·http://www.maa.org/math-competitions/teachers/curriculum-inspirations

The Mathematical Association of America (MAA) has created the Curriculum Inspirations collection to help "demonstrate practical ways to engage students in the lively exploration of mathematics and mathematical thinking." Here, educators will find essays of varying lengths and crafted by the well-known mathematics education expert, James Tanton. The "Ten Problem Solving Strategy Essays" are all gems and range from "Draw a Picture" to "Solve a Smaller Version of the Same Problem." Also, each essay provides useful links to supplemental teaching resources, such as short classroom activities. The site is rounded out with information about high school content standards and a short bio on Mr. Tanton himself. Interested visitors should make sure to register for free email updates when new material is added to the site. [KMG]

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·http://www.fourcenturies.org/

The history of furniture making provides an unusual glimpse into the early history of American material culture and folkways. This remarkable site unites eleven institutions with a shared interest in celebrating furniture-making in the Bay State, including the Colonial Society of Massachusetts, Historic Deerfield, and the Massachusetts Historical Society. Through a multitude of exhibitions and events, the site allows visitors to explore a detailed visual timeline of furniture making history, view great short videos profiling artisans and their techniques, and much more. Visitors will find the Explore & Learn area particularly engaging with the aforementioned timeline and notable furniture including a remarkable joined chest crafted in the late 17th century. Additionally, the Resources area contains links to museums and institutions with significant furniture holdings, along with a bibliography, and a list of prominent furniture makers. [KMG]

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·http://catena.bgc.bard.edu/

Have you ever wondered what Hadrian's Villa looked like? Or perhaps you'd like to know more about the Villa Arconati? If so, you would do well to explore this remarkable site sponsored by the Bard Graduate Center and offering a digital cornucopia of information on ten different villas and their landscape histories. Designed to serve as an educational tool for teachers and scholars, Catena's materials cover Featured Sites, Project Info, and Historical Documentation. Within Featured Sites, users will find each villa accompanied by an interpretive text, an interactive plan, historical documentation, and a short bibliography. The Historical Documentation area is especially noteworthy, as it contains over a dozen meditations by historical figures including Erasmus, Henry James, and Columella on matters related to the vast world of landscape and garden history. [KMG]

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·http://media.library.uiuc.edu/projects/ggm/

Over the past five decades, Gabriel Garcia Marquez has become one of the world's most well-known authors, receiving the 1982 Nobel Prize in Literature for his distinguished body of work. This rather remarkable bibliographic guide was crafted at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign by Nelly Sfeir v. de Gonzalez and complements a print volume of Marquez's work from 1947 to 2002. On the site, visitors can read an introduction to the work, read the dedication, and peruse the contents. The bibliography is divided into two parts, primary sources and secondary sources, and includes Audio-Visual Materials, Stories in Anthologies, Translations, Books on Gabriel Garcia Marquez, and Interviews. Additionally, each record contains information on the publisher, publication year, page, volume, issue, and in some cases a direct URL to the citation when available. [KMG]

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·http://www.compadre.org/informal/

The Physics to Go site invites the casual visitor to "explore physics on your own." Providing an assortment of great resources, it does just that. The site functions as a monthly mini-magazine and offers a collection of more than 1000 websites, physics images, and activities. A well-designed site, Physics to Go is divided into sections including Physics in Your World, From Physics Research, and Worth a Look. This last section is a fun place to start, as it offers up a realm of brief profiles such as "Johannes Kepler: The Laws of Planetary Motion" and "The Brightest Supernova Ever." If intrigued by these first two, visitors will love the dozens of additional profiles featured here. Additionally, the From Physics Research area contains profiles of current physics research, copiously illustrated, along with links to original research and commentary. If so desired, users can search the entire archive dating back to 2004. [KMG]

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·http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/night-at-the-opera/

This fine site was created by the Library of Congress to complement an in-situ exhibit of collected items related to the world of opera. The exhibit was also meant to commemorate the bicentennials of composers Giuseppe Verdi and Richard Wagner, both born in 1813. With sections featuring Richard Wagner and German Opera, Giuseppe Verdi and Italian Opera, and Beyond Verdi and Wagner, the collection is quite diverse and features a wide range of musical styles and periods. Each section contains several dozen documents, complemented by brief contextual passages and commentary. There are some exceptional finds here, including a souvenir libretto from the first production of Don Giovanni, an excerpt from the first edition full score of Lohengrin, and sheet music from Samuel Barber's Vanessa. [KMG]

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·http://www.bioedonline.org/videos/lecture-series/

If you are looking to pique your curiosity about the world of biology, BioEd Online will quickly become one of your favorite sites. Visitors can look over its slide sets, its engaging mini-courses, and even check out videos of gene splicing, human anatomy, and other topics. This specific corner of the BioEd Online site features archived lectures from past thematic events and series, including Evenings with Genetics, Science Concepts Explained, and Symposium for Space Life Science. Within Science Concepts Explained, there are a number of fun, short videos with engaging narrators explaining ideas like mass, density, and states of matter. The Your Brain is You series is another gem, with Dr. David Eagleman explaining the basics of brain function and how are brains define who we are. In many ways, this site offers a nice refresher on many key biological concepts; young and old will find much to engage their critical thinking skills. [KMG]

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·http://writing2.richmond.edu/writing/wweb.html

Created by the University of Richmond's Writing Center, the Writer's Web is a trove of publicly accessible materials on writing tips created by the faculty and students of this well-reputed institution. From the main page, visitors will find a dozen areas of note, including tips on Punctuation, Clarity & Style, and Documentation. Each area contains succinct and learned explanations on a range of materials, both analytical and content-focused. Within Peer Editing Ideas there are a number of strategies, including "Do's and Don'ts of Written Commentary" and "Avoiding Faculty 'Pet Peeves.'" The site is rounded out by a contact form and a short selection of external sites. Students, educators, and writing enthusiasts will find much to appreciate from this web of knowledge! [KMG]

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·http://geofunders.org

Grantmakers for Effective Organizations (GEO) makes it their mission to promote the strategies and practices that contribute to grantee success. To this end, the GEO website contains information about its outreach efforts, peer learning opportunities, conferences, and upcoming events. Within GEO Priorities visitors can learn about the organization's own development plan and long-term goals, while the GEO Publications area contains a raft of useful publications for policy types and others. Noteworthy publications, here, include "Many Hands, More Impact: Philanthropy's Role in Supporting Movements" and "Cracking the Network Code: Four Principles for Grantmakers." The Peer Learning Opportunities section is another great installment, containing links to helpful webinars, speaking engagement possibilities, and other useful resources. [KMG]

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·http://www2.cambridgema.gov/GIS/search.cfm?applicationid=CDDPub

What is the best way to experience the city of Cambridge, Massachusetts? You could read a history of Harvard University, take a walking tour, or perhaps browse a topical website. But why not look at the Cambridge CityViewer for edification? This unique tool "allows the public to view, query, mark up, and print custom maps using only a web browser." Notedly, the viewer works best with Internet Explorer or Mozilla Firefox. Visitors can check out ten different topical overlays, including those dealing with city parks, construction projects, land parcels, sewers, zoning, and traffic. There are many ways to get started, such as performing a simple search, an advanced search, or even just by typing in a street name and number. For anyone with an interest in urban history, planning, and land use, this site is a rare treat. [KMG]

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·http://www.mfa.org/exhibitions/john-singer-sargent-watercolors

The two US museums that own the largest collections of John Singer Sargent's work, the Museum of Fine Arts Boston and the Brooklyn Museum, have collaborated to mount this exhibition of over 90 Sargent watercolors. The accompanying website features a slideshow with 10 paintings, and several short videos. The first painting in the slideshow, Simplon Pass: Reading, about 1911, shows two young women dressed in white, lounging outdoors in the shade of their parasols. In one of the videos, art historian Richard Ormond, who is actually John Singer Sargent's great nephew, tells the story of one of the young women depicted, Rose-Marie Ormond, who was his aunt and Sargent's niece. "Meet the Master of Watercolor" is a video introduction to the exhibition with Museum Director Malcolm Rogers and curator Erica Hirshler, while "Learn Sargent's Technique" is a just-over-two-minute demo of Sargent's wet-on-wet painting, by artist Monika de Vries Gohlke. [DS]

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·http://www.library.wwu.edu/photo_cat_cpnws

The Center for Pacific Northwest Studies at Western Washington University brings together a host of scholars fascinated with the change and development in the Pacific Northwest region from the 1850s to the 1960s. With over 6,000 photographs, the collection covers everything from Native American culture and traditions to the Works Progress Administration's legacy in the state. Visitors will find Washington's Whatcom, Skagit, and Island counties quite well documented and first-time users can browse the Photograph Catalog for collections of select photographers and prominent individuals. The Ferd Brady collection contains a wonderful range of activities and cultural events that took place in La Connor, Washington during the 1930s and 1940s. Additionally, visitors can also search the entire collection by keyword or phrase. [KMG]

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·http://digital-archaeology.org/

What exactly is digital archaeology? It's the documentation of the "formative years of digital culture" and it all happens right here on this site. Digital Archaeology was unveiled in London as part of Internet Week Europe 2010, bringing together a selection of sites to promote the concept of digital preservation. The main focus here is "Error 404," an exhibition that celebrates the golden age of the website, complete with profiles of classic sites on the "hardware and software of their day." The homepage features such articles as "Digital Revolution at the Barbican" and "The Secret History of WiFi.' Visitors can also check out the latest tweets and of course the "Error 404" exhibition itself. The Archives and Tags sections provide another fun way to explore the site. [KMG]

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·http://www.nws.noaa.gov/com/weatherreadynation

The focus of NOAA's Weather-Ready Nation website is to build community "resilience in the face of increasing vulnerability to extreme weather and water events." On the site, visitors can make their way through sections that include Events, Resources, Be a Force of Nature, and Are you Weather-Ready? This last area is a great public resource for those looking to get ready for extreme weather, including heat waves, floods, and tsunamis. A good way to get a flavor of the site's general offerings is via its news feed and social media postings, all of which are available from the homepage. Finally, the Resources area contains links to helpful webtools, apps, and fact sheets. [KMG]

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·http://www.cbc.ca/archives/onthisday/november.html

The Canadian Broadcasting Company (CBC) celebrates and documents all aspects of Canadian life and its online resources are most useful and entertaining. This corner of its Digital Archives site, On This Day, is definitely worth a close look. From here, visitors can scan 366 days of key moments in Canadian history. Each day has a particularly unique event, complete with a short video clip, a Did You Know? bonus feature, credits, and a citation. If so desired, visitors can search all of the features via the "All Clips From This Topic" tab. December is a particularly rich month as it includes investigations into the ban on happy hours in Ontario and the canonization of the first Canadian-born saint. [KMG]

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·http://www.lib.umich.edu/online-exhibits/exhibits/show/johndepol

The incredible wood engravings of John DePol are the focus of this online exhibit offered by the University of Michigan Library. The site was crafted to complement an in-situ exhibit in the Special Collections area of the Hatcher Graduate Library. DePol was born in New York in 1913 and began sketching everyday scenes in the neighborhoods in which he lived and worked. By the 1940s, he had become most interested in wood engraving as his primary printing medium, continuing to pursue this passion for almost 60 years. Visitors can learn more about DePol via his Biographical Sketch or take a look at his book illustrations and pattern papers. "California Flora," published in 1995, is a lovely featured item. It's worth noting that visitors can zoom in and out to get various interpretations of scale that inspire and delight. [KMG]

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·http://www.surfly.com/

Have you ever tried to give a friend specific instructions for what to do and where to go on a website? Perhaps you wanted to show them a series of navigations but were unsure about how to tell them using written instructions. Surfly makes helping from a distance possible, "by showing what to do from your perspective." After registering on the site, visitors can create a unique URL that contains all of the navigation details involved with a set of site explorations. It's a great way to collaborate and share information with family, friends, or work colleagues. This version is compatible with all operating systems. [KMG]

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·https://infinit.io/

What's the easiest way to send files? That's the type of question that might start some serious online discussion. Infinit offers one of the easiest ways to complete such a task with an intuitive and well-thought out interface system. First-time visitors can take an online tour to get started and learn how to both accept and transfer files. Users can also learn about all of Infinit's various features, share feedback with other users, and send suggestions for future improvements to the program. This version is compatible with all operating systems. [KMG]

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U.S. students lag around average on international science, math and reading test
http://m.washingtonpost.com/local/education/us-students-lag-around-average-on-international-science-math-and-reading-test/2013/12/02/2e510f26-5b92-11e3-a49b-90a0e156254b_story.html

BBC News: Pisa tests: UK stagnates as Shanghai tops league table
http://m.bbc.co.uk/news/education-25187997

PISA: Results from the 2012 data collection
http://www.oecd.org/pisa/

Why Asian teens do better on tests than US teens
http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Latest-News-Wires/2013/1203/Why-Asian-teens-do-better-on-tests-than-US-teens

NEA: The 10 Best STEM Resources
http://www.nea.org/tools/lessons/stem-resources.html

PBS Teachers: STEM Education Resource Center
http://www.pbs.org/teachers/stem/

In recent years, there has been growing concern over the science and mathematics abilities of American students. Some commentators attribute this to a decline in public school education, while others note that summary scores tell us nothing of testing discrepancies according to social class, gender, or race. This Tuesday, the results of the most recent Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) were released, seemingly confirming some of these concerns. The results indicated that while U.S. teenagers scored slightly above average in reading, their scores remained average in science and below average in math when compared to the other 64 participating countries in the fall 2012 PISA assessment. Commenting on these results, Jack Buckely of the Natioanl Center for Education Statistics noted that, "?our ranking is slipping because a lot of these other countries are improving." Overall, Shanghai dominated the exam (China does not participate as a country, but is represented by cities such as Shanghai and Hong Kong), occupying the top slot in all three subjects. Additionally, other countries made significant improvements over their previous PISA results, including Germany, Poland, and Vietnam. [KMG]

The first link will take visitors to a piece from this Tuesday's Washington Post about the PISA results. The second link will take interested parties to a bit of reporting from the BBC discussing how regions compare to one another. The third link offers the official homepage for PISA, which is coordinated and administered by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. Moving on, visitors can read over a meditation on why Asian teens do better on these tests than teens in the US, courtesy of the Christian Science Monitor. The fifth link leads to a fine top ten list of STEM resources crafted by the National Education Association. Finally, visitors can explore another set of great STEM resources, courtesy of PBS.