This program introduces the five subject areas covered in the series (and on the GED test).
After hearing the opening passage from Edgar Allan Poe's The Fall of the House of Usher, host Wally Amos introduces the format of the five Reading programs. He shows a method that will be instrumental throughout the entire series: looking for context clues to find the meanings of difficult words. As an example, two women at a coffee break discuss the word jargon. Wally Amos also discusses the difference between concrete and abstract, and shows examples of figurative language.
Wally uses passages from The Heron to demonstrate the theme of stories. Viewers find that certain passages can have more than one meaning.
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn shows the use of humor through satire, and the need to keep characters true to their background with correct dialects. A reading of Beware! Do Not Read This Poem exemplifies parody. Wally Amos also stresses the difference between fact and opinion. Cause-effect storylines are also displayed.
Excerpts from The Secret Life of Walter Mitty and The Day Elvis Presley Died express more ways that stories incorporate feelings and emotions. Alliteration and repetitive language are also illustrated.
Wally Amos demonstrates ""practical reading"" of maps, charts, and tables. Globes are examined, replete with the meanings of latitude and longitude. Amos also explains all sorts of map symbols and tricks of the table.
This introductory program of the Science series touches up on life science concepts. Host Pamela Lewis emphasizes the delicate balance of life on Earth, and shows that there are some creatures that live deep under the sea.
This program covers life science concepts such as heredity, DNA, and chromosomes.
Earth science is introduced in this program. Topics include the physical properties of the earth, its land forms, and its water.
This show begins with a discussion of the earth's atmosphere and runs through the planets in the solar system.
The basics of chemistry are explored.
Some of the basics on electricity, magnetism, and mechanics are featured. Special attention is given to superconductivity and plasma.
A timeline is constructed at the beginning of this five-part series on American history. Beginning with the Columbian expedition of 1492, this episode spans the entire colonial period, the Revolutionary War, and the establishment of the U.S. government.
Lesson produces a timeline of the U.S. from its early days as an independent nation through the Civil War and Reconstruction.
Host Wayne Bryan opens with a synopsis of the Industrial Revolution, plus a dramatization of age-old child labor. World War I is summarized, as is FDR's successful effort to combat the Great Depression.
The clash of world powers is discussed here, beginning with World War II and continuing through the spread of Communism.
This program examines the role of media in influencing public opinion (a radio personality won an election). Media certainly had shaped images of the John F. Kennedy administration, the Vietnam War, assassinations, and Watergate.
Sonya, a European immigrant, works as a Customer Services representative at Lacy's Department Store. She is having considerable trouble understanding the complexities of the English language. Arthur, working on an English textbook, shows her the ""see-say-write"" method for correct spelling.
Arthur tells Sonya that there capitalized words mean certain specific things. He also teaches her a lesson when a missed comma caused them to miss a turn en route to a picnic spot. Later in the program, Freddy reports a faulty vacuum cleaner, which leads Sonya and Mrs. Johnson to write the company.
Sonya thinks back to her early difficult days learning those tricky English verbs. Now, after nearly two years at Lacy's Department Store, she is ready to ask for a raise.
Freddy has been named to write an instruction manual for the maintenance staff at Lacy's Department Store. Arthur helps Freddy and Sonya to get the subjects and verbs to agree all the time. But a query hits Lacy's staff after a boiler heats up to critical conditions.
While Mrs. Johnson is on sick leave, Sonya assumes the post of Customer Service Supervisor. Her difficulties with pronouns leads Arthur to provide a basic rule: ""Divide and conquer."" To ensure that the pronoun is correct, remove extraneous words from the sentence.
Sonya and Freddy drive Arthur up the wall when they practice for the Lacy's amateur talent show.
Lacy's Department store will honor Mrs. Johnson at a ceremony.
Sonya wants to apply for Lacy's supervisor training program. She discovers that writing will become more important higher up the ladder.
The demolition of an old theater across to Lacy's, brings mixed emotions. Mostly, it brings complaints due to falling debris. Freddy's flowery insurance claim appears more doomed than the theater.
Arthur finishes the manuscript for his textbook, giving him plenty of time (via flashbacks) to review writing skills. Mrs. Johnson recounts how far Sonya has come in furthering her career.
Frank Hall is an adult education teacher returning to head up a class after other business ventures. David guides Frank through his first lesson: addition and subtraction of fractions. What both discuss in David's office is taught to a class that includes Bill, a novice jogger; Todd, who helps run a paint store; Martha, who learns by following rules; and Sue, a sometimes crafts expert.
A distraught Martha goes to David's office for help on remembering how to add and subtract fractions. What David has to offer is totally unexpected and easy.
David explains to Todd that a number can have many different names, and that it is important not to call a number by the wrong name. Later David screens some slides with Frank regarding mixed numbers. In class, Todd raises the old question: ""If a hen and a half can lay an egg in a half in a day and a half, how long will it take six chickens to lay a dozen eggs?""
Todd and Martha take the floor in reviewing what they have learned about adding and subtracting fractions and mixed numbers. David drops by late in the class to tak about pi.
David and Frank discuss the mental blocks some people have in multiplying and dividing fractions. Deviating from his usual route, Frank only teaches straight computation in his fraction lesson. He does, however, instruct class members to provide real-life examples of the division and multiplication of fractions.
David tells Martha how multiplying and dividing fractions can be easier by doing cancellation beforehand. In class, Frank and company uncover a revelation about the division of fractions.
During a slide show, Frank asks the class to devise a few instructions about decimals. Later in the class, David sets up a video camera for an operations-with-decimals video lesson in which Todd, Martha, Bill, and Sue participate. Before class ends, Frank shows a few charts and leaves the students with an engaging problem with an improper fraction.
Martha has been asked to help a teenage neighbor with her math skills. Before that starts, Martha learns from David that proportions are not all that complicated. Working a proportion problem, the class begins to understand problem-solving through inverse operations.
Frank gives Todd a preview of the lesson on percentages and the formula ""part over whole equals percent."" Later in the program, Bill makes a boast about the ""midnight marathon"" in which he is going to run.
Todd, Frank, and Bill discuss the market value of houses. With a little knowledge of percentages, Todd shows that values and property taxes are not as complicated as they seem. David shows Martha a computer program that discusses interest. From that, Martha understands the formula I=prt.
Frank gives a rundown on negative numbers vs. positive numbers (using a thermometer as an example). The class learns all the rules on signed numbers for the four basic operations. Near the end, everyone understands the two basic principles of algebra: inverse operations and substitution.
Frank appoints Sue and Todd tutors for the rest of the class. He gives them a preview of an upcoming exercise involving Todd's fish story (see Quotes in ""Being Positive About Signed Numbers""). The action shifts to a restaurant, where Todd reminds Bill of the systematic order of operations. It boils down to the acronym SCMAD (Simplify problems in parentheses, Compute powers and roots, Multiply and divide, Add and subtract, Divide the denominator). In the classroom, Sue tells Martha about square roots and the Pythagorean Theorem.
Todd tells Bill geometry surrounds a tennis court. They use direct and indirect proof about the sides of a tennis court forming a rectangle. In class, Bill takes a multitude of steps to to determine the area of a hexagon.
Frank gives everyone a book of measurement conversions. In later segments, the conversions are put to use in bricklaying, packing jars, and arranging boxes.
The last class is nigh, and Frank has a test prepared. Before this, he demonstrates to the class an effective method for solving problems. Visualize the problem, he says, then assign values. As an example, Sue takes on the two-part problem of finding how many gallons will fill into a cylinder. On test day, Frank assigns everyone to solve Todd's fish problem and also tests the class's perception.
Debby Neely provides a few last words in preparing to take the GED test. Much of the program is in discussion format, but Debby does toss in one or two pointers that were delivered back in the beginning of the series.
Motivational special in which adults in need of a GED are given helpful advice.