TED Talks

TED Talks are a great way for older students to expose themselves to current events, learn about recent advancements in science and technology, and gain new perspectives about the world around them, the people who live in it, and how ongoing change will effect both the Earth and its citizens.

82nd and Fifth

82nd and Fifth is an award-winning series of art videos featuring one curator talking about a single work of art for two to three minutes. There are nearly one hundred of these videos. I personally recommend that anyone with an interest or appreciation for art check out this marvelous series of videos, as it will change the way you look in art in ways that might surprise even you.

Science Blogs to Explore this Weekend

The Da Vinci Science Center offers a variety of blog topics from exploring nanotechnology to taking a closer look at the connection between art and science.

The New York Hall of Science's Explaining Science Blog presents science as a series of humorous, easy to understand comics perfect for a bit of weekend learning.

You can also check out the United Kingdom's Science Museum Blog where you can read about a wide range of science topics, experiments, and discoveries.

Regents Physics Resources

Here are some great resources to help students study for their Physics Regents.

Video Tutorials

Worksheets

Physics Regents Prep 

Youtube walkthroughs of practice exams

Physics at Khan Academy (great video resources sorted by topic)

Mother Nature Network

If you're interested in helping the planet in whatever tiny ways you can, or if you love stepping outside and getting a breath of fresh air, or if you've ever marveled at the complex beauty of nature, you might want to check out the Mother Nature Network. They describe themselves as a simple to understand news site where they "cover the broadest scope of environmental news and social responsibility issues on the Internet."

They have some really beautiful and unique content. Check out this gem I found yesterday, which has a link to a live webcam of a newborn baby bear.

Studying for the Regents

All New York High School students are required to take several Regents to graduate. They're typically given in January, June, and August, and are among the most feared and most difficult tests high schoolers take, second only to the SAT, ACT, and AP Tests. They don't have to be that way, though. Here are some tips for studying for the Regents.

• Start studying now. That's right, you heard me. It's the middle of February, but it's never too early to start studying for Regents. 
• Review your class notes. Your teacher isn't standing in front of the room giving you notes because she likes the sound of her own voice. She's teaching you everything you need to know for that Big Test, and you should be a) paying close attention, b) taking great notes, and c) studying from those notes. 
• Go through old class tests. If you got a 75 on the Unit 3 test, ask yourself why you got a 75. Look at the types of questions you got wrong, and make extra sure to review those topics. 
• If you are practicing for a language regents, there are some special steps you should take. 
• Watch a Spanish (let's just assume the foreign language you're studying is Spanish, for ease of reading and writing) TV show for kids. The kind of Spanish you're going to be tested on is relatively simple. It's not the Spanish translation of Paradise Lost, it's not going to move you to tears, and it may not even be particularly interesting. But it is meant for intermediate readers, which is good for you. 
• Read a Spanish book intended for teens. The writing won't be as complex as in an adult book, and you might find it interesting. Teens are teens no matter where they're from. 
• Practice writing. Write your journal entry in Spanish one day. Write a love note in Spanish to that cute girl in isle one. (Just make sure you give it to her at an appropriate time, i.e. not during Spanish class) 
• Practice your speaking. Even if it's just to the mirror, it's a good idea to become a better Spanish speaker before the test. When I took my Spanish Regents, I was at the top of my class, and to this day I can still read Spanish articles, poems, or teen books, but I still stumbled over the speaking part because I'd neglected to practice. Learn from my mistakes: Have daily conversations with that handsome face in the mirror!
• Go to http://regentsprep.org/. They have some great resources to help you study, including quizzes, practice tests, videos, lessons, and review sheets. 
• Get familiar with your Reference Table, if you are allowed one. If I recall correctly, the Earth Science one is something like 12 pages long. You don't want to spend half of the test searching through your reference table. Learn where everything is before the test. 
• Study from old Regents Exams. Test yourself to get a good idea of the grade you might get in the real Regents, then aim to improve that score by a set number of points. Go through the archives and take every Regents exam you can find. More often than not, questions are recycled, and after a while you start to get a feel for the rhythm of the test. By the time the real test comes around, you'll be super prepared. 

Explore Science this Mid-Winter Break

If you're looking for something awesome to explore this break, I suggest that you check the Exploratorium. There, you can find cool science activities, links to amazing websites, awesome blogs, and interesting videos. And, you guessed it, there's an app for that too.

Explorations in Science: Doctor Michio Kaku

One of the best ways to learn science is from actual scientists! Doctor Michio Kaku is one of my personal heroes/role models. He makes science fun, engaging, and relatable. I suggest checking out his website and browsing through some of the free articles, radio programs, and videos.

Things to Consider as You Read

There are several things you should keep in mind as you read. Ask yourselves the following questions as you go along in order to enhance your understanding of any fictional literary piece.

• What is the setting? Remember that the setting includes time, place, and atmosphere. A smoky street in Victorian London at midnight is going to evoke a far different feeling than modern-day Buckingham Palace at High Tea. 
• Who are the characters? What are their motivations? Who do they love? What are they flaws and weaknesses? What are their strengths and best attributes? What role do they play in the story, and how do they play it? Label the protagonist, antagonist, supporting characters, and minor characters. 
• What is the mood? How do the setting and the tone combine to make you feel? 
• What is the over-arching theme? 

When doing character analysis, please consider the following things: 

• Class. A lower class character is going to have different sorts of conflict, different friends, and perhaps a different caliber of education than an upper class character. 
• Gender. Women are still largely second-class citizens in most of the world. If the story you're reading is set in the past, a woman may be considered property and have little to no worth. Female characters often struggle against chauvinism, sexism, and the patriarchy. 
• Age. Is your character young and foolish, or old and wise? Is s/he somewhere in between? Is s/he wise beyond their years? Did s/he never really grow up? 
• Race. African Americans, Latinos, Asians, and many other racial and ethic groups are commonly discriminated against, both in fiction and in reality. 
• Religion. Religion might influence a character's beliefs and principles, and might also contribute to their struggles throughout the story. Sadly, an American Catholic is probably going to have an easier time than an American Muslim. 
• Geographical context. In general, characters in more developed parts of the worlds face different conflicts than characters in third world nations. For example, a first-world character might be struggling with his/her identity, while a character in a third world nation might be struggling to find enough food to keep her family fed. 
• Historical context. Place all of the above in their proper historical context. An African American is going to have a very different life in Carolina in 1803 than an African American in New York in 2015, just a woman is going to have a different life pre- and post- suffrage and the Woman's Rights Movement. 

SETI

Given the sheer vastness of the universe, the growing number of Earth-like planets that have been discovered, and the logical conclusion of the Drake Equation, it's extremely unlikely that humans are the only sentient, sapient, intelligent, technologically developed form of life in the universe. That's why organizations such as SETI (short for the Search for ExtraTerrestrial Intelligence) have radio telescopes pointed to the sky whose sole purpose is to listen out for any messages those intelligent life forms might have sent out our way.

(If you're wondering how this all works, consider this: We currently have the technology to find extraterrestrial planets orbiting other stars, and are perfecting the technology to analyze their atmospheres for water, which is considered the universal requirement for life. Any alien races with the same technology might have sussed out that Earth is a life-sustaining planet and sent a concentrated message our way. The problem with these messages are many. There are so many different frequencies that we're not sure which to listen in on (think of it like this: your friend is going to send you a radio message today, but you're not sure when, and you only have ten radios. However, there are one thousand possible radio stations your friend could be sending this message on.) and some scientists believe that an alien civilization might scatter their message across every frequency to increase the probability of it arriving here at least mostly intact. There's also the problem that there are so many planets, and so much universe out there, and until fairly recently, we weren't sure where to point our telescopes. (Your friend could send you a sky-written message, but if your back is turned, you're still not going to see it.) There's also the problem that messages decay over long distances, such as those between planets, and that the extraterrestrial races might have already given up contacting us and/or are simply not interested in making contact because they have enough friends/problems of their own.

If we ever did get a message, there would also be the problem of interpreting it (it would be a lot simpler if those dang aliens would just speak English, right?) and replying. If we got a message for 80 lightyears away, that would mean that it was sent 80 years ago, and our reply would take an additional 80 years to reach them. Unless these ET's were extraordinarily long-lived, it's likely that we'd be sending a message back to their children or grandchildren. Also, we'd never get to hear how that particular conversation ended, and that'd just be maddening.

You can learn more about the work SETI is doing and read about new developments in their search here. And if you think that this is super-cool/awesome/a worthy cause/kinda a good idea, check out SETI@home to see how you can help for free.

Learn about Bugs and Other Insects

If you're anything like my co-partner, Code Name Queen, you call your mum down when there's so much as an itty bitty spider in the tub or an ant on the counter investigating some melted popsicles at the height of summer.

But if you're anything like me, you absolutely love any little critter that slitters, crawls, or squirms its way through life. You'll poke anything with a stick, and if none are available, you'll get hands-on all over that lil' bugger. If this sounds like you, go head over to the Iowa State University Entomology Department. You can view image galleries of nearly every common gross, cool, and slimy critter here and here. And if you don't fancy sleeping tonight, you can check out a page of notes on the problematic creatures living around, on, and yes, inside you, too. (Just joking about those last two. Probably.)

Learning about Wolves

Wolves, like every other organism on this planet, are a vital component of our global ecosystem. You can learn more about them here. Besides, don't you owe it to your furry, friendly canine friends to learn more about their ancestors? (Please disregard the previous sentences if you are scared or/harbor any kind of dislike or resentment towards Fido.)

American History Resource

If you're studying American History, this resource provides documents, essays, speeches, biographies of influential people, and information about American presidents that you may find useful.

Recreational Mathematics

Do you find math fun? For most people, the answer is either 'no' or 'no, man' or even 'heck no.' But if you're someone like me and love all those beautiful lines of equations, you might want to check out this site about recreational mathematics. I found the resources about Möbius strips particularly entertaining.

Alpaca Cam

Learning can be hard work. Take a break to watch an adorable family of alpacas do all the things that alpaca families spend their days doing. (Please note that this site links to a live alpaca cam and does not show any video at night.)

Science Sites for Kids

On the linked webpage, you can find a great list of science sites for young learners. The website is fairly old, so some of the sites may have moved or been erased by link rot, but the majority are still working. You can also check out the main website for more collections of websites ranging in topic from dinosaurs, history, math, and space to comics, coloring, and crafts.

More Interactives

You can browse a list of more than 300 educational interactives right here. Sort by grade level and/or subject to find the one that's just right for what you're looking to learn today.

Study Physics Online

Whether you're a middle schooler interested in physics or a high school physics student looking to study for a test, the following resources might interest you. In the Physics Classroom, you can learn the alpha particle to zeroth law of thermodynamics of physics. Then head over to Physics World to test yourself on what you've learned. (Make sure you check out the lists of physics, science, astronomy, chemistry, and biology resources on the sidebar while you're there!)

You can also check out Physics 2000 for something a little more advanced.

If you still can't get enough science, go check out this website about the new and exciting field of nanoscience.  You can also check out Science Daily for news from a wide range of disciplines.

Science Fair Project Ideas

Are you looking for an idea for your school's next science fair? Science Buddies can help. Just enter your grade level and answer a short questionnaire about your interests and hobbies, and you'll be presented with a list of fun science fair projects specially chosen just for you.

You can also check out their blog for weekly science experiments you can do right at home with your friends or family. If you're looking to pursue a career in science or engineering, Science Buddies can help you browse through and narrow down your options and see a sneak peek of what the future could have in store for you.

Explore the National Museum of Natural History

If you're looking for something fun to do this Sunday, why not take a virtual trip to the National Museum of Natural History? Let yourself roam the halls of the geology hall, meet your ancestors in the Hall of Human Origins, or look on in awe at the Ancient Seas exhibit.

If virtual tours aren't your cup of tea, you can explore a variety of topics on the Smithsonian website, including The Evolving Earth and the Diversity of Life. You can also take a peek at their Ocean Portal, or head over to their blog, where you can browse through a news archive stretching back 100 years.

Cloud Creatures, Beach Excursions, and Backyard Gardening: More Ideas for Parents of Young Children

When I was young, I had the good fortune of living five minutes from the nearest shore. That shore just happened to be a narrow bay fed by the Atlantic Ocean, but at the age of four, I thought it was a sea. In the warmer months, my mother used to take me down to the bay with a shovel and some sturdy baggies. I would hop over the rocks and try to pet the ducks while my mom pointed out the prettiest seashells and the roundest rocks. After abandoning my quest to befriend the local wildlife, each object would be subject to my careful inspection. Only the best pebbles and the most awe-inspiring shells would go into the baggie. As I gracelessly toddled around on the sandy beach, my mom would explain how the ocean churned the rocks over many hundreds or even thousands of years to make them smooth, how sand was formed by waves crashing against stone and how our beach had formed when those particles from far-away places washed up upon the land. She told me about some of the different creatures living in the bay, and still other creatures who were dependent on those animals. She also explained to me that the bay was not, in fact, an ocean, but it took a couple of years (and a visit to an actual ocean) for that to fully sink in.

Trips to the beach can be a great learning experience for young children. Just make sure to research the beach beforehand, as many of today's beaches contain contaminants such as oil or industrial pollutants, glass shards that can be dangerous to little hands, or biting/stinging native creatures that should not be ventured near. It should also be noted that beaches pose a drowning hazard if children stray too close to the water and are too young or unable to swim, or if they get caught in an offshore rip current.

If you live further inland, or the weather does not permit a beach excursion, you might want to consider taking the fun to your own backyard. Arm your little one with a shovel and a bucket and allow them to do a little bit of digging in a designated area. You should carefully supervise this activity, making sure to point out which little critters to leave alone and which bugs are okay to play with. If your child finds any rocks under the ground, ask them if they can guess how they got there. You can also have a discussion about gardening. Talk to your child about the importance of respecting and protecting planets. Tell them about the importance of fertilizer, and explain to them how plants photosynthesize energy from the sun. You might even want to start a small compost pile or have your child help you start a flower, vegetable, or herb garden.

If none of the above are an option for you and your child, go for the classics. Wait until a partially cloudy or mostly sunny day, lay out an old blanket in an open space, and lie down to watch the clouds together. Encourage your child to see shapes in the clouds, and to make up stories about them. You might even want to turn this into a back and forth exchange, where you start the story, your child continues it for a sentence, and then you do the same. This'll probably result in a bit of giggling all around. If you want, you can also discuss how clouds form, and talk about how weather influences our daily lives.

These suggestions are mainly geared towards parents of younger children, but they can all be modified to become a learning and bonding experience for a guardian and a child of any age.

Explore Natural History

The American Museum of Natural History is a great resource to learn about science and nature. If you live in NYC, you might want to consider swinging by the museum over Mid-winter Break. The suggested admission is rather pricey for adults, but remember that low-income families always have the option of paying a lower donation, no questions asked.

However, if you live too far away or don't feel like venturing out into the blistering cold, you can explore the Museum right from the comfort of your computer chair/couch/bed. You can visit the Museum's blog to learn about exciting news in the field of natural history, click here to learn about awesome dinosaur discoveries, or follow this link to explore the universe.

You can find a more comprehensive list of the topics on the Museum's website, including whales, volcanoes, food, and climate change, right here.

Call for Guest Bloggers

In our ever-lasting quest to inspire our students and spread a joy of learning to all who will listen, we'd like to extend an open invitation to educators, tutors, school support staff, professionals in the STEM fields, parents, and students of all ages to write a guest post for our blog! We kindly ask that you limit yourself to discussing topics relating to education, learning, science, math, technology, engineering, art, languages, literature, history, and culture. If you are interested in writing a guest post for our blog, please leave a comment below. Students under 16 will be asked to provide a short note of parental consent and guest posters with blogs should feel free to include a link to their website or blog, so long as it is safe for viewers of all ages, so we can share your undoubtedly awesome content.

Tackling Break Homework

Please enjoy the following dialogue between the two co-runners of this blog, Code Name Finn and Code Name Queen.

Finn: All right, let's all breathe a collective sigh of relief that it's finally, finally, finally here: Mid-winter Break. That means nine whole days without school, without homework, without grumpy teachers and difficult tests, without icky cafeteria food, without waking up at some horrible hour of the morning to catch a rickety old bus... Hallelujah!

Queen: Hold it right there. I think you're forgetting something important. A lot of our students have homework to complete over the break. Don't you remember when you were in school?

Finn: Nope! I've distilled the entire experience down to what I learned and that one time with the snakes... Anyway. Homework over the break sounds like a Groke.

Queen: For our readers unfamiliar with 'Finn's' eccentricities, a Groke is not a good thing. And Finn's right. Homework over the break is no fun at all. However, there's a simple way to make it less of a hassle.

Finn: Right! When I was in school, my mom always encouraged me to do my break homework the day I got it. Sometimes I was lucky enough to have a teacher who would give it to us early in the week so that break could start the moment the final bell rang on Friday, but most of the time my Friday afternoons were spent buried in piles of break homework.

Queen: But at least you got to enjoy the rest of your break without having that homework hanging over your head. It's way too stressful to leave it to the last minute. Best to get it done and put it out of your mind.

Finn: Absolutely. I don't recall ever leaving anything to the last minute while I was in school, but when I procrastinate on feeding my dogs, boy does it get noisy up in here! That food had better be out by noon on the dot, or else they'll burst into synchronized howling, barking, and whining. That was the last time I ever waited until 12:05 to put the bowls down.

Queen: Howling dogs aside, please don't wait to do your break homework. Finish it ASAP, and then you can enjoy yourself worry-free for nine glorious days.

Finn: You can thank us later.

Queen: As an educator, I'm contractually obligated to remind you that learning doesn't have to stop just because you're on break. If you're looking to learn something this Mid-winter break, check out the 'fun' tag on our blog to find entertaining educational resources.

Finn: What she said!

Queen: Have a wonderful break, everyone!

Resources for Going Green

Whether you love living on planet Earth or you'd rather be an alien living in a distant galaxy billions of light-years away, Earth is the only planet we have, at least for the foreseeable future. In light of the hundreds of new articles, research papers, videos, and campaigns focused on the effects of pollution, the dangers of global warming, and the worrisome loss of bio-diversity happening right now, it's becoming increasingly important for citizens to be well-educated on the problems facing today's society and how they can do their part to slow rising temperatures, decrease carbon emissions, and stop the extinction of hundreds of species with which we share this planet.

At Recyclebank, you can learn more about recycling, composting, and cutting down on household waste. You'll earn points for doing so. Once you have enough points, you can redeem them for awesome rewards like movie theatre tickets and virtual magazine subscriptions. It's learning at it's most rewarding!

In the Environmental Protection Agency's game Recycle City, you can "see how... people {can} reduce waste, use less energy, and save money by doing simple things at home, at work, and in their neighborhoods."

You can learn more about the issues at the EPA's official website as well.

You can also calculate your individual carbon footprint and get advice on how to lessen your impact on the environment right here.

Lastly, if you are interested in learning even more about this topic, please check out Rachel Carson's novel Silent Spring.

Become a Citizen Scientist with Zooinverse

Have you dreamed of making a difference in the world? Have you ever wanted to help real-life scientists make exciting new discoveries at the cutting edge of science? While you're waiting to become a scientist yourself, you can make your dreams come true by becoming a citizen scientist with Zooinverse.

You can help scientists classify galaxies, examine solar flares, explore the lunar surface, find planets around distant stars, analyze weather on Mars, discover more about the formation of stars, take a peek at the edges of black holes, organize sun-spot sightings, discover near-Earth asteroids, learn more about Earth's climate, hear whales communicate, explore the ocean floor, find and classify animals in the Serengeti, spy on penguins, track genetic mysteries, uncover the building blocks of the universe, and much, much more.

Combatting Test Stress

Oh no! Your teacher just told you that there's a major test in one week. It's in your worst subject, and you've really been struggling with the current unit. On top of that, it's going to count for thirty percent of your final grade. What are you going to do?

Thankfully, this is just a hypothetical scenario, so you can let out that breath of air now. However, this does happen to most students at least once or twice in their academic careers. If you're looking for tips to combat test stress, you've come to the right place. I'm going to lay out a nice little timeline for you to follow, starting with two weeks before the test (I'm not a time traveller, just well-prepared) right up to the seconds before the paper lands on your desk. Please note that the following timeline doesn't apply for major tests like the SHSAT, SAT, ACT, or regents exams. You should start studying for your Regents at least a month in advance, and you should spend a solid six months getting ready for the SAT and ACT tests.


Two weeks before The Test: You don't know that you have a test coming up in two weeks (yet) but as a well-prepared student, you know that teachers give tests and quizzes all the time, and that some of the really mean ones even give random pop quizzes at the worst of times. In order to stay prepared for every eventually, you do a little of studying every night by reviewing your class notes for fifteen minutes every school day. And believe it or not, doing your homework, asking questions in class, conferencing with your teachers, and actively participating in classroom discussions and other in-class work is a form of studying as well. The more invested in learning you are, the easier you'll find tests and quizzes, and studying.


One week before The Test: It's Friday, but you're pretty bummed out about the test. First of all, cheer up. With the right study methods, that test is going to be a piece of cake, or at the very least not a complete disaster. Right now is the time to come up with a plan. Set aside a set amount of time to study for the test every day for the next seven days. Look up practice sheets on the topics, and bookmark them on your computer. Go through your notes, and highlight, star, or even rewrite the most important parts. Make a list of your greatest strengths and weaknesses in this particular class and unit, and make sure you spend a lot more time on your weak areas than on your strong areas. Shoot a quick e-mail to your teacher asking if you can conference with him or her sometime before the test if one or two topics are leaving you completely lost. If you have a tutor, inform him/her of the upcoming test and, if you feel you need it, try to arrange an extra or extended session with them. Call/text/hologram (is that a thing yet?) your friends and see if you can get together a small study group. If you were going to see your friends anyway this weekend, you might want to postpone your trip to the ice skating rink and head over to your local library instead. (If you are going to have a study session this weekend, make sure it's somewhere you won't get distracted. You're not going to get any studying done if someone succumbs to the siren song of your X-Box 500.)


The week leading up to The Test: Stick to the plan. If you said you were going to study for 60 minutes on Monday, study for 60 minutes on Monday. See your tutor, visit your teacher, meet up with your friends for lunch-time study groups, etc. The better prepared you are, the less stressful the test will be.


The night before The Test: Make sure you eat a good dinner tonight. Try to stay away from greasy foods that might give you a belly ache, and make sure you don't wash dinner down with an entire packet of cookie dough. I know it's tempting, but your stomach will not thank you in the morning. Do a bit of light exercise before sundown to burn off some energy (just make sure that you stay away from more dangerous sports like mountain-biking, at least for tonight). Take a nice, relaxing shower or bubble bath and settle down to read your favorite book. Try not to study too hard tonight. Cramming never did anyone any good, and all-nighters are just a bad idea all around. If you feel that glancing over your notes might help you, feel free to spend fifteen or twenty minutes doing so, and then put it away for the evening. You're as prepared as you're ever going to be. If you frantically try to cram everything into your head now, all you're going to do is get stressed out and throw yourself off your game. Go to bed a little early if at all possible, and set your alarm to wake you up 15 minutes earlier than usual.


The morning of The Test: Urg, waking up. I know, I don't like it either, but you're getting up early for a reason. Mornings can be stressful, and stress is the thing we're trying to avoid here. Waking up a little early will give you time to do everything you need to do in a calm, orderly manner instead of in a mad dash to get everything ready before the bus comes. Make sure you have pencils and a calculator in your book bag, and everything else you might need for your test, like a protractor or a ruler. Eat a healthy breakfast with lots of fruits, protein, and whole grains. Example: A toasted whole wheat waffle with strawberries and a little dollop of cream, paired with a breakfast sausage and a glass of milk. If you have to have coffee, reach for the decaf. You don't want to be running to the bathroom every ten minutes during the test, and the smell might be enough to trick your body into waking up faster.


Ten minutes before The Test: If you can, excuse yourself to go to the bathroom. Splash some cool water on your face and do a little bit of stretching to loosen your limbs. Wait until you're done in the bathroom to start doing some calming breathing exercises. Slowly breathe in to the count of five, hold for the count of six, and exhale for the count of seven. Repeat.


Five minutes before The Test: By now, you should be settled in to your desk. Take out your materials if you haven't already, and keep breathing. Tell yourself that everything is going to be fine. You studied, after all. You studied hard, and even if you don't feel confident, you are prepared and awake and full of good food. This test won't know what hit it.


At the end of The Test: Thank goodness that's over, right? If you're still a little (or a lot) nervous about how you did, remind yourself that you studied. You did your best. You got all the extra help you could. And even if you don't get a stellar grade, chances are that you won't have failed, and in the end, it's just a test. One bad grade isn't going to ruin your entire future. You might want to ask your teacher if they offer extra credit as well, especially if you asked them for a conference earlier in the week. Teachers tend to be a lot more willing to help you succeed if you're willing to go the extra mile and meet them halfway.

Let's Get Creative: 800+ Prompts to Inspire You

This awesome site has over 800 visual prompts designed to ignite the creative fire within you. Whether you're a writing enthusiast or looking for ideas for a creative writing assignment, it's a worth a look.

Writing Resource: Write About

Check out Write About, the writing website designed by educators for students just like you. You can browse through thousands of visual prompts that excite the senses and spark the imagination to get those creative juices flowing. Just find something that inspires you and write as much or as little as you like in any style you choose. From there, you can collaborate with other students or keep your work private; it's up to you.

Time Management and Scheduling

Time. It's something we all struggle with on occasion. Whether it's flying by far too fast while you're on holiday or dragging on for-ev-er in your Period 8 Friday Geometry class, you've probably wished at least once or twice that you had a magic PAUSE button for those times when life throws too much at you all at once.

So let's take a few moments to talk about managing the time you do have. We all have the same 24-hour day, unless I've got some extraterrestrial viewers who are sneaking under my radar. (Joke.) Chances are that you're going to spend a solid 7 to 10 hours of it in Dream Land. That's perfectly normal for growing school-children and teenagers, and it can actually negatively impact your health if you're getting any less. Most days, you spend six to eight hours at school as well. Then there's getting to and from school, eating dinner, taking showers, doing homework, studying for tests, doing community service, attending extracurricular activities, spending time with your family, doing chores, and sooo much more.

Many students lead busy lives, but you shouldn't have to spend your life in a state of super-stress or let your grades suffer because of it. If you take a look at your schedule and spend a day recording every action, you might just find that a lot of your time is wasted. If you're disorganized and you spend ten minutes scrambling to find your homework every morning, another ten minutes fruitlessly pawing at the mess in your book bag to find your assignments, and yet another ten minutes searching for the proper supplies to complete said assignments, you've just wasted a half-hour on something that could have taken you seven minutes.

Tip #1: Get organized. Spend a weekend sorting out all your school supplies and labeling everything. I have a drawer in my desk for pens, one for pencils, another for highlighters, yet another for erasers, still another for Post-It's, and a final one for paper clips and other odds and ends. I know where my paper is, I always have a calculator handy, I keep a pencil and a pad out at all times to jot down creative ideas (or, more often, a note to feed my dogs), and I have four labeled folders for all of my various day-to-day activities. (I also have a stethoscope so I can walk around saying, "Don't worry, I'm a Doctor," all the time. But that's mostly irrelevant.)

You might also find that you waste a lot of time on social media and on your phone. You'll log onto Facebook to check on your farm for 'just five minutes' and you'll look up fifty minutes later regretting it.

Tip #2: Keep your phone out of arm's reach, and put it on silent. Don't turn it off entirely, because you'll still want it handy in case of an emergency, but out of sight truly is out of mind, and you want to get rid of as many distractions as possible.

Tip #3: Download an application that will block distracting sites like Facebook, Twitter, and whatever else you crazy kids are using these days. You don't want to shut off the Internet entirely because you'll probably need it for research, but it'll be handy to turn off the super-distracting parts of it for a set period of time.

Now that you're distraction-free, you need a plan.

Tip #4: Budget your time. My planner used to look something like this:

• Geometry Homework (20)
• Physics Worksheet (15)
• History Essay - due Friday (60)
• Print out project for art (5)
• Read short story for English - due Thursday (30)

Those little numbers in the parentheses were my estimates of how long each task would take me. What you're not seeing is the class I used to mark with (120)'s three times a week, but that's besides the point. I used to star things, too, and I generally used to arrange things in order of importance. High school is a little more flexible than middle school in that your teachers will often assign you things that aren't due for a few days, so if I was having an off day I might skip the History essay, skim the English reading, and draw an arrow into the next day for both of those tasks. This really kept me on course because once I got the hang of estimating the time something would take me, I could use that to guide me back into my work if I ever found that I'd started to daydream and still hadn't finished my math work after a half an hour. 

Tip #5: Set up a time to do your homework, and stick to it if at all possible. I used to come home, get changed into something more comfortable, have a snack, and dig into that homework right away. That's not always possible if you have ballet at five on Tuesdays on Thursdays and Student Government right after school on Wednesdays, but try your best. And if you're really pressed for time, make use of your commute. If you find the unicorn known as a Quiet Bus at Rush Hour, start on your English homework. Make your Time Budget while you're waiting for the Student Gov meeting to start. See if you can start a study group with your friends at lunch to get some science work done. 

So, you've got regular homework down, but what about studying?

Tip #6: Spend ten to fifteen minutes reviewing your notes every day. This will help you actually learn the information rather than cramming it all into your head the night before test day, and it'll significantly cut down on the time you need to spend studying the days before a quiz. It can also help you identify your weak points so you can arrange for a quick conference with your teacher during class. 

Tip #7: Don't let school consume you. This might seem like a shocking statement coming from an educational blog, but it's the truth. You still need to spend time with your family and friends. You still need to get outside and play. You still need some down time when you're not worrying about the next report card. My co-partner and I both believe that learning is more important than grades. However, high-stakes testing grows more stressful for both teachers and their students each year, and sometimes the real purpose of school and the joy of learning get lost in the pressure to perform. Grades are important, yes, but what good do they do you if you need to sacrifice spending time with your family to study? What good are grades if every bit of curiosity and wonder at the marvels of the world around you has been sapped away by the pressure to be perfect? 

I'll leave you with this little piece of advice my mother used to give me before every test: Do your best. She always told me that it wouldn't matter if I brought home a 93 or a 39, as long as I'd tried my best, because your best is all you can be. 

More Free Math Worksheets

At Math-Drills.com, you can find thousands of worksheets on a wide variety of topics from simple computations to algebra, geometry, and statistics. After selecting a general topic to study, you will be taken to a list of sub-topics and their accompanying worksheets. Each worksheet has several different versions, which is ideal if you need a little extra practice.

For students in Kindergarten through Grade 5, k5learning.com has a range of free worksheets on various math, grammar, and reading comprehension topics.

You can also find a ton of free math worksheets, video lessons, games, and activities for students in 1st through 7th grade at this website.

Real World Math Practice

Unless you're planning to become an engineer, scientist, accountant, or mathematician, you've probably sat through at least one math lesson wondering when you were going to be using this in the real world. And, to be honest, unless you're going to pursue one of the above-mentioned professions, the answer is probably either 'never' or 'rarely enough that you'll end up googling it rather than remembering all these complicated formulas.'

But that doesn't mean that we should scrap math class the minute we master 2 + 2. For starters, higher math like algebra and geometry comes in very handy in high school and college physics and chemistry classes. And as you've probably already figured out, science is essential in understanding the world around us. If you're still rolling your eyes and thinking that gravity would work regardless of whether you understood it or not, you're right. Gravity worked for billions of years before we came along, and it'll keep on working long after we're gone. But knowing about gravity is important for the same reason that any piece of knowledge is important - because it allows you to make connections to other bits of knowledge, which helps you solve problems and think up brand new ideas, which is important whether you're going to be a rocket scientist or an office worker or a manual laborer.

Okay, back to the point. The typical American is never going to do a single algebra problem after their College Math 101 final exam. However, you're still going to be doing a lot of math. If you plan on using money, paying taxes, following recipes, shopping for food and clothes, owning a house or a car, renting a flat, taking out a loan, opening a bank account, paying bills, or going furniture shopping, you're going to have to do a bit of math.

If you're an elementary school student looking to improve your math skills, try taking those skills out into the real world. Take a look at a recipe book or just google 'recipes' and see if you can figure out how much of each ingredient you'd need if you were cooking for two people, or three, or five. Hunt for coupons in your local newspaper and see how much you'd save if you were to use it to purchase something. Go grocery shopping with your guardian and see if you can estimate how much the total will be. Look at two different brands or sizes of the same item and calculate the price per ounce/pound/liter and see what the better deal is. Measure a regular shape in your house and calculate its surface area and volume. Add up everything you drink in a day and calculate the ratio of milk to water or juice or soda, and find what percentage each beverage makes up of your daily fluid intake.

Ultimately, the best way to get better at math is to practice. This is true of most things in life. If you want to be a better reader, read more. If you need to learn to ride a bike, practice until you spend more time pedaling than crashing and falling off. If you're looking to speak a new language, the only way to get better at speaking is by actually talking.

So get out there and practice! And if you can't exactly 'get out' because of Mother Nature's snowy gifts, you can start by calculating how many more days of winter we have to endure before we can all step outside without becoming a human popsicle.

Junior Rangers Program

If you're going to be visiting a national or state park sometime in the near future, you might want to consider becoming a Junior Ranger. You'll learn a lot about the environment and the various types of wildlife and vegetation living in each park, and you'll even get a cool Junior Ranger patch for your efforts. Even if you're not going to be taking a trip to a park anytime soon, you might want to check out the National Junior Ranger Program Booklets to learn more about fossils, the night sky, the wilderness, the Underground Railroad, and marine life. You can visit the site right here. 

Learn about the World's Biomes

Our planet is home to millions of different species of billions, if not trillions, of creatures. However, pollution, mining, urbanization, global warming, factory farming, oil spills, and the lumber industry are all contributing to the continuing loss of biodiversity on Earth. That's why it's more important than ever to learn about Earth's biomes, the creatures who live there, and what we can do to stop and reverse the loss of biodiversity. You can learn about biomes here and visit World Wildlife Fund's website to learn more about biodiversity and what you can do to help.

NASA Activities and Resources

The Jet Propulsion Laboratory's virtual site has over two dozen fun activities and lessons for learners of all ages interested in astronomy and cosmology. You can also play a couple of NASA's fun educational games right here.

The Family Farmer

If you're looking for an excuse to do a bit of online gaming this weekend, you might want to check out The Family Farmer. In this interactive simulation, you will become the owner of a Canadian farm. You'll have to manage daily life on the farm without running out of money, exhausting your fellow workers, or succumbing to the economic and political pressures of international conglomerate companies looking to build on your farm. By the time you're done, you'll have a better understanding of the daily struggles faced by small farmers and hopefully a little more respect for the hard-working individuals who rise at the crack of dawn every morning to put food on our grocery shelves.

WebRangers

If you love nature and are interested in learning about America's national and state parks, you might want to check out WebRangers. You can play a variety of educational games that will help you learn about history, science, and animal life. You can also help the rangers decode puzzles and go on awesome scavenger hunts.

This site is best suited for younger learners. Middle and high schoolers can head over to NPS's Explore Nature site to learn more about conservation efforts all around the country.

Learn about Animal Anatomy

This interactive will help science students learn about the anatomy of fish, worms, and frogs. It's quite fascinating to see how such different creatures share similar organs and organ systems that are ideally suited to carry out the necessary functions of life in each creature's unique environment. As you finish virtually building each animal, consider the similarities and differences they share. If you can, try to relate what you learn in the simulation to your knowledge of human anatomy and the history of evolution of life on Earth.

Build a Body

Have you ever dreamt of having a spare body lying about so you fool your parents and trick your friends? Unfortunately, science hasn't quite advanced that far yet, but you can build a virtual body and learn about all of your body systems and organs and how they all work together to form a cohesive whole that lets you be, well, you!

Parents of younger children who haven't quite gotten around to The Talk have the option of setting up their children to learn about all body systems minus the reproduction system. (Though, if you're looking for a way to introduce your child to the 'birds and the bees,' Build-A-Body's non-graphic medical diagrams might be a good place to start.)

You will need to register for an account to use this resource, but it's free and it only takes a few moments. It'll also allow you to explore many of the site's other free resources.

Build-A-Body is a virtual interactive that allows students to place organs, bones, and connective tissues in their proper places while learning about the function of each part and body system.

Wolfram Alpha

Wolfram Alpha is an amazing search engine that serves as an advanced calculator, online dictionary, and virtual database of people, events, statistics, countries, nutritional information, weather, maps, science, art, technology, and more. To see examples of what you can look up with Wolfram Alpha, click here. Follow this link to go straight to the search engine itself. 

The search engine is free, but if you'd like to take it on the go with you, you can download the Wolfram Alpha app for your tablet or smart phone for a small fee.

Decoding Photographs

In most middle and high school history classes, you will come across the dreaded DBQ's. Short for Document Based Questions, teachers tend to make a Big Deal of DBQ's. Educators often spend a lot of time prepping students to answer these kinds of questions because most students are used to learning history from a textbook, or a lecture, of a professional analysis of an event, and are therefore unaccustomed to having to look at a historical document or photograph and analyze it themselves.

In general, DBQ's have a fairly good mix of primary textual sources like letters from soldiers, declarations of war, telegraphs from one leader to another, and newspaper articles written during the event, photographical primary sources, and other sources like maps, charts, tables, and diagrams. In this post, we're going to be focusing on how to decode photographs.

Take a look at this one, for example.

You may have seen it before, or you might not have. Let's pretend for a moment that you've never seen this photograph before in your life, and you don't have any textual hints whatsoever what period of history it might be from. (This will never happen on a test; however, it's quite common to come across an isolated image in real life or in the Internet and have to draw your own conclusions about it.) 

We have to start somewhere, so let's start with the assumption that this photograph was taken after the invention of photography. That's pretty much a given, right? The first photograph of a person was taken in 1838, but photography wasn't very good back then, and it was extremely expensive. For a long time, most of the photographs taken were commissioned portraits of wealthy families or individuals. Those photographs were taken in high street studios and required a mix of good lighting, careful posing, and meticulously chosen props to mimic the style of earlier portrait artists who worked with a paintbrush and canvas to 'idealize' their subjects. However, it's clear that this woman is not wealthy or in a high street studio. She's far from idealized, as well; the photographer's goal here was to highlight her flaws, not to brush them away. 

In 1901, the Kodak Brownie brought photography to the masses. Photography was no longer an exclusive high street profession, and it was affordable enough that the average middle class person could afford a camera. So, now we have somewhat of a date. This photograph was most likely taken sometime between 1901 and 2015. But wait a second. When was the last time you saw someone taking a black and white photograph? Sure, photographers still use black and white filters to achieve an artistic effect or to make a statement, but the majority of people photographing historical events these days use color whenever possible. 

Color photography was invented in 1861. However, it took days of exposure and it was even more expensive than regular photography. The cost of color photography went down in the 1940's, but habit compelled people to use traditional methods well into the 1950's and 60's. You start to see the transition between black and white and color photography around the year 1950, so let's take an educated guess and say that this photograph was taken before the year 1950. 

Now we have a range we can work with. Sure, a lot of things happened between 1901 and 1950, but at least now we know not to guess that this was taken during the Vietnam War or during the American Revolution. 

(I'd just like to take a moment to note that we do have many historical photographs from before 1901. We have photos of officers from the Civil War and pictures of Union camps and photographs of Abraham Lincoln, as well as several other presidents from the 19th century. However, those photographs are primitive compared to the one above, which is superbly defined.) 

So now we can ask ourselves what major events happened between 1901 and 1950. The World Wars come to mind, as does the Flu of 1918, the Roaring 20's, the women's suffrage moment, and the Great Depression. We can eliminate the Roaring 20's right away. This woman isn't happy and carefree. She's worried about her children and her future and her own wellbeing. She's dirty and her clothes are ripped. Her children are in a similar state and the mood of the photograph is altogether bleak and hopeless. We can probably cross the Flu of 1918 off our list as well. She isn't visibly ill and a pandemic can't really explain her unwashed appearance. She's probably not a member of the woman's suffrage movement, either. While many women were jailed and went on hunger strikes in the process of obtaining the right to vote, she wouldn't have her children with her if she was imprisoned and she would probably appear more brave and determined if she was a free woman fighting for her right to be represented in government. So that the leaves the World Wars and the Great Depression. 

Is it possible that she's a European refugee who lost her home and perhaps her husband to a war? Yes, absolutely. However, this is the point in our hypothetical exercise where you realize you're taking an American history class, and that your teacher probably isn't mean enough to try to confuse you with pictures of European refugees. 

So now we've correctly arrived at the conclusion that this photograph was taken during the Great Depression. This woman and her family are living in abject poverty. They barely have enough money for food, let alone new clothes. They're clearly homeless and probably living in a Hooverville somewhere. 

You might be asked to deduce what this woman's concerns are, or how she's feeling, or how she got into this situation. She's clearly miserable, and she's probably worried about providing for her family. She might be hungry, or cold, and her children are crying. She might be wondering when things are going to get better, or she might have given up on hope entirely. She might even be remembering her life before the Stock Market Crash of 1929 plunged the world into an economic depression. 

And we got all of that by being able to place this photograph in its proper historical context. 

Coding Resources

I promised a few posts ago that I'd compile a list of coding resources. Unfortunately, I don't know much about coding, so I'm going to direct your attention to this article entitled Ten Places Where Anyone Can Learn to Code.

Even if you don't have much of an interest in coding, you might want to check out the article anyway. In today's competitive digital age, being fluent in at least one coding language can give you a significant advantage when it comes to college admissions and getting that awesome job that fifty other people applied to as well. Plus, it looks great on your CV or resumé.

Cosmos: A Personal Voyage and A Spacetime Oddyssey

If you love science, the following two TV programs might be right up your alley. Cosmos: A Personal Voyage, presented by the beloved scientist Carl Sagan, takes viewers on a journey through the cosmos, from the Big Bang to the lives of stars to the origin of organic life on Earth. You can watch all thirteen episodes for free on Youtube.

Cosmos recently got a modern revamp with all of the latest special effects designed to enhance the viewer's engagement with the series. Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey is presented by the well-renowned astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson and will take viewers on a similar voyage through the stars. In the words of the National Geographic Network, "Cosmos will explore how we discovered the laws of nature and found our coordinates in space and time. It will bring to life never-before-told stories of the heroic quest for knowledge and transport viewers to new worlds and across the universe for a vision of the cosmos on the grandest scale."

I've been unable to find a site where you can watch Cosmos for free, so check your local TV listings if you're interested in watching. In the meantime, check out the official site, where you can learn more about the host, watch clips from the series, and construct your own virtual solar system.

Let's Get Creative: Finding Inspiration

Some people have what's commonly referred to as a 'creative spirit.' You know the type. The doodles in the margins of their notebook make our best artistic efforts look like stick figures in comparison. They can write flawless poetry with their eyes closed and recite Shakespeare without a single moment of hesitation. They have super-powered green thumbs that can make even the most stubborn plant burst into brilliant bloom. They take the perfect photograph every time, and their writing is breath-taking. You might even get the impression that they were born knowing how to waltz.

But let me tell you a little secret: You're a creative spirit, too. In fact, everyone is. Your neighbor with the questionable fashion sense who starts decorating for Christmas in June? She's a creative spirit. The guy who bags your groceries at the Super Market? He is too. Your clumsy aunt with an inexplicable fondness for garden snakes? You guessed it - creative spirit.

A lot of people assume that they have to be born with some sort of special talent to be creative, and to some extent, they're correct. Fortunately, you just happened to be born human, and humans have an incredible talent for finding inspiration and translating it into creative energy.

The problem that most people have - even people who are typically regarded as 'creative spirits' like artists, authors, and musicians - is that inspiration can be hard to come by.

In truth, inspiration is all around us. It's in the trees and the clouds and the changing of seasons and the comings and goings of people around us. I once wrote a 1,000 word essay on my neighbor's dishcloth. Most of us don't see dishrags as particularly inspiring, but for me, it sparked a chain of ideas that led to an A+ paper.

Inspiration is everywhere. Sometimes all we have to do to capture some is open our eyes. Other times, pursuing that spark can be a little more tricky. Here are some tips to find what inspires you:

• Go outside. There is a world of wonder and beauty just out your front door. Take a few deep breaths. Stare at the trees. Run your fingers along the grass. Keep a look out for birds. Get down on your hands and knees and look for any interesting critters going about their lives. Listen to the sounds of your community. Watch your neighbors coming home from school or work, or gardening, or playing with their children. Let the sunshine warm your face. Lay on your back and watch the clouds. See if you can spot any cloud creatures. Observe the lengthening shadows as day turns to dusk. Look up at the night sky, and see how the world looks shrouded in darkness. Pay special attention and see if you can notice anything you overlook in your daily life, like the broken planter on the side of the garden or the crack on the second step. 
• Meditate. Go to a quiet place and just think. Separate yourself from the fast pace of modern life and see if your inner muse has anything to tell you. 
• Keep a collection of interesting, thought-provoking quotes on a document on your computer. Bookmark a few beautiful poems that speak to your heart. Take a look at some beautiful words and their definitions. 
• Download some images of natural beauty. Not everyone has the advantage of seeing nature in their everyday life, especially in urban environments. Let these photographs take you to the far-flung natural treasures of this world. 
• Listen to music. Put on some classical music and let it move you. Play a song in a foreign language and ponder its meaning. (If you're a multilingual student, don't cheat! Find music in a language you don't understand and allow yourself to feel as you listen without getting caught up in the words.) Listen to ancient music from thousands of years ago and try to imagine the life of the person who created it. 
• Look at art. If you can't visit a gallery, try taking an online museum tour. 
• Talk to an elder. Ask them about their life. Ask them to tell you their story. You never know what kind of amazing adventures they'll enthrall you with. If you have Grandparents, you might want to consider recording their stories somehow. It'll preserve your family history and you'll treasure those recordings for years to come. 
• Don't force it. Even the most esteemed creators have creative blocks. If you can't find anything that inspires you, take a break and try again tomorrow. Inspiration will find you, one way or another.

National Geographic Learning Resources

At National Geographic's official sites, students can access a wide array of learning tools and educational resources. You can read thousands of articles about new archeological finds, conservation efforts, climate change, strange and wonderful creatures, foreign lands and much, much more. You can also watch educational videos or browse through hundreds of breath-taking photographs of landscapes, weather, and animals from all over the world. Older students can click here to take a look, while younger students and struggling readers should head on over to Nat Geo Kids for content that's easier to comprehend but just as exciting as it's partner site.

Free K-5 Math Workbooks

At The Math Learning Center, you can download hundreds of pages worth of free material to help your student succeed.

Just click on the links below, select your child's grade level, and click 'download.' A PDF file will open up, and you will find various activities and worksheets if you scroll down about 20 or 30 pages.

Bridges Collection of Activities and Worksheets

Practice Books (Please note that these have not been revised to align to the current Common Core standards.)

Problem Solving with Story Boxes for Grades K-2

Introduction to the "beauty and excitement" of math for grades 3 and 4

Lessons and Activities:

• Kindergarten
• 1st Grade
• 2nd Grade
• 3rd Grade
• 4th Grade
• 5th Grade

I also found a free publication about becoming a better math tutor that I will be browsing through later today.

Reading List: Carl Sagan

I wish you could see my library. It's a rather eclectic collection of things, from the creaky wicker furniture to the cacti shivering in the corner to the collection of skulls from Grandpa's hunting days. There's a sizable collection of indigenous art from both North and Central America, ranging from hand-painted pottery to huge dream catchers to ornamental ladders hung with pelts and preserved hooves to painted plates and a regal sculpture of a revered Native Chief. My own scientific endeavors have left their mark on the room as well. A squirrel tail dangles from one of the bookcases, a line of skulls sits atop a pile of books, and a tin of assorted vertebrae rattles about every time a drowsy dog bumps into the bookcase.

Of course, the purpose of a library is to house books, and we have plenty of those. We have so many, in fact, that the shelves are bowed under their weight. One bookcase is dedicated almost entirely to science fiction and mystery novels. I have my own little section from the days before we switched to digital that keeps tilting over and falling down. Another bookcase houses a selection of books from my childhood. My mother used to buy a hundred books for five or ten dollars at charity shops and library sales and rummage sales when I was younger. Once I was done with a batch, she'd have a tag sale of her own and donate the books that didn't sell to charity, and then the cycle would start anew.

A third bookcase houses my mother's academic books as well as an encyclopedia of dinosaurs.

But by favorite bookcase by far is the one that's split between various anthologies of fairytales, myths, and legends from across the world and my science books. I'm not in the library right now and I don't recall every book on the shelf, but I'd like to tell you about the one I treasure above all overs.

I read Carl Sagan's Cosmos in the summer of fourth grade after a family friend gifted it to me. For the first time, I understood the world around me in brilliant, beautiful technicolor. I knew the origins of the atoms in my body and I knew how the sun was born and when it would die. I understood that life was ancient and amazing and mind-bogglingly complex. And for the first time, I looked up at the sky and saw something more than just twinkling points of light. I saw a universe of wonders untold, an eternity of splendor, billions and billions of stars and planets just waiting for someone to lift the veil of mystery up off their shoulders. I saw unending beauty as I flew through the chapters of Cosmos and I felt boundless, bottomless elation every time a new piece of the puzzle slotted into place. For many years, I felt like that book and the dozens I read afterwards in the pursuit of knowledge dropped the keys to the kingdom right into my lap. The doors to the universe had been slammed open, and I could not wait to see where they would lead me.

That's why I'm recommending it to anyone and everyone who has even the most passing, fleeting interest in science. For me, Cosmos and many of Sagan's other books were life-changing. I personally think everyone should read them, but perhaps I'm just a bit biased in that regard.

Some of the books I enjoyed the most are as follows:

• Cosmos (obviously)
• Pale Blue Dot: A Vision of the Human Future in Space (I believe I read this one directly after Cosmos, and loved it almost as much.)
• The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark
• Billions and Billions: Thoughts on Life and Death at the Brink of the Millennium
• Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors
• Broca's Brain: Reflections on the Romance of Science
• The Dragons of Eden: Speculations on the Evolution of Human Intelligence 

Today's Lesson: A Portrait of Humanity

Pretend for a moment that you are a scientist working at NASA. You have a cool little badge that lets you into super-secret labs and everything. You and your colleagues are working on a special project. You're going to send a space probe far, far away, beyond Jupiter, beyond Saturn, beyond Uranus, beyond Neptune, beyond poor Pluto and it's tiny moon, beyond the solar system itself. You're going to be sending it out into the great unknown, like casting a bottle out into the cosmic sea. You're not quite sure where it's going or even if it'll survive the journey. You don't know who - or what - will find it, or even if there's anyone or anything out there to discover it, but you know that when you consider the vastness and age of the universe, it's statistically unlikely that we're the only planet harboring life and, furthermore, you are human and you cannot and will not believe that out of all the star systems in the universe, ours is the only one that supports life.

So your task is to paint a picture of human kind, the planet it calls home, and the billions of creatures it shares that world with. You and your colleagues are going to be including a golden record - a kind of CD, if you will - that will last a billion years. The only question is: What are we going to put on that CD?

Take a few moments to think about that question. If an alien race discovers your space probe a hundred million years from now, what do you want them to see? Are you going to be brutally honest and include a comprehensive overview of world history from recorded history to the present day, or are you going to edit out the worst bits? How are you going to represent the entirety of the human race in just a few dozen photographs? Are you going to include pictures of world leaders or just everyday people? How are you going to communicate the range of human emotion to an alien? How would you communicate love, and joy, and sorrow, and grief? Are you going to include any artworks? If so, which ones? Your mind might go straight to Van Gogh or Rembrandt, but remember that you're supposed to be representing all of humanity. Are you going to include pictures of the weather? How about human dwellings? What about the Great Pyramids and the Coliseum? Are you going to include portrayals of human suffering and cruelty? Are you going to cut genocide and war out of the picture, or will you leave it in the story for the sake of honesty?

What kind of sounds are you going to include? Aliens probably aren't going to speak any human language, so how else would you communicate with them? What kind of music would you include?

You can see how the scientists working on the Voyager probe back in 1977 answered these questions by following this link and clicking on the links to 'Scenes from Earth,' 'Greetings from Earth,' 'Music from Earth,' and 'Sounds from Earth.'

Once you've taken a few minutes to browse through the sounds, music, and pictures, consider this: If the Voyager Space probe is ever discovered by an advanced alien race, this is all they will know of Earth and the people who live here. This is all they will know of humanity, and the creatures that live alongside us. They will hear our greetings and listen to our songs and play our sounds and look upon a few dozen pictures and they will judge everyone who has ever walked this Earth and everyone who ever will based solely on that tiny, tiny bit of information.

Ask yourself if you are happy with the portrait of humanity contained within the Voyager Space Probe. Did it make you proud to be human, or leave you feeling strangely disappointed?

Try, if you can, to put yourself on the receiving end of this message. Who are these people, and what is their place in the universe? What have they accomplished during their species' reign? How have they left their mark? And, ultimately, are they important? When our message in a bottle washes up on the cosmic shores of some distant world, will its inhabitants recognize the thousands of years of art and literature, struggle and triumph, love and joy, beauty and hardship, mistakes and knowledge, hope and faith, science and technology and passion that went into its making? Or will they look upon it as we would look at an ape drawing a line in the sand with a stick, slightly amused, mildly baffled, and ultimately unimpressed?

Tips for Solving Word Problems

With the new Common Core standards, word problems are becoming trickier and more common than ever. It's vital that you learn how to pull out the important information and figure out what the question is asking you to do even in the most complicated of word problems.

• If you have a worksheet, workbook, quiz, or test that you're allowed to write on, take full advantage of it. Use a combination of underlining, circling, and boxing in to separate the different parts of the word problem and highlight important information. Just make sure that you don't underline the entire thing. If you're going to do that, you may as well just leave it as is. The whole point of marking up the question is to find the important parts, so it's not going to help you if you mark everything as important. 
• Figure out what the question wants you to do. Sometimes, it'll ask you to do more than one thing and sometimes it'll try to confuse you by adding extra steps you need to do before arriving at your final answer. You can lose points fast if the question asks you to round your answer or convert it from feet to inches and you leave it as is. You might want to star the question so it'll stand out on your page. 
• Break it down into steps. Ask yourself what you need to do first. What comes after that? What's my third step, etc, etc? If you have enough time and you're really struggling with a problem, you might want to partially rewrite it and label each part so it's clearer to you. 
• Make sure you final answer is circled/underlined/boxed in/on the line provided. If you just did three computations to get at your answer, your test grader might not know which one is your final answer. 
• Check your work. Make sure you didn't make any silly errors, like adding instead of subtracting or writing a 9 instead of a 6. Also ask yourself if your answer makes sense in the real world. If the question asks you to find out how much Lily spent for three tomatoes and you get an answer of 90 dollars or two cents, you probably made a mistake somewhere. 
• You can also check your answer by working backwards. If you want to make sure you completed a division problem correctly, multiply the quotient (the answer you got) by the divisor (the number you divided by) to make sure you can arrive back at the original dividend (the number you divided, also known as the number under the little house in long division). 

K-12 Reading and Writing Worksheets

K12 Reader provides free printable worksheets for students in grades K-12. Students can brush up on their spelling, reading skills, grammar, composition, and vocabulary. You can sort the worksheets by grade or by topic to find the best worksheet for you. Every worksheet comes with an answer key, and most have a mini-lesson at the top to further aid the learning process.

K-12 Math Worksheets

Math Worksheets Land is a great resource for math students of all ages. Whether you missed a lesson or you're trying to study for an upcoming quiz, Math Worksheets Land has the answer. You can sort worksheets by grade-level or by topic. The site is very straight-forward to navigate and will provide you with a guided lesson and two worksheets for every topic. If you know where your weak areas are in math, this can be a great resource to help you target them and turn them into strengths.

You can got a lot of free content on the site, but you might want to consider paying for full access if you're an educator. With a site subscription, you'll unlock answer keys, three homework sheets for each topic, three quizzes for each topic, three addition practice sheets for each topic, and a variety of tests for each grade level.

National Parks and Wildlife Refuges

Visiting any one of America's protected areas, national or state parks, wildlife refuges, or designated natural areas can be a learning experience for the whole family. Discover how America the Beautiful got its name by visiting a national park near you.

Hidden Kingdoms Documentary Series

In the BBC's own words, Hidden Kingdoms allows viewers to "immerse {themselves} in the lives of extraordinary characters that stand a few inches tall. From chipmunks to mice, be entertained and spellbound by the creatures that call the Hidden Kingdoms home."

Hidden Kingdoms: Under Open Skies

Hidden Kingdoms: Secret Forests 

Wild Weather Documentary Series

In the BBC documentary series Wild Weather, presenter Richard Hammond travels around the globe to show viewers how the forces of wind, water, and temperature shape our world. Viewers of all ages will enjoy watching him chase a tornado, build a fire twister, fly a helicopter into a cloud, start a controlled avalanche, and build his very own dust storm.

Wild Weather: Wind

Wild Weather: Water

Wild Weather: Temperature 

Filthy Cities Documentary Series

Filthy Cities is a BBC documentary series that explores three historical cities and analyzes how their efforts to clean up led to lasting social, political, economic, and infrastructural changes that helped bring each city into the modern age.

Filthy Cities: Medieval London

Filthy Cities: Revolutionary Paris

Filthy Cities: Industrial New York

I would recommend this documentary series only for high schoolers and mature middle school students due to the depiction of disease, death, organic decay, and execution.

Dictionary Word of the Day

If you're looking to broaden your vocabulary, you might want to consider subscribing to Dictionary.com's Word of the Day. You'll get a little e-mail in your inbox every morning telling you the meaning of a brand new word and giving you an example or two of it's usage over time. You'll also learn about the origin of the word, which all of you linguistics fans out there will find cool, and you can click on a button to have the word read aloud to you if you'd like to use it sometime soon and want to ensure your pronunciation is on-point.

Collection of Online Interactives

Check out this collection of educational interactives from all over the Internet. They're meant mainly for students in grades K-5, but I have to confess that I had fun clicking around the site too. The site hosts links to science, math, ELA, social studies, music, art, and Spanish interactives and is very easy to navigate, so I'm sure that it'll be a breeze to find exactly what you want to learn about.

Encouraging Serious Scientists

Most children have some level of interest in science, even if they don't realize it. Young children will marvel at roadkill and play with worms. Some students will display an intense interest in dinosaurs, volcanoes, hurricanes, robotics, or marine science. Unfortunately, many students slowly loose interest in science as they make their way through the school system. Some maintain some level of interest, but hide or suppress it because the sad reality of life in America is that science simply isn't "cool" to the vast majority of school-aged children.

However, some students' love of science will only grow and blossom as they age. Every new piece of knowledge flames the fires of their curiosity, and oftentimes these students will know from an early age that they wish to pursue a scientific career.

I was one of those students. I got straight A's all through high school, and I got a full-ride scholarship to a very small, very exclusive, very elite college specializing in a cutting-edge field of science. What happened next is something I like to refer to as my own personal version of Paradise Lost, but that's not entirely relevant to this post. What is is that I was one of those little Serious Scientists, and I'd like to share some of what my parents did to encourage and build my love of science.

Before we get started, I'd like to say that some of these strategies can be a bit of an investment and are generally only for mature, responsible, well-coordinated students who can be trusted to use high-quality instruments that can be dangerous if handled irresponsibly.

My uncle got me a high-quality dissection kit for my ninth birthday. My mother, perhaps understandably so, thought he was just a little bit mad for doing so. After all, most parents probably don't want their children fooling around with surgical equipment at the age of 9. I was throughly briefed on how to use the kit and how to avoid injuring myself while using it, and it was impressed upon me that my parents were putting a lot of responsibility in my hands by allowing me to own such an item. I was not allowed to use the kit without supervision for several years (again, perfectly reasonable) and for the most part, my methods were rudimentary and unskilled. I didn't know how much pressure to apply to cut into my first frog without rupturing most of his organs, and I hadn't yet mastered the delicate magic of removing said organs in one piece. My first rat didn't go all that well either, but my second was quite a bit better. But by the time I graduated to dissecting the roadkill squirrel I'd begged my mother to allow me to take home, I'd gotten pretty good. I'd never skinned such a large mammal before, but I ended up with a sizable piece of the pelt, both of its ears, and its tail. I then proceeded to dissect it, and I'd like to say that I conclusively proved it was run over by a blue Jeep Wrangler traveling at precisely 24 miles an hour, but I wasn't that good. However, I was able to get most of the organs out in one piece, which I counted as a win for Team Me.

Dissections, when paired with other scientific endeavors like de-fleshing and reconstructing the skeleton of an animal that died of natural causes (the library in my house is currently littered with a partial cat skeleton, a huge fish skull and most of its vertebrae, several bird skulls, and the above-mentioned squirrel parts) can help to foster a life-long love of science. I myself learned much about anatomy, biology, and organic decay through careful dissections and controlled decomposition coupled with copious amounts of research.

If you do decide to purchase a dissection kit for your child, please make sure to tell them about what is and isn't acceptable to dissect in addition to giving them a series of safety lectures. The family pet is obviously not going to end up under the blade, and healthy, live animals should never be killed for the purpose of a dissection. However, it's fine to purchase frozen rats from the local pet store (most stores carry them as food for large snakes) or frogs specifically preserved for the purposes of dissections. Animals found on the side of the road should be used with extreme caution. If they're extremely fresh and not yet rotting or covered in maggots, it's probably safe to work with them as long as you use gloves, a disposable hospital mask, and make sure to disinfect your tools before and after working with it, which is a practice you should get into anyway. A fish caught in non-protected waters is also a good choice. If your child is in high school, you might even want to look into purchasing a suckling pig preserved and sold for dissections.

A microscope is also an excellent purchase to make for a science-loving child. I'd recommend that you buy a few pre-made slides for them to look at as well as several blank slides or petri dishes so they can look at small household debris like dust, hair, sugar, salt, spices, soap flakes, sand, insects, and clothing fibres.

I'd also suggest planning a yearly trip to the planetarium, if your financial circumstances allow.

My parents also purchased a telescope for me, and I used to take it out every night during the summer to look at the moon (and Mars and Venus when they came close enough to Earth).

I also have several chemistry kits, nearly every book Carl Sagan ever wrote, as well as an indoor star projector, a DNA kit, a Starfinder, and several dozen fossils.

Obviously, not every family has the same circumstances as mine, and not every child is interested in the same fields of science. I am not in any way implying that you should replicate what my family did; I am merely suggesting that you should foster your child's love for science to the best of your ability. All of the items mentioned in this post cost money, but there are dozens of other free resources on this blog you can use instead of these or in conjunction with them.

If you have any questions or suggestions about the items mentioned in this post, please feel free to leave a comment.

Nature Walks

Talking nature walks can be a great way to teach young children about their environment and community. When I was little, I used to go out with a tiny hand basket to collect interesting leaves, rocks, stray flowers, and twigs I found on the way. My mother and I would keep a look out for colorful birds and listen for their songs, and Mom would point out trees in their various phases of budding, flowering, and turning colors in the autumn. She'd tell me about the grass and the trees and the sky and the clouds and how it all came together to work as one sustainable ecosystem. Under her loving supervision, I learned about how clouds made rain and how the trees and plants around me used that water along with sunlight to make energy for themselves. She showed me where the mosses and lichens fit into that world of green, and together we watched the coming and goings of the insects and spiders that made a home for themselves on our block. One day each week for an entire year, we walked around the corner to the tree where the ladybugs came to mate and lay their eggs, and once we spotted the first egg, we came back every day to see if we could catch them hatching into larvae.

I still remember the summer a rather hardy spider spun a web in the space between a small stone pillar and a neighbor's picket fence. It's been a great many years since I last saw that spider, and I know that in all likelihood she's long since perished, but some part of me wants to believe that she's still out there, spinning spindly little webs in small, dark places.

I also remember the day we found a half-eaten cupcake about half a block from our house. It was crawling with ants, and my three-year-old self was completely and utterly captivated. I could hardly believe that such tiny creatures could disassemble a piece of food many hundreds of times larger than themselves. Somehow, they managed it, and when we went back a few hours later at my insistence, all that was left of the abandoned treat was a stained wrapper and a dozen straggler ants who hadn't realized the feast was over.

As I grew older, we still went on walks together in the gentler months of the year. Occasionally we found a pinecone or some other such treasure. We may have even borrowed a fig or two from the tree a few blocks north of here, but nothing has ever been conclusively proven on that matter.

Nowadays, those nature walks are some of my best childhood memories. My mom could have sat me down with some dusty old book about trees or handed me the TV remote, but she didn't. Instead, she chose to bundle me up in my coziest sweater and arm me with a tiny hand basket so we could discover the splendor of the natural world together, as a family.