CHILLICOTHE, Ohio — A PBS television series aimed at elementary school students will spotlight the Hopewell Ceremonial Earthworks in an episode airing later this month, the Ohio History Connection announced.
“How It’s Math,” a nationally distributed public television series produced by Doodles & Digits, premiered Tuesday. The episode featuring the earthworks, No. 204, is titled “Aquarium, Set Design, Hopewell Mounds, and Pediatrician” and is scheduled to air Sept. 22, according to the Ohio History Connection.
The series is designed for students in grades 3-5 and connects classroom math lessons to real-world careers, the release said. The Hopewell segment takes viewers behind the scenes at the earthworks to show how American Indians relied on advanced geometry between 1,600 and 2,000 years ago to design massive earthen structures, according to the Ohio History Connection.
The structures were built with precise geometric shapes and ratios, and some align with the 18.6-year lunar cycle and the movements of the sun, the release said.
“Math is everywhere, from daily life to the ancient earthworks,” Brad Lepper, senior archaeologist for the Ohio History Connection’s World Heritage Program, said in a statement. “Learning math helps us better understand everyday life, and, in the case of the Hopewell Ceremonial Earthworks, it also helps us learn the history, habits and lives of those who were here before us.”
The Hopewell Ceremonial Earthworks were designated Ohio’s first World Heritage Site, the 25th of 26 such listings in the United States. The designation covers eight locations managed by the National Park Service and the Ohio History Connection, including the Mound City Group, Hopewell Mound Group, Seip Earthworks, High Bank Works and Hopeton Earthworks, all part of Hopewell Culture National Historical Park in Chillicothe. The remaining sites are the Great Circle and Octagon earthworks in Heath and Newark and the Fort Ancient Earthworks and Nature Preserve in Oregonia.
The full episode will be available on public television and at pbs.org/show/doodles-and-digits-how-its-math after it airs, with a portion already posted to YouTube, according to the release.
The information contained in this story was obtained from the Ohio History Connection.
