Thursday, September 22, 2011

Lock of hair pins down early migration of Aborigines

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-15020799

"DNA from the hair demonstrates that indigenous Aboriginal Australians were the first to separate from other modern humans, around 70,000 years ago."

Friday, September 16, 2011

Moving beyond 'blame the teacher'

The problem with schools isn't teachers; it's a management system that pushes them aside.

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-adler-teachers-20110916,0,2592824.story

Wednesday, September 7, 2011

Is the U.S. Reaching Peak Water?

http://www.forbes.com/sites/petergleick/2011/09/07/is-the-u-s-reaching-peak-water/

"Adequate, high-quality freshwater is fundamental for health, growing food, natural ecosystems, and a productive U.S. economy including the production of energy and all vital goods and services. But as populations and economies grow, new constraints on water resources are appearing, raising questions about ultimate limits to water availability. In some parts of the world, including the U.S., the demand for water is outstripping the supply, causing political disputes and economic uncertainty, and raising the specter of peak water.”

Tuesday, September 6, 2011

A couple of good articles

What teachers really want to tell parents
http://www.cnn.com/2011/09/06/living/teachers-want-to-tell-parents/index.html

The Role of Mistakes in the Classroom
http://www.edutopia.org/blog/benefits-mistakes-classroom-alina-tugend

Friday, September 2, 2011

More Water Issues

Q: What crop in the US uses the most water?
A: Your lawn.

El Paso Weathers Drought, Thanks To Lawn Policy
http://www.npr.org/2011/08/27/139994008/el-paso-weathers-drought-thanks-to-lawn-policy

Vegas tries to kick its water addiction
http://www.cnn.com/2011/US/09/02/las.vegas.water/index.html?&hpt=hp_c2

Gates Foundation: 'We need to reinvent the toilet'
http://www.cnn.com/2011/TECH/innovation/07/19/toilet.design.gates/index.html?&hpt=hp_c2

Why rural education is failing

A very good article that goes into why standardization is bad for rural schools.

http://www.hcn.org/blogs/range/why-rural-education-is-failing

"The greatest challenge in rural education is the utter disregard for place. State and national governments pursue economic growth at the cost of communities, and such disregard is reflected in the way the state approaches public schooling. One of the most ugly and expedient trends in education is the “one size fits all” philosophy that identifies a set of best practices and ignores differences from place to place. The drive for homogeneity does not stem from a genuine concern for education, but a desire for administrative convenience. Having the same standards in all places may possess the ring of equality, but it conceals a bias favoring urban and suburban schools on which most educational standards are set." - Zach Wilson