Inquiry Unit
Skyscrapers
The symbol of growth in China and India of the early 21st century is the proliferation of skyscrapers. This was also the symbol of urbanization in the early 20th century U.S. How did this come about? …
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Primary Source
Khufu Pyramid Complex
Skyscrapers Inquiry Unit
The Pyramid of Cheops or Khufu, constructed c. 2580 – c. 2560 BCE, is the tallest pyramid in Giza and the largest ever constructed in Egypt. Made of limestone and originally reaching a height …
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Primary Source
The “Esagila” Tablet
Skyscrapers Inquiry Unit
A tablet of neo-Babylonian mathematical text that references, The Etemenanki, a ziggurat presumed to be the biblical “Tower of Babel”, or the "House of the Foundation of Heaven and Earth" (Genesi…
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Hands-on Activity
Using Drones to Assess Damage
Drones (UAV) Inquiry Unit
Often when a natural disaster occurs, it is difficult for first responders and government officials who have evacuated to know what has happened to their town in the hours, and sometimes days, followi…
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Multimedia
Drones from the Civil War to Today
UAV (Drones) Inquiry Unit
Historic insights into unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), from the Civil War through to today. See how aerial balloons were an integral part of early UAV, or drone, development, and follow the technol…
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UAV (Drones)
Almost since the dawn of warfare, armies have sought ways to inflict the most damage on their enemies at the lowest cost to their own troops. Technologies from catapults to cannons have been developed…
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Primary Source
German V-1 Flying Bomb Rolling out for Launch (c. 1944-45)
UAV (Drones) Inquiry Unit
UAV (Drones) Inquiry Unit The German Luftwaffe used the V-1, Vergeltungswaffen (retaliation weapon) a small, pilotless cruise missile during World War II as a last attempt to gain back their advant…
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Primary Source
Medieval Catapult illustrated in the Jami’ al-Tawarikh (World History or Compendium of Chronicles) by Rashid al-Din (d. 1318)
UAV (Drones) Inquiry Unit
The predecessors to the UAVs of our time were a variety of catapults used since antiquity to attack enemies from a long distance by sending projectiles through the air. We know this from the visual an…
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Primary Source
“Buzz-Bomb Blitz”
UAV (Drones) Inquiry Unit
UAV (Drones) Inquiry Unit Living through a UAV attack. “Buzz-Bomb Blitz” includes comments from those who lived through the V-1 bombings. Visit Source Download PDF…
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Primary Source
“Denny’s Radio Model Tested”
UAV (Drones) Inquiry Unit
UAV (Drones) Inquiry Unit In the late 1930s, the Radioplane Company developed a series of radio controlled model airplanes as aerial targets for antiaircraft gunnery training by the Army Air Corps.…
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