We think that middle and high school students and teachers with love Hunting the Elements, a two-hour special that airs on WGBY on April 4 at 9pm.   Nature’s building blocks, called the elements, are the hidden ingredients of everything in our world, from the carbon in our bodies to the metals in our smartphones.  To unlock their secrets, David Pogue, the lively host of NOVA’s popular “Making Stuff” series and technology correspondent of The New York Times, spins viewers through the world of weird, extreme chemistry.

As he digs for answers to questions such as “Why are some elements vital to every breath we take while others are lethal toxins that killed off their discoverers such as Marie Curie?” Pogue reveals the story of the elements to be a rich stew simmering with passion, madness, and obsessive scientific rivalry. Punctuated by surprising and often alarming experiments, this program takes NOVA on a roller-coaster ride through nature’s hidden lab and the compelling stories of discovery that revealed its secrets.  Here’s a short preview of the program:

At the NOVA Education site , you’ll find a collection of related NOVA resources  such as An Elemental Quiz to test your knowledge of chemistry basics and trivia, Asking Big Questions where cancer researcher Judah Folkman describes an unforgettable lesson he learned from a high school chemistry teacher, and a Classroom Guide:  Forgotten Genius for students to investigate physical and chemical changes and apply lessons to everyday occurrences.