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.