How does a dam generate electricity and what are the environmental impacts of operating these mammoth structures? Find out in this video segment adapted from Building Big. [3:53]

Explore different types of dams and the forces that act upon them, then choose the design of dam that best fits the needs of a town.

Of the renewable energy sources that generate electricity, hydropower is the most often used. Learn other interesting facts about hydropower as the pictorial illustrations bring the information to life.

U.S. History is designed to meet the scope and sequence requirements of most introductory courses. The text provides a balanced approach to U.S. history, considering the people, events, and ideas that have shaped the United States from both the top down (politics, economics, diplomacy) and bottom up (eyewitness accounts, lived experience). U.S. History covers key forces that form the American experience, with particular attention to issues of race, class, and gender.Senior Contributing AuthorsP. Scott Corbett, Ventura CollegeVolker Janssen, California State University, FullertonJohn M. Lund, Keene State CollegeTodd Pfannestiel, Clarion UniversityPaul Vickery, Oral Roberts UniversitySylvie Waskiewicz

By the end of this section, you should be able to:

Identify the key pieces of legislation included in Roosevelt’s “First New Deal”
Assess the strengths, weaknesses, and general effectiveness of the First New Deal
Explain Roosevelt’s overall vision for addressing the structural problems in the U.S. economy

Students are introduced to the concept of a dam and its potential benefits, which include water supply, electricity generation, flood control, recreation and irrigation. This lesson begins an ongoing classroom scenario in which student engineering teams working for the Splash Engineering firm design dams for a fictitious client, Thirsty County.