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Mammoth Cave is one of the world’s great natural wonders, but teachers know it’s also a treasure chest of educational opportunities.

Student visits to Mammoth Cave are, of course, highly recommended if it’s possible. Videos, however, can take students to areas that visitors don’t normally see. And animation can take them back in time to the early days of cave exploration.

This month, KET is presenting three new Mammoth Cave features for use in the classroom, focusing on science, American history, and even prehistoric times.

Stephen Bishop and the Exploration of Mammoth Cave is an animated feature about the man known as the Prince of Guides. Born into slavery, Bishop did not have a choice about becoming a cave guide. Despite that, he was a brilliant explorer, knowledgeable, skillful and brave, the guide everyone asked for. He was the man who first dared to cross the Bottomless Pit, finding new passages and making new discoveries.

A feature of the cave many students have seen on field trips is the graffiti on the ceiling and walls left by visitors in the 1800s. The video Civil War Graffiti in Mammoth Cave takes a closer look at graffiti from that era. Soldiers from both the Union and the Confederacy wrote their names on the walls and ceilings. Historian Joe Douglas explains how researchers use historical records to match the graffiti to the individual soldiers.

In prehistoric times, Kentucky was covered by an ocean. Engage students with prehistoric biology from 350 million years ago by showing Sharks of Mammoth Cave. In this video, cave specialist and paleontologist Rick Toomey shows us restricted areas of the cave where scientists have found fossils of prehistoric sharks. Toomey explains the different types of teeth and what they reveal about shark diets. And students can see the rare find of preserved shark cartilage.

These resources are available free online on PBS LearningMedia, and include Teaching Tips, Vocabulary, and Discussion Questions for classroom use. For more educational materials about Kentucky, explore the Kentucky Studies collection and the Kentucky Field Trips collection.