The three quests linked to this site were designed to give students an awareness of the roles that scientist play in the courts, workplace, and in their daily lives. Students take the roles of ACLU lawyers, defending all scientists from gross stereotyping. Or, they are part of a human resources team looking for specific traits needed in the scientist the company is looking to hire. Although these quests were designed for high school students, middle school students could also benefit from these activities. (From Blue Web'N)
CIESE Online Classroom Resources
http://www.k12science.org/currichome.html
The New Jersey Networking Infrastructure in Education Resource page lists some of the finest projects and lesson ideas created for K-12 science education. To particpate in science projects that can only be done using Internet resources, take a look at "The Gulf Stream: A Global Investigation" or a past Blue Web'n pick, "The Morgan Tutorial," which investigates the field of genetics. (From Blue Web'N)
How Much Information?
http://www.sims.berkeley.edu/how-much-info/
A team of researchers at U.C. Berkeley's School of Information Management has published a study that attempts to measure how much information is produced annually worldwide. The analysts examined a variety of media including print, film, optical, broadcast, and Net, and summarized their findings at different levels of detail. We went for the heavy overload version: "The world's total yearly production of ... content would require roughly 1.5 billion gigabytes of storage. This is the equivalent of 250 megabytes... for each man, woman, and child on earth." Anyone remember when PCs had less than 1MB of storage? (From Yahoo's Picks of the Week)
Women in Biology Internet Launch Page
http://pingu.salk.edu/~forsburg/bio.html
Not just for biologists. This is an extensive links page with all kinds of resources for women in science. " This page is a starting point for finding information about biologists who happen to be women; essentially, it is a list of bookmarks to the ample original content already available on the web. Many of the links are aimed towards women who are graduate students, postdocs, or more senior scientists, but there are also sites relevant to undergraduates or even high school students who may be contemplating a career in biology. These are intended to help women biologists with practical aspects of busy professional lives, and to provide food for thought in those quieter moments."
New CRS Reports
http://www.cnie.org/updates/81.htm
The NCSE has been overhauling the Congressional Research Service section of its online environmental library. Abstract retrieval and searching was added to the CRS Search Engine in September. A slide show explaining the layout of the CRS database site and the search strategies available was added in October.
New reports are available in the following categories:
Cambridge Relativity Public Homepage
http://www.damtp.cam.ac.uk/user/gr/public
These pages have excellent brief, non-technical discussions, pictures, and movies of the following phenomena:
Also Steven Hawkings webpages, and a tour of the UK National Cosmology Supercomputer. Neat site!
U.C. Berkeley Physics Lecture Demonstrations
http://www.mip.berkeley.edu:80/physics/physics.html
This site is an effort to make available an on-line source of information and pictures used for preparing and performing undergraduate lecture demonstrations at the University of California Physics Department at Berkeley. This site deals with demonstrations for the subjects of:
The site contains many of the old, classic, well-known favorite demonstrations. It also contains an assortment of new and also less well-known 'demos'. This collection of demos is intended to give a brief idea of what is available. It is not, however, totally complete. Some older and less popular demos have not been included, and new demos are always being developed. Years after taking a class, the demos are often what a student remembers with the greatest clarity. A lot of the demos are fun!
Social Sciences
Political Cartoons at the Library of Congress
http://loc.harpweek.com/
Political cartoons say more about the political scene and the sociological scene than do volumes of newspaper articles. This collection spans 1766 to 1876. "HarpWeek is pleased to provide Internet access to one of the most important collections of American political prints. The Library of Congress collection has been catalogued and extensively annotated by Bernard F. Reilly, Jr. This catalog, which HarpWeek has the privilege of bringing to the public in electronic format, is an unmatched source of information on American political prints. Warning: Website visitors should be warned that several of the words, descriptions, and images in these 19th-century caricatures are considered racially offensive by today's standards. The materials are presented in order to give an accurate historical picture of American political prints in the 19th century." The collection is browsable and searchable, but the search engines may freeze your browser.
National Archaeological Database
http://web.cast.uark.edu/other/nps/nadb/nadb.mul.html
National Archaeological Database "is an expanded bibliographic inventory of approximately 240,000 reports on archeological investigation and planning, mostly of limited circulation. This "gray literature" represents a large portion of the primary information available on archeological sites in the U.S. NADB-Reports can be searched by state, county, worktype, cultural affiliation, keyword, material, year of publication, title, and author."
Neanderthals and Modern Humans: A Regional Guide
http://www.neanderthal-modern.com/index.html
Created and maintained by Scott J. Brown, this Website offers the clearest, best explanation for the layperson that we've seen of the contemporary, competing evolutionary theories explaining the relationship between modern humans and Neanderthals. Currently, a lively debate goes on over whether modern humans supplanted (and perhaps even killed off) the Neanderthals, or whether Neanderthals evolved alongside other early human ancestors, one implication of which would be that their descendants are now among us. The unusually well-organized site is structured around discussions of the archaeological and paleoanthropological evidence concerning Neanderthals as they have appeared in regions of Eurasia, namely, Western Europe, Central and Eastern Europe, Western Asia, and Central Asia and Siberia. Each section discusses the fossil remains of that region and offers a review of the scholarship with hypertext links to Websites posting this research. In addition, the site "also provides hundreds of links to books, journals, magazines, museums, universities, and other places where you can obtain further information" about the topic. Scott J. Brown is an independent anthropological researcher and writer with a lifelong interest in human evolution. He holds a graduate degree in anthropology from George Washington University. [DC] (From the Scout Report)
North by South
http://www.northbysouth.org/
This intriguing Website is part of a three-year, NEH-sponsored study of African-American migrations from the South to the North during the century following the Civil War. Through a series of sections accessed by graphic icons, the site provides insight into the great migration of African-Americans from mostly rural Southern areas into the large urban centers of the North, such as New York, Chicago, Boston, Philadelphia, and Detroit. There are sections on art, education, music, health practices, the cultural influences of the South that migrants brought with them, community rituals (e.g., the handling of death in Charleston vs. Harlem), Black urban journalism, and more. Each section presents substantial text and documentary images to dramatize the far-reaching consequences of the migration for both Blacks specifically and America as a whole. However, a page giving the fundamental demographic facts of the migration and its causes would have been helpful. We should also note in passing that, while the materials themselves are very informative, the use of graphic icons sans titles means that users will only know where they are going after they have got there. [DC] (From the Scout Report)
Archeology of Teotihuacan, Mexico
http://archaeology.la.asu.edu/teo/
An exploration of this historic site in Mexico. Included are a description, chronology, maps, and photographs. There is extensive information about the Feathered Serpent Pyramid (Templo de Quetzalcoatl). Additionally, there is information about the Templo Mayor. Some information from the Centro de Estudios Teotihuacanos is available only in Spanish. Brief films (require QuickTime) are also provided. From the University of Arizona. - dl (From Librarian's Index to the Internet)
Evolutionary Theories in Social Sciences
http://www7.kellogg.nwu.edu/evolution/
With the stated mission of serving "as the premier information site for scholars interested in evolutionary thought in the social sciences," this site offers materials relating to a broad interdisciplinary field that includes sociobiology, management, evolutionary biology, business history, anthropology, and even mathematics and engineering, among others. The site includes an extensive, discipline-indexed bibliography, book reviews (with authorial replies), abstracts of working papers, a discussion list, conference and symposium news, a listing of researchers with contact information, a listing of links to relevant print and e-journals, and PhD syllabi, including links to course texts from the Kellogg School of Management and the European Doctoral Training Programme on the Economics of Technological and Institutional Change. Note: authors may be contacted through the site for copies of working papers (there is no mention of a fee for these copies). The site is maintained by two social scientists from Northwestern University, Johann Peter Murmann and Joe Fleischhacker. [DC] (From the Scout Report)
The Economics of Civil War, Crime, and Violence [.pdf]
http://www.worldbank.org/research/conflict/index.htm
This project from the World Bank and Development Economics Research Group was created in 1999 as a response to the "devastating economic consequences of violence in developing countries." In the 1990s, 90 percent of all war-related deaths were civilian, as opposed to only 50 percent in the eighteenth century. The violence of worldwide civil wars in the 1990s also created nearly 13 million refugees and 38 million internally displaced persons. Along with detailed information about the motivation and analytical approach behind the project, the site includes brief synopses of three topics: Civil War, Crime and Violence, and Policy Dimensions. Finally, a resource bank presents working papers and presentations, related links, and upcoming events related to this issue. [EM] (From the Scout Report)
World Gazetteer
http://www.gazetteer.de/
Maintained by Stefan Helders, an amateur demographer, this Website provides data on the current population of cities, towns, and regions all over the globe. Users can view population data listed alphabetically of all countries or click on a particular nation in the sidebar and see the total population and total area of the country as well as the population and area of its states or recognized regions. (These data may also be examined by continent.) Population data are also provided on all cities of one million or more, listed in descending order with Mumbai in India currently the most populous city on the planet (New York is fourteenth). Extensive information about the Website's data sources and data organization is offered in the Information about this Site section. [DC] (From the Scout Report)
Economics Website
http://pittsford.monroe.edu/Schools/Jefferson/Economics/EconMain.html
It's never too early for economic literacy. Created and maintained by Jefferson Road Elementary School in Pittsford, NY, the Economics Website is a wonderful introduction to the most basic economic concepts. The site contains fourteen sections, including short lessons on socialism and capitalism, stocks, goods and services, and interdependence. Each lesson includes a small multiple choice quiz on the concepts covered. The Economics Website also contains an economics glossary, links to other economics sites geared towards kids, and an enlightening list of fun economics activities including creating an Economists Hall of Fame, learning about federal income tax, and designing a imaginary company's Website. [EM] (From the Scout Report)
Archaeology Magazine
http://www.archaeology.org/
This online version of the magazine published by the Archaeological Institute of America is a must for anyone with an interest in the subject. As well as providing the latest news and feature articles, the site makes good use of hyperlinks and multimedia to flesh out the archaeological material and present it in a much more dynamic and contextualized way than is possible on the page. Best of all, you can take part in an interactive dig this month you can explore Maya caves, search for shipwrecks in the Black Sea, visit a colonial home in Brooklyn or a temple in Petra and share in the thrills and spills of actual fieldwork as it unfolds. Each dig has a number of sections, such as 'Field Notes¹, 'Oral Histories¹, 'Faunal Analysis¹, 'Tools of the Trade¹, 'Mystery Objects¹, and a bulletin board where you can post questions to the team. The site has its own search engine for archived editions of the magazine, and a good section on links and wider web resources. DD (From New Scientist Planet Science)
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INSTRUCTORS TRY OUT UPDATED MOOS AS ONLINE-COURSE CLASSROOMS
The academic community is experimenting with revamped multiple user object oriented environments (MOOs) as virtual classrooms. As one of the earliest online meeting places, MOOs required users to navigate via written commands. However, educators are bringing user-friendly interfaces to MOOs that allow users to click on icons to move from room to room and let professors incorporate video clips and other images. Scholars at the University of Texas at Dallas created a MOO called enCore Xpress, which is free to users who agree to share any changes they make to the system. Jan Rune Holmevik, who helped develop enCore Xpress, estimates that the software has led to the creation of 100 to 150 educational MOOs. Professors who have used MOOs say the systems promote more open discussions than would take place in a physical classroom, and some say MOOs foster a stronger sense of community.
(Chronicle of Higher Education Online, 24 October 2000 via Edupage)
MORE BLACK AMERICANS USING WEB, REPORT SAYS
African Americans increased their online presence at nearly twice the rate of whites over the past two years, helping to bridge the digital divide, according to a Pew Internet & American Life Study. The report shows that 36 percent of the African-American population now uses the Internet, up 13 percent from 1998. By comparison, 50 percent of whites are online, an increase of only 8 percent since 1998. In the last year 3.5 million African Americans went online for the first time, and 61 percent of the new users were women. The African-American online population has more women, lower incomes, and fewer college degrees than the white online population, according to the report. The report also shows that 71 percent of African-American Internet users have access at home, while 84 percent of white users have home access. (Los Angeles Times, 23 October 2000 via Edupage)
CONGRESS INCREASES SPENDING ON IT RESEARCH FOR 2001
Congressional spending bills for the 2001 fiscal year will boost funds for some areas of information technology research while cutting back on others. The Clinton administration's Information Technology for the 21st Century program, which aims to promote technological advances among federal agencies, will receive only $1.28 billion--less than the $2.14 billion that was requested. However, the Senate approved a compromise bill that gives the National Science Foundation (NSF) $215 million for IT research, which is $125 million more than the agency received last year. The bill also gives the NSF a separate $45 million to build a supercomputer. Meanwhile, the defense spending bill provides $386.7 million for computing research projects at the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). DARPA will get the $15 million requested by the administration for next-generation networking projects.
(Chronicle of Higher Education Online, 19 October 2000 via Edupage)
PAINTING A PORTRAIT OF DOT-CAMARADERIE
The Internet promotes social interaction and family bonding, a new study from the University of California at Los Angeles claims. The study, conducted by UCLA professor Jeffrey Cole, looked at Internet use in 2,096 homes. Internet use is now a "shared household activity," Cole said. The survey found that two-thirds of Americans now use the Internet, and they average 9.4 hours per week online. Cole noted that many users surveyed spend that time online with someone else present. According to the survey, parents do not think that the Internet has changed how their children relate to their school friends, while a quarter of those surveyed say they have formed new friendships online. Also, the survey found that use of the Internet causes less friction within the household than the television does. The results of the UCLA survey do not jibe with a Stanford University study from earlier this year. That study concluded that Internet use is reducing social interaction and leading individuals to value work above their family and friends. (Washington Post, 26 October 2000 via Edupage)
Rebuilding the Worlds First Great Library - Bibliotecha Alexandrina
http://bibalex.gov.eg/
Few events in the history of mankind have been as devastating to learning as the destruction of the great library in Alexandria, which, through time, was repeatedly looted and burned. Now a new library is being rebuilt on the site of the ancient library.
"The principal objective of reviving the Bibliotheca Alexandrina is to establish a comprehensive research library of a unique collection and intention. The new library is designed as a modern state-of-the-art translation of the old, adequate for crossing the frontiers and meeting the challenges of the 21st century. It will certainly contribute to excellence in research and advancement of human knowledge."
Additional information on the ancient library can be found at:
http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/GreekScience/Students/Ellen/Museum.html
http://members.iinet.net.au/~nicke/library/library.htm
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All items from the Scout Report are copyright Susan Calcari, 1994-2000. Permission is granted to make and distribute verbatim copies of the Scout Report provided the copyright notice and this paragraph is preserved on all copies. The InterNIC provides information about the Internet to the US research and education community under a cooperative agreement with the National Science Foundation: NCR-9218742. The Government has certain rights in this material.
Blue Web'n is a searchable library of Blue-Ribbon Web sites categorized by grade level, content area, and type. Visit Blue Web'n online at http://www.kn.pacbell.com/wired/bluewebn .
Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this newsletter are those of the participants (authors), and do not necessarily represent the official views, opinions, or policy of the National Science Foundation.