ALABAMA SUPERCOMPUTER AUTHORITY

The Alabama Supercomputer Authority is installing and testing a new supercomputer in the Alabama Supercomputer Center in Huntsville. The SGI-Altix 350 is a mid-range technical computing system that offers a cost-effective, scalable, industry standard platform. The SGI-Altix 350 will provide approximately 120 times the CPU power of its predecessor, the Cray SV1. It supports single system image scalability of up to 16 processors and allows users to scale processors, memory and I/O independently to create cost-effective, efficiently sized configurations for their workflows. It will provide resources for high performance computing outreach and education and leading edge software for academic research for Alabama research universities.

READING ABOUT EDUCATION AND TECHNOLOGY

Keeping Pace With K–12 Online Learning: A Snapshot of State-Level Policy and Practice (May 2004) Online learning holds promise for providing new educational opportunities to a wide range of students across the country. The rapid expansion of K–12 online learning, however, threatens to outpace the development of appropriate state-level policies that serve to fulfill the promise. This study, directed and funded by partnering organizations—Colorado Department of Education, Illinois Virtual High School, Learning Point Associates, and Wisconsin Virtual School—ascertains what states are doing to address the need for policy guidance. In particular, the report provides information on specific topics of K–12 online learning policy and practice, as well as analysis and discussion of those issues. http://www.ncrel.org/tech/pace/index.html


EDUCATION AND THE INTERNET

Ancient Egypt @ The British Museum This site has been developed to help teachers get the most information for themselves and for their class. The site is divided into ten chapters which address themes or topics relevant to ancient Egypt. The ten chapters are presented on a menu page where the user can choose a chapter by clicking on the word or icon relating to that chapter. Within each chapter there are three sections: Story, Explore and Challenge. http://www.ancientegypt.co.uk

New Learning Resources in health, science, and social studies have been added to FREE. They're described below. http://www.ed.gov/free

Health

Open Wide and Trek Inside examines the mouth and its various purposes, different types of teeth, bacteria that live in the mouth, tooth decay, and oral disease. The site includes activities and a teachers guide designed for use by elementary school teachers. http://science.education.nih.gov/supplements/nih2/oral-health/

Science

The Brain: Understanding Neurobiology Through the Study of Addiction helps students discover the fundamentals of neurobiology and how drugs change the brain. Among the topics: functions of different areas of the brain; anatomy of the neuron; neurotransmission; drug action on neurons; genetic, behavioral, and environmental influences on drug addiction; and addiction as a chronic disease. http://science.education.nih.gov/customers.nsf/HSBrain?OpenForm

Chemicals, the Environment, and You provides lessons for learning about the relationship between chemicals in the environment and human health. Topics include the science of toxicology, dose-response relationships, individual susceptibility, risk assessment, and environmental hazards. Students are introduced to the ever-changing nature of our understanding of how chemicals influence the health of living organisms. http://science.education.nih.gov/customers.nsf/MSEnvironment?OpenForm

Hands on the Land Teaching Materials provides lessons for learning about the Everglades ecosystem, bat habitats, bull trout, rock classification, eagles, invasive species, forest carnivores, forest rebirth, North Cascades habitats and ancient peoples, plant morphological features, migrating birds, water quality in the wilderness, use of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) to map vegetation, and more. The site includes a teacher’s guide to the Great Sand Dunes. http://www.handsontheland.org/home.cfm

Learning Landscapes offers lessons on deserts, ecosystems, riparian zones,invasive plants, wild horses, groundwater, soil composition, hydroelectric power, renewable energy, water conservation techniques of desert animals, sound conductors, volcanoes, waterwheels, watersheds, weeds, gold mining, habitat depletion, and more. Students may design a home for an animal or create a seismograph, anemometer, steam engine, greenhouse, or solar collectors. http://www.blm.gov/education/

Sleep, Sleep Disorders, and Biological Rhythms helps students understand basic scientific principles related to the nature and function of sleep and its effects on human health. Lessons focus on the biology of sleep and its relationship to health, sleep states and the dynamic nature of sleep, biological clocks, sleep hygiene and disorders, and sleep loss and consequences.
http://science.education.nih.gov/customers.nsf/HSSleep?OpenForm

Social studies

Disability Studies for Teachers offers lesson plans and essays on "disability studies" – the examination of disability as a social, cultural, and political phenomenon. Among the topics: a history of deaf education, efforts to reform poorhouses in the 1840s and 1850s, P.T. Barnum and "freak shows," and conscientious objectors during World War II who exposed horrific conditions at state institutions, and introduction to disability studies. http://www.disabilitystudiesforteachers.org/

The Grandparent/Elder Project -- Lesson, The Learning Page is a lesson in which students learn about World War I and the Great Depression by locating and studying primary and secondary sources and by interviewing a grandparent or other elder. http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/ndlpedu/lessons/98/grand/index.html

Helping Your Child Learn History offers activities parents can use to help young children (preschool through Grade 5) learn about history. It includes suggestions about how parents can work with teachers and schools to help children succeed in school. http://www.ed.gov/parents/academic/help/history/index.html

Her Story -- Community Center, The Learning Page presents photos, diaries, and timelines for learning about women pioneers, women during the Civil War, women's suffrage in the Progressive Era, eight women who served "on the front" during World War II, First Ladies, literature about women and discrimination, African-American women in the sciences, women in Muslim societies, Native American women writers, Zora Neale Hurston, Margaret Mead, research in women's history, and more. http://memory.loc.gov/learn/community/cc_herstory.php

I Hear America Singing -- American Memory Collections features recordings, scores, and histories of dozens of patriotic songs -- America the Beautiful, the Star Spangled Banner, and others. Its collection of sheet music published from 1800 to 1922 includes 9,000 pieces. Also included are scores, audio excerpts, and photos of Gerry Mulligan, a jazz musician, composer, and band leaders. http://www.loc.gov/rr/perform/ihas/ihashome.html

Independence Day: Today in History tells how we've celebrated July 4 since that day in 1776, when the Second Continental Congress unanimously adopted the Declaration of Independence. Independence Day celebrations became commonplace after the War of 1812, when events like the ground-breaking ceremony for the Erie Canal were scheduled to coincide with July 4 festivities. By the 1870s, July 4th was our most important secular holiday. http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/today/jul04.html

Tupperware offers insights into U.S. history: our economy after World War II, the plastics industry, direct selling and business history, women in society and the workplace, the rise of American consumerism, the American Dream, and more. Meet people who built their lives around Tupperware. Learn how a new billiard ball launched the plastics industry. See the "invention notebooks" of Earl Tupper, who grew up dirt poor and dreamed of becoming a millionaire. http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/tupperware/index.html

Ulysses. S. Grant provides insights into U.S. history topics -- frontier life, westward expansion, the Mexican-American War, military strategy, slavery, abolition, race relations, Reconstruction, black suffrage, international relations, and the Presidency. See battle re-creations and political cartoons. Meet Civil War generals. Learn about his greatest battles, Black Friday, the Panic of 1873, the disputed election of 1876, and more. http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/grant/

Vistas: Visual Culture in Spanish America, 1520-1820 examines colonial-era Spanish America -- a region that covered much of the Americas, extending from California to Chile from the 16th century to the early 19th century. Primary sources, essays, and 70 images are provided. http://www.smith.edu/vistas/index.html

Wayfinders: A Pacific Odyssey is the companion website for a film that features a community of Pacific Islanders as they build sailing canoes and follow the stars on a 2,000-mile voyage across the ocean. The site includes a wayfinder game, an essay on navigating "blind," an interview with a wayfinding expert, and a history of the Polynesian people. http://www.pbs.org/wayfinders/

What Exit? New Jersey and Its Turnpike tells the story of the most heavily traveled toll road in the nation -- how it was built, what it meant in its time, and how people have given it life. Built in two years in the 1950s, the 118-mile long New Jersey Turnpike is a major conduit between New York and Philadelphia. Its story offers insight into a 20th century phenomenon: the rise of the automobile and growth of highways. http://www.jerseyhistory.org/what_exit/index.html

NEWS YOU CAN USE

ARIZONA STATE UNIVERSITY in Tempe invites high school physics, chemistry, and physical science teachers nationwide to enroll in summer graduate courses in physics pedagogy, interdisciplinary science, and contemporary physics. Modeling Workshops are included. The program can lead to a Master of Natural Science degree. An NSF grant provides stipends, some free tuition, and free housing. Families are welcome! E-mail Jane.Jackson@asu.edu, or visit http://modeling.asu.edu.

SCIENCE OF QUALITY IN SCHOOL REFORM Teachers and administrators around the country are eager to become better consumers of education research. They want to meet the requirements of the No Child Left Behind Act, which requires schools to use programs and practices that have been proven effective by scientific research. And they want to be able to analyze their own school data for information that will help them to continually improve their schools. The summer 2004 issue of Northwest Education magazine, published by the Northwest Regional Educational Laboratory (NWREL) in Portland, Oregon, aims to help them to do just that. The articles in the magazine offer insights and tips from practitioners and researchers on how to use-and do-research, putting the principles of science to work for the advancement of education. In a 2002 survey of 5,250 educators in the Northwest region, nearly half of all teachers, 70 percent of principals, and 65 percent of superintendents indicated that "more" or "much more" effort was needed to "use classroom and school-level data and educational research to improve teaching and learning." Readers will learn about professionals along the education spectrum who are using evidence from school data and research reports to help inform their decisions about everything from teaching to textbook adoptions. Their stories reinforce the idea that, in an imperfect world, the true measure of quality is made by scientific instrument in the service of human judgment. http://www.nwrel.org/nwedu/09-04/index.php

NEW ONLINE AFTERSCHOOL PROGRAM CLEARINGHOUSE MENTOR National Mentoring Partnership recently launched the After-School Program Clearinghouse designed to provide after-school coordinators with the tools and resources they need to add a mentoring component to their programs. The new site also provides resources on how to implement, manage and strengthen after-school programs. Resources are formatted to coincide with the categories in the Elements of Effective Practice (Program Design and Planning, Management, Operations and Evaluation). Other features, many of which are in Word and PDF formats include: Community Mentoring for Adolescent Development (CMAD) manual which provides extensive content for preparing mentors to work with adolescents; Web sites of interest to after-school programs and customizable sample tools and templates developed by MENTOR's State and Local Mentoring Partnerships. The After-School Program Clearinghouse was funded by a generous grant from the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation. http://www.mentoring.org/afterschool/index.adp

TECHNOLOGY TIPS FOR DIFFERENTIATED INSTRUCTION This project is currently under construction. It focuses on the technologies that most schools currently have and is designed for use in technology based professional development opportunities for general and special educators. The RTEC at WestEd is working in partnership with the Alliance for Technology Access to create this website, a Powerpoint presentation, handouts for each tip, and more. http://www.westedrtec.org/techtips

9-11 COMMISSION REPORT http://pdfhacks.com/911Report/pdfportal-1.0/pdffile.php?pdf=/911Report/911Report.pdf Select chapters from the outline to read or search it using Vivisimo's clustering engine, http://vivisimo.com/911.