Research and Education
Everyone is concerned about the economic recession, and the Brookings Institution has a number of its research analysts in its Metropolitan Policy Program investigating the situation. This 13-page report released in September 2009 is part of the "MetroMonitor" series, which tracks quarterly indicators of economic recession and recovery in the nation's 100 largest metropolitan areas. The good news (at least in this report), is that the Washington region is recovering fairly well, and that the labor market remains relatively healthy. On a less positive note, the report notes that the housing market in the area is quite weak, and that banks continue to hold a large share of the area's properties. The report includes a number of helpful charts and graphs, and it also offers some comparative figures that gauge Washington, D.C.'s performance alongside other major metropolitan areas. [KMG]
Expert Voices is a "science teaching information exchange" sponsored by the National Science Digital Library (NSDL). The topics covered are science, technology, engineering, and mathematics, and it's geared towards teachers of all levels, as well as students. The blogs are divided up into three sections: "Recent Posts", "Who Says", and "Hot Topics". "Recent Posts" are, as they sound, the most recent entries added to blogs, with a description of the entry, as well as the blog to which it was posted. "Who Says" lists the names of active blogs, sorted by audience level including "K12 Teachers", "University Faculty", "Librarians", "NSDL Community", and "Informal Learners". Some of the blogs fall into more than one of the aforementioned audience categories. Helpfully, there a "Larger Text" option is provided on the top of the far right hand side of every page.
[KMG]
To find this resource and more high-quality online resources in math and science visit Scout's sister site - AMSER, the Applied Math and Science Educational Repository at
http://amser.org.
https://secureapps.libraries.psu.edu/digitalbookshelf/
Known as the Beaver Collection, after General James Addams Beaver, this digital collection is comprised of materials from four Pennsylvania libraries, and consists mainly of "Pennsylvania county histories, atlases, and Civil War regimental histories." Visitors can search the collection by title, author, or subject. A particularly interesting piece of history from the collection can be found by clicking on "Browse All Titles", and scrolling down to image #9, which is a multi-part document that lists thousands of names of German, Swiss, Dutch, French, and other immigrants in Pennsylvania from 1727-1776. In addition to names, the multi-lingual document also provides the ships they came on and when they arrived in Philadelphia. Visitors interested in saving any of the documents in the collection can save them in their "Favorites", and they can choose to save a whole document or just a page within the document. [KMG]
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/exhibition/literatureofprescription/
Those visitors unfamiliar with the unsettling and terrifying short story, "The Yellow Wall-Paper", by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, are fortunate that this National Library of Medicine website provides a PDF of the story in its original form that first appeared in 1892 in The New England Magazine. At the bottom of the homepage, visitors need just to click on the image of a page underneath the heading Digital Documents, to read the dozen page short story. The story shed light on the treatment of women by the medical establishment, especially in regard to mental health issues. The "Education" tab near the top of the page, offers several high school lesson plans and a higher education module, for use with the exhibition. The high school lesson plans are for an English class and a Health Education class, and are about women and medicine, and mental health, past and present. The higher education module takes a look at 'The Troubled Mind in Medicine and Society".
[KMG]
To find this resource and more high-quality online resources in math and science visit Scout's sister site - AMSER, the Applied Math and Science Educational Repository at
http://amser.org.
http://www.cares.missouri.edu/
Based at the University of Missouri, the Center for Applied Research and Environmental Systems (CARES) is committed to integrating "the social, physical, and biological sciences to better understand human, natural resource, and environmental issues and problems." Along with their scientific mission, CARES also features a strong community outreach component, and visitors can use the "Map Room" to create their own customized economic, demographic, physical, or cultural maps of Missouri. This area also contains a series of interactive maps of the state. In the "Projects" area, visitors can learn about the Center's recent work, such as projects dealing with the ecological economic impacts of landscape change across Montana and the uses of an integrated resource management system. Also, visitors won't want to miss the "Community Issues Management" area. Here visitors can learn about the ways in which this system allows local governments and organizations to take advantage of spatial data in order to deliver a wide range of services.
[KMG]
To find this resource and more high-quality online resources in math and science visit Scout's sister site - AMSER, the Applied Math and Science Educational Repository at
http://amser.org.
http://www.archive.org/details/naropa
Founded in 1974, the Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied Poetics at Naropa University has sponsored thousands of talks, lectures, and readings over the past four decades. The school was started by poets Anne Waldman and Allen Ginsberg, and they managed to bring important leading figures of the U.S. literary avant-garde to talk with students and others. The Internet Archive has created this very engaging archive of over 830 items, including readings and lectures from the school's various gatherings. The funding for the project came from the National Endowment for the Arts, the National Endowment for the Humanities, and the GRAMMY Foundation. Visitors can check out the "Spotlight Item" on the left-hand side of the page, then take a look at the most downloaded items to the right. Some of the talks include a reading of "Howl" by Ginsberg, a lecture on public discourse by William S. Burroughs, and recordings from a number of conferences dedicated to the work of Jack Kerouac. [KMG]
http://bioethics.stanford.edu/
The Stanford Center for Biomedical Ethics is "dedicated to interdisciplinary research and education in biomedical ethics, and provides clinical and research ethics consultation." The materials on their site are divided into four sections: "Programs", "Research", "Education", and "Service". In the "Programs" area, users can learn about their work in areas such as "Biomedical Ethics in Film" and "Arts, Humanities and Medicine". Moving along, the "Publications" area allows users to learn about the Center's current grants and publications authored by Center faculty members. The "About" area is also helpful, and visitors can read their in-house newsletter and learn about upcoming conferences and lectures.
[KMG]
To find this resource and more high-quality online resources in math and science visit Scout's sister site - AMSER, the Applied Math and Science Educational Repository at
http://amser.org.
http://www.smithsonianeducation.org/heritage_month/hhm/index.html
Hispanic Heritage Month spans the latter half of September and the first half of October, and this Smithsonian Education website provides information about this celebration for educators, students, and others. First-time visitors should click on the "Virtual Tour" to get started. Starting with some lively music, the feature allows visitors to learn about Latino culture through a close look at important items from the Smithsonian's collections, along with a timeline and a quiz. Visitors can even create their own tour of the objects as well. Back on the homepage, the "Teaching Resources" area is one that shouldn't be missed. Here visitors can look over other relevant collections, including an exhibit from the National Postal Museum titled "Celebrating Hispanic Heritage" and "A Puerto Rican Carnival". Additionally, visitors can sign up to receive updates and look over a calendar of nationwide events. [KMG]
