programs that recognize the advancements and contributions that women have made throughout history. Many of these programs are part of the WORLD At-Home Learning programming and have accompanying curricular resources on PBS Learning Media, and many are available for streaming.*

The lineup includes biographies of notable women from athletes to activists to scientists. The Women in World War II Collection shares the military contributions that women made when gender roles shifted during the war. Pioneer Family – On Van Hoosen Farm tells a tale of survival when four women take on the challenges of running a working farm in Michigan while making innovations for women in the medical and farming professions.

*Some programs are only available for streaming on PBS Passport.

 

NOVA: Black Hole Apocalypse

Air dates: Wednesday, March 3, 2021 at 12:00am, 7:00pm
Watch online: Black Hole Apocalypse | NOVA | PBS
Subject and grade level: Science (Grades 9-12)

Black holes are the most enigmatic and exotic objects in the universe. They’re also the most powerful, with gravity so strong it can trap light. And they’re destructive, swallowing entire planets and giant stars. Anything that falls into them vanishes…gone forever. Now, astrophysicists are realizing that black holes may be essential to how our universe evolved—their influence possibly leading to life on Earth and, ultimately, us. In this two-hour special, astrophysicist and author Janna Levin takes viewers on a journey to the frontiers of black hole science. Along the way, we meet leading astronomers and physicists on the verge of finding new answers to provocative questions about these shadowy monsters: Where do they come from? What’s inside? What happens if you fall into one? And what can they tell us about the nature of space, time, and gravity? (Premiered January 10, 2018)

Carrie Chapman Catt: Warrior for Women

Air Dates: Monday, March 1, 2021 at 5:00am; Sunday, March 7, 2021 at 3:00am, 7:00pm, 11:00pm
Watch online: Iowa PBS Documentaries | Carrie Chapman Catt: Warrior for Women | DPTV
Subject and grade level: Social Studies (Grades 5-12)

“Carrie Chapman Catt: Warrior for Women” tells the story of Carrie Chapman Catt, the women’s suffrage movement and the passing and ratification of the 19th amendment. Catt, raised in Charles City, Iowa, devoted most of her life to the expansion of women’s rights around the world — and is recognized as one of the key leaders of the American women’s suffrage movement.

American Masters — Unladylike 2020: The Changemakers

Air dates: Tuesday, March 2 at 5:00am; Sunday, March 7, 2021 at 8:00pm, 12:00am, 4:00am

Watch online: American Masters | Unladylike2020: The Changemakers | Season 34 | DPTV
Subject and grade level: Social Studies (Grades 7-12)

Illuminating the stories of extraordinary American heroines from the early years of feminism, “American Masters — Unladylike2020” is a multimedia series consisting of a one-hour special for broadcast and 26 digital short films featuring courageous, little-known and diverse female trailblazers from the turn of the 20th century.

Enemy of the Reich: The Noor Inayat Khan Story

Air dates: Thursday, March 11, 2021, 4:00am, 11:00pm
watch online: This video is only available in DPTV Passport.
Subject and grade level: Social Studies (Grades 9-12)

In August of 1943, the last surviving clandestine radio operator in Paris desperately signaled London for additional weapons and explosives for the French underground. She knew her time was limited. Within a month, she too would be taken. This is the story of a woman’s extraordinary courage, tested in the crucible of Nazi-occupied Paris.

Women in World War II – Collection

Watch online: Stream, Download and Share on PBSLlearning Media
Subject and grade level: Social Studies (Grades 9-12)
Additional materials: Life During World War II: Using Artifacts to Understand History

Women in Combat

Watch online: PBS Learning Media

Discover the military contributions of women throughout World War II in England, the U.S., France, and the Soviet Union. Incorporating primary source footage, the video also provides insights and perspective through the commentary by historian Brenna Wynn Greer.

Women on the Job

Watch online: PBS Learning Media

Examine how gender roles changed when women entered the workforce in unprecedented numbers. Incorporating primary source footage, the video also provides insights and perspective through the commentary by historian Brenna Wynn Greer.

Women’s Lives: Change and Loss

Watch online: PBS Learning Media

Investigate how the role of women at home changed during World War II, especially in the U.S. and Europe. Incorporating primary source footage, the video also provides insights and perspective through the commentary by historian Brenna Wynn Greer.

Great Performances: Julius Caesar

Air dates: Friday, March 12, 2021, Part 1 at 3:00am, 10:00pm; Part 2 at 4:00am, 11:00pm
Watch online: This video is only available in DPTV Passport.
Subject: ELA

Set in a women’s prison, “Great Performances: Julius Caesar” offers a powerful dramatization of the catastrophic consequences of a political leader’s extension of power beyond constitutional confines through an all-female lens.

How Jane Goodall Changed the Study of Animal Behavior

Watch online: How Jane Goodall Changed the Study of Animal Behavior | PBS LearningMedia
Subject and grade level: Science (Grades 4-8)

Learn how Jane Goodall pioneered contemporary field biology and about the criticism her work received in this video from NATURE: Animal Reunions. The accompanying video also raises the question whether wild creatures can really experience and communicate emotions like joy, devotion, and love.

SciGirls Digging Archaeology: Mentor Moment

Watch online: SciGirls | Digging Archaeology 01: Mentor Moment | PBS LearningMedia
Subject and grade levels: Science (Grades 5-8)

Seeing women who have succeeded in STEM helps inspire and motivate girls, especially when they can relate to these mentors as people with full lives both in and out of the lab. The SciGirls learn how their mentor got interested in archaeology and pursued her passion in her career.

Game On: Women Can Coach

Air dates: Monday, March 15, 2021 at 5:00am; Sunday, March 21, 2021 at 3:00am, 7:00pm, 11:00pm
Watch online: Game On: Women Can Coach | DPTV; GAME ON: Women Can Coach | NETA
Subject: Social Studies

While there has been an explosion of women participating in athletics since Title IX, only about 40% of them are currently coached by women. “Game On: Women Can Coach” explores why women coaches matter and celebrates pioneers such as four-time national champion Head Coach and General Manager of the WNBA’s Minnesota Lynx Cheryl Reeve and the World Cup winning Head Coach of the USA Women’s Soccer team, Jill Ellis. It also explores the barriers women face, the research by leading academics into the shocking statistic and dispels false narratives about women coaching.

Warrior Women

Air dates: Monday, March 22, 2021 at 5:00am; Sunday, March 28, 2021 at 7:00pm, 11:00pm, 3:00am
Watch online: WARRIOR WOMEN | NETA
Subject: Social Studies

“Warrior Women” is the untold story of American Indian Movement activists who fought for civil rights in the 1970s. Together they weathered some of the most turbulent battles for Native sovereignty in the modern era: Thunder Hawk as an activist and mother and Marcy as a teenager growing into a young woman while sharing her mother with a movement that was bigger than either of them. Now, forty years later, Madonna is moving into the twilight of her life, fighting the inevitable slowing she dreads. She constantly wonders to whom she will be able to ‘pass the torch’. Warrior Women unveils not only the women’s perspective on history, but real-life activism far beyond news events into generations to come.

Summoned: Frances Perkins & the General Welfare

Air date: Tuesday, March 9, 2021 at 4:00am, 11:00pm

In the depths of the Great Depression, Franklin Roosevelt appointed Frances Perkins as the first woman in a presidential Cabinet. Against overwhelming odds, she became the driving force behind Social Security, the 40-hour workweek, the 8-hour day, minimum wage, and unemployment compensation.

Pioneer Family – On Van Hoosen Farm

Air dates: Monday, March 8, 2021 at 5:00am; Sunday, March 14, 2021 at 3:00am, 7:00pm, 11:00pm
Watch online: DPTV Documentaries | Pioneer Family on Van Hoosen Farm | DPTV
Additional materials: Innovative Female Farmers | America’s Heartland | PBS LearningMedia (Grades 9-12); Scientist Profile: Dairy Scientist | PBS LearningMedia (Grades 4-6); Cheese: Not the Same Mold Story | PBS LearningMedia (Grades 6-8); Cheesy Chemistry | PBS LearningMedia (Grades 6-8)

This is the story about four strong and determined women who took over all the responsibilities of running the family farm after the men of the family died. They defied the prejudices of their time by seeking and becoming pioneers in professions held by men. Grandmother Sarah Taylor and mother Alice Van Hoosen Jones leased their land for farming purposes. Bertha Van Hoosen, the aunt, became the first woman in Michigan to become a medical doctor. Sarah Van Hoosen Jones, the granddaughter, became highly educated in agricultural studies and became a master farmer. She was the first woman to receive a PHD in animal genetics. She bred her own cows which were considered extraordinary and the Van Hoosen farm became a leading producer of milk. Sarah Van Hoosen Jones ran the farm under scientific management. She led experiments to improve the taste of milk by using different types of feed stored in newly introduced silos. She also worked to improve the safety measures in the production of milk which led to certification or bottling milk on site.