This program guide is meant to help teachers assist their students in viewing the six-part public television series, "Stephen Hawking's Universe." The guide features program summaries that give background information and brief synopses of the programs; previewing activities that familiarize students with the subject; vocabulary that gives definitions of the terms used in each program; postviewing activities that require students to use mathematics, research, and writing skills to examine issues and ideas discussed in the program; biographies of important figures in the history of cosmology; and Web sites on related topics. The first program in this series, "Seeing is Believing," shows the radical revisions that have taken place in cosmology over the last two thousand years. The second, "The Big Bang," describes the controversies surrounding the big bang theory. The third, "Cosmic Alchemy," examines theories concerning the evolution of matter. The fourth, "On the Dark Side," views the role that cold, dark matter plays in the universe. The fifth, "Black Holes and Beyond," discusses the enigmatic objects that result from a star's catastrophic gravitational collapse. The final program, "An Answer to Everything," examines scientists' attempts to develop a complete theory of how the universe works. (WRM)