ALABAMA SUPERCOMPUTER AUTHORITY
The Alabama Supercomputer Authority has supported the supercomputing needs of the Alabama research community since 1989. Supercomputer user support includes:
K-12 teachers who are interested in exploring supercomputing applications in the use of weather modeling will be interested in the EdGCM project.The EdGCM Project, supported by the National Science Foundation, Paleoclimate Program and NASA's Earth Systems Directorite, has created a free online tool that combines a complex computer modeling program with a graphical interface familiar to most PC users. Run on a desktop or laptop computer, the climate model allows teachers and students to conduct experiments identical to those run on supercomputers by scientists simulating past and future climate changes. Teachers and students can explore the fundamentals of climate science utilizing tools identical to those used in major climate research programs. Many simple climate experiments are possible but, it is also possible to conduct in-depth investigations of current events, in near real-time, as they are being studied by climate scientists. EdGCM comes with some pre-prepared scenarios for investigating a variety of interesting climate issues (global warming, ice ages). Teachers can easily construct their own scenarios to satisfy curricular requirements. EdGCM easily scales for use at levels from middle school to graduate school, making it a unique tool for linking research to the classroom. Future plans involve the creation of the EdGCM Cooperative, a network of researchers and educators actively collaborating on climate research projects. http://www.edgcm.org/index.php
READING ABOUT EDUCATION AND TECHNOLOGY
Getting Back to Basics with Technology We constantly hear about the pitfalls of rushing ahead with our students' regular education and skipping the basics. We have seen the problems inherent with many new fads and trendy education theories. We all know the importance of teaching students to read, write and do mathematics first. But what about using technology as a part of it all? This straightforward article addresses some of the most basic needs in an overall technology integration program. There are several links to good teaching resources:
Teaching Students to do Online Research http://www.techlearning.com/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=10810514
Listening to the Walls Talk: A Lesson on Research http://www.millennium.scps.k12.fl.us/wallsresearchlesson.html
The Future of the Internet A wide-ranging survey of technology leaders, scholars, industry officials, and analysts finds that most internet experts expect attacks on the network infrastructure in the coming decade as the internet becomes more embedded in everyday and commercial life. They believe the dawning of the blog era will bring radical change to the news and publishing industry and they think the internet will have the least impact on religious institutions. http://www.pewinternet.org/pdfs/PIP_Future_of_Internet.pdf
Search Engine Users: Internet searchers are confident, satisfied and trusting but they are also unaware and naïve. A new nationwide survey by the Pew Internet and American Life Project shows that internet users are extremely positive about search engines and the experiences they have when searching the internet. But these same satisfied internet users are generally unsophisticated about why and how they use search engines. They are also strikingly unaware of how search engines operate and how they present their results. http://www.pewinternet.org/PPF/r/146/report_display.asp
A Decade of Adoption: How the Internet has Woven Itself Into American Life This document is the Pew Internet Project's contribution to "Trends 2005," a publication of the newly-created Pew Research Center, a research organization that combines several analytical projects funded by the Pew Charitable Trusts. The chapter takes a look back at adoption of the internet in the past decade. http://www.pewinternet.org/PPF/r/148/report_display.asp
EDUCATION AND THE INTERNET
World Conflict MapThe Nobel Peace Prize organization has provided an interactive map that shows conflict areas in the world from 1900 to 2001. A description pops up when a specified conflict area and time frame are chosen. This activity map will be very intriguing to students and will definitely prompt their study of conflict and conflict resolution. http://nobelprize.org/peace/educational/conflictmap/
Broadway: The American Musical is the companion website for a film chronicling the evolution of the Broadway musical (1904-2004). Discover the historical, musical, and cultural influences of the Broadway musical. Learn about 100 performers, choreographers, writers, and designers. Explore 15 of the most influential and popular musicals, including "Show Boat," "Porgy and Bess," and "The Producers." Lesson plans invite students to compare literary works and the musicals they inspired, and more. http://www.pbs.org/wnet/broadway/
Rembrandt's Late Religious Portraits explores a fascinating aspect of the career of one of the greatest painters in the history of Western art: Rembrandt's portraits of apostles, evangelists, and other religious figures painted in the late 1650s - 1660s. The online exhibit features 17 portraits. It includes etchings and other paintings by the Dutch master, an in-depth study of "Abraham Entertaining the Angels," and a biography (1606-1669). http://www.nga.gov/exhibitions/rembrandtinfo.shtm
Do You Speak American? is the companion website for a film that takes us cross-country to examine the dynamic state of American English and ask: Why do Maine lobstermen and Texas cowboys speak English so differently? How many varieties of American English are there? Is TV making us all sound the same? Topics include 100 common mispronunciations, how language is changing, local color in American literature, and regional writers. http://www.pbs.org/speak/
Digital Archaeological Archive of Chesapeake Slavery focuses on enslaved Africans and their descendants living in the Chesapeake region of Virginia during the colonial and antebellum periods. Analyze artifacts, deposits, and architectural plans from different sites, including Monticello, Mount Vernon, Stratford Hall, and Williamsburg. Join researchers from different disciplines to discover the cultural dynamics behind slavery and early Chesapeake society. http://www.daacs.org/
Lincoln/Net presents writings, speeches, and materials from Abraham Lincoln's years in Illinois (1830-1861). Biographical materials look at Lincoln's boyhood, Indian wars, the Whig Party, the Mexican War, the Republican Party, and the 1859-61 campaign. Themes include economic development, frontier settlement, racial attitudes, politics, religion and culture, and social relations of the era. Lesson plans focus on the Lincoln-Douglas debates, anti-slavery movement, Black Hawk War, and more. http://lincoln.lib.niu.edu/
Presidents of the United States offers a biography, portrait, and facts about each U.S. President. http://www.whitehouse.gov/history/presidents/
FearOfPhysics.com: Fear Not! Physics. Explained. Finally. The authors of this site have been involved with physics for 15 years. This includes college, graduate school, Ph.D. degrees, government funded research, national conferences, and teaching at the university level. View the animated results and explanations of the physics principles after you do things like set up paths for roller coasters, collisions, and jump shots from different heights, speeds and angles, etc. http://www.fearofphysics.com/
LibraryInstruction.com: The Librarian's Weapon of Mass Instruction This site contains library instruction lesson plans, articles about library instruction, a large library instruction bibliography, and links to library instruction resources. This site also includes material relating to information literacy. http://www.libraryinstruction.com/
Andre Kertesz presents 10 photos from the 70-year career of one of the world's great photographers. Kertesz (1894-1985) is known for his simple yet compelling and poetic photos. This exhibit at the National Gallery of Art (through May 15, 2005) focuses on several themes, including the unexpected and sometimes bizarre scenes encountered in modern urban life. http://www.nga.gov/exhibitions/kerteszinfo.htm
Fauve Painting from the Permanent Collection commemorates the 100th anniversary of an 1905 Paris exhibition where paintings by Henri Matisse, Andre Derain, and others were jeered as an "orgy of pure color," primitive and brutal. One critic called it fauve ("wild beast") painting, and the epithet stuck. A special web feature explores the birth and development of fauve, the first avant-garde wave in the 20th century. http://www.nga.gov/exhibitions/fauveinfo.htm
Islamic Art and Culture: A Resource for Teachers is a 64-page booklet on Islamic art -- art produced in lands ruled by Muslim leaders -- after the founding of Islam (7th century) to the peak of the last two great Islamic empires, the Ottoman and the Safavid (17th century). Architecture, calligraphy, manuscript illumination, metalwork, ceramics, glass, and textiles are included, along with an historical survey of Islam. http://www.nga.gov/exhibitions/islamicinfo.htm
Brighten Up the Classroom provides papers on the aurora and ionosphere, scales for measuring space weather, and a textbook for high school teachers and advanced students -- "Solar Physics and Terrestrial Effects." The textbook examines a range of topics: the evolution and structure of the sun, sunspots and solar flares, the corona and chromosphere, solar-terrestrial interactions, building a spectroscope, measuring the solar constant, and seeing at different wavelengths. http://www.sec.noaa.gov/info/kids/index.html
Classifying Galaxies is a lesson plan on the Hubble system of classifying galaxies. Students learn what a galaxy is, how the galaxy classification system of Edwin Hubble assigns galaxies to different groups according to their shapes, and how that system can be used to categorize unknown galaxies. http://cse.ssl.berkeley.edu/SegwayEd/lessons/classifying_galaxies/galaxy.htm
Cosmology 101 is a primer on scientific efforts to understand the origin, evolution, and fate of the universe. Among the questions it explores: What types of matter and energy fill the universe? What is the age and shape of the universe? How rapidly is it expanding? The website examines the Big Bang theory, as well as tests and limitations of the theory. http://map.gsfc.nasa.gov/m_uni.html
Eyes on the Sky and Feet on the Ground provides hundreds of hands-on astronomy explorations for Grades 2-6. Topics include earth's rotation and orbit, earth's tilt, shadows, seasons, time zones, the moon, calendars, maps, the solar system, and tides. Activities help students understand the scientific process. Suggestions are included for discussions before and after explorations. http://hea-www.harvard.edu/ECT/the_book/index.html
The E Pluribus Unum Project examines Americans' attempt to make "one from many" in three pivotal decades: the 1770s, 1850s, and 1920s. Each decade is framed by an introductory essay with links to key topics and primary documents, including the Declaration of Independence, newspapers, and the rhetoric of the Revolution; reform, cultures of the North and South, religion, and popular movements; and prohibition, Broadway, evangelical Protestantism, and the Roaring Twenties. http://www.assumption.edu/ahc/
The Elizabeth Murray Project looks at the eventful life of Elizabeth Murray as a window into the world of revolutionary America. Murray was a shopkeeper in 18th-century Boston (selling imported British fashions) and married three times. Her friends included officers in both the Colonial and British armies, and her home was used as quarters by both armies. http://back.acs.csulb.edu:8080/emurray/
Henry Luce is the companion website for a film about the missionary's son who founded "Time" and "Life" magazines and became, in the late 1930s, America's most powerful mass communicator. The website includes an essay, career timeline, video clips not in the film, and an interview with the filmmaker. http://www.pbs.org/wnet/americanmasters/database/luce_h.html
The Most Dangerous Woman in America is a companion website for a film that examines the case of Typhoid Mary, a cook who was quarantined for life against her will in the early 1900s. The site includes a history of quarantine, a letter Mary Mallon wrote when petitioning the courts for her release, an examination of whether public health officials were to blame for Mallon's behavior, and a mysterious "disease outbreak" for students to solve. http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/typhoid
NEWS YOU CAN USE
Idea of America Essay Contest invites high school juniors to write an essay explaining how totalitarian ideologies like fascism and communism challenged the ideals that unite Americans and how the ideals embodied in America's founding have prevailed. Essays must be received by April 15, 2005. The author of the best essay will receive $5,000. Five runners-up will each receive $1,000. All six winners will attend an awards ceremony in Washington, D.C., in October 2005. All six essays will be published in a national forum. http://www.wethepeople.gov/essay/index.html
Summer Seminars and Institutes for School Teachers are opportunities for teachers to study (with a stipend) a range of humanities topics: Don Quixote, George Washington, Lewis and Clark, the coming of the Civil War, slavery in New England, China and Islam, poetry, Mozart, Bach, the Pueblo world, jazz and American culture, African American literature, the Arabic novel, works by Horace, Dante, Chaucer, Shakespeare, Yeats, and more. Application deadline is March 1, 2005. http://www.neh.gov/projects/si-school.html
Quality Counts 2005 States are paying more attention than ever to the impact of school financing on student achievement, according to Education Week's ninth annual state-by-state analysis of education, "Quality Counts 2005: No Small Change, Targeting Money Toward Student Performance." The recently released report, which gives grades to each state in a number of categories, found that 37 states and the District of Columbia cite inadequate or unpredictable funding as the most pressing school-finance issue. "Quality Counts 2005" provides a financial snapshot for each state, as well as an assessment of progress in standards and accountability, efforts to improve teacher quality, school climate, and equity of resources. http://www.edweek.org (free registration may be required).
Government Performance Project 2005 Governing Magazine grades each state for its performance on a number of measures -- long term financial outlook, Financial Controls/Reporting, Strategic Workforce Planning, Capital Planning, Maintenance, Electronic Government, etc. Also shows how each state ranks on selected measures in comparison with other states. A narrative account offers background for the data. http://www.governing.com/gpp/2005/intro.htm
Science Teachers Some scientists have called the year 1905 Albert Einstein's “miraculous year,” a year in which he published three of his most important papers. One hundred years later, the world is celebrating the centennial anniversary of Einstein’s success with the “World Year of Physics.” The Science and Technology Directorate of NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center, the University of Alabama in Huntsville, and the U.S. Army are organizing the second “Physics for the Third Millennium Conference” to be held April 5-7. Two Nobel Laureates and other leading scientists will probe questions such as:
What are dark matter and dark energy?
What are neutrinos?
After a century of relativity, where are we? and
How are physics and biology related?
The last day of the conference will include a luncheon with many of the scientists and at least one Nobel Laureate. After lunch, there will be a panel discussion on issues in education and careers in physics. Following the panel discussion and a book signing, local scientists will present hands-on physics demonstrations from 3-5 pm; these are open and free to the public.
All teachers are invited to attend this conference, and the first 20 who respond and agree to bring two students will attend at no charge and will receive up to $75 per day for substitutes. We do ask that these 20 teachers register themselves and their students. For more information and to register, see http://wyp-ptm.org or telephone (256) 961-7626.
Jokes and Science A repository of jokes, some of them funny even to non-scientists. http://www.juliantrubin.com/sciencejokes.html
Wikipedia provides the connoisseur of concentrated eccentricity a wide and varied selection of the peculiar in one convenient location. Wikipedia, a collection of Unusual Articles can take you from Bat Bombs to the Year 10,000 Problem on a single page. It is a free content encyclopedia that was launched in 2001. As of December 2004, it contained 1.3 million articles in over 100 languages (about half a million of the articles are in English), and boasted over 13,000 active contributors sharing responsibility for its content. "Active" being an especially appropriate adjective in this case, since the wiki of Wikipedia denotes a site that allows anyone to create, add to, or edit entries.
Wikipedia: Unusual Articles can be found at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WP:UA
Internet Security Several companies committed to computer security have launched the Web Watchers program, an Internet security and safety program directed at children grades three through eight. The program will provide teachers with age- and curriculum-appropriate lessons that will help students understand the opportunities and risks of the Internet, including avoiding installation of malicious software and how to protect their online identity. Participating schools will also be eligible to win $1,000 or $5,000 for the purchase of new computer hardware and software. Beginning February 9, schools were able to sign-up at the Web Watchers site, which provides students and their families with information on how to secure their computers and allows them to vote for their school to receive technology funding. Voting for that funding is open until March 31. For info, visit http://www.WebWatchersOnline.com