The Scout Report -- Volume 21, Number 48

This excellent, seven-part lesson from PBS LearningMedia introduces students to the Five Pillars of Islam, the based duties that guide muslim daily life. The plan includes a pithy overview, a list of objectives, the appropriate grade level (fifth through twelfth), and the suggested time (three or four 45-minute class sessions). In addition, the site links to Media Resources, including short QuickTime video clips on Muslim prayer, Islamic Celebrations, and other topics, and informative Web Sites, such as the BBC's treatment of Islam's Customs (the Five Pillars). The lesson begins with an Introductory Activity, moves into five learning activities, and finishes with a culminating activity. By the end, students should be able to identify and understand the Muslim religious practices of belief, worship, fasting, almsgiving, and pilgrimage. [CNH]

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According the website, PE Central is "the most widely used Web site for health and physical education teachers, parents, and students." With over 2,000 physical education and health lesson plans and a slew of other resources, the site has much to offer health and PE teachers, as well as parents, guardians, and others concerned with the health of children. After scouting the lesson plans, readers might like to explore Assessment, Best Practices, Professional Development, and Class Management. In addition, the Videos tab is especially helpful, loaded as it is with more than 100 videos presenting everything from Ultimate Shadow Frisbee lessons to dances like the Happy Dance and the Cha Cha Challenge. [CNH]

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For educators tasked with the worthy job of explaining the science and ethics of stem cell research, this hub of resources funded by the European Council will come as a welcome support. Readers may like to begin with the excellent information on the landing page, including the interactive web comic, Hope Beyond Hope, which explains the process that researchers move through as they take their stem cell research from ideas to clinical trials to therapies. From there, educators may like to scout the Resources & Media tab, where they will find lesson plans, videos, images, and a resource directory. In addition, under the category of About Stem Cells, readers will find fact sheets, a FAQ, and links to resources around the web. EuroStemCell is an information packed site, for educators or for anyone interested in learning more about the science and policy of stem cell research.[CNH]

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The University at Buffalo's National Center for Case Study Teaching in Science is a well-known resource in the promotion, development, and dissemination of case teaching methods and practices, offering users access to an award-winning collection of peer-reviewed case studies. This case study, written by biologist Karen M. Aguirre, introduces students to the 19th century physician E.L. Trudeau and his quest to mitigate the deadly outcomes of tuberculosis. The study itself is available as a downloadable PDF and is divided into two parts. Part one presents an autobiography of Dr. Trudeau, including what led to his prescriptions of nature, isolation, diet, and exercise for the treatment of TB. This section culminates in nine provocative questions, including "Do Dr. Trudeau's results support the theory of the germ theory of infection?" The second section of the case study then examines the social context of tuberculosis treatment throughout history and features an excellent line graph depicting the increasing efficacy of treatments. Teaching Notes and an Answer Key are also available here. For educators teaching the history of epidemiology, this case study will provide rich material. [CNH]

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These freely available and downloadable writing guides from the Harvard Writing Project may be a valuable resource for high school and university educators working with students who need help bringing their composition skills to the next level. The page is divided into five types of guides, including Brief Guides to Writing in the Disciplines, Course-Specific Writing Guides, Disciplinary Writing Guides, Gen Ed Writing Guides, and Senior Writing Guides. Readers will want to navigate the site based on their needs and interests. For instance, educators teaching psychology will find an excellent primer (Writing for Psychology: A Guide for Psychology Concentrators) composed by five experienced academic psychologists. Perhaps the most useful category, however, is Brief Guides, which features concise primers for how to write papers in the subjects of history, philosophy, English, and psychology.[CNH]

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This online educational resource, presented by Steven Van Zandt's Rock and Roll Forever Foundation, is interdisciplinary and designed for middle and high school students. On the landing page, educators will find an introduction to the site, a featured lesson, and several featured resources. From there, readers may like to delve into the Curriculum section, which tells the story of Rock and Roll in America through four books: Birth of Rock, Teenage Rebellion, Transformation, and Fragmentation. Each book is comprised of comprehensive chapters outlining the history and social importance of rock music, from its origins in blues to its development into everything from heavy metal to hip hop. Readers may also enjoy the Resources section, with links to other online rock and roll information, or the section For Teachers, which outlines the site's teaching philosophy, suggestions for classroom use, and other helpful elements. [CNH]

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The North Dakota Studies website, sponsored and organized by the State Historical Society of North Dakota, offers wonderful insight into the history, culture, and geography of the Peace Garden State. The landing page opens with numerous topics of interest, from Energy to North Dakota Indian Studies to a beautiful, all-ages-course entitled North Dakota: People Living on the Land. From there, educators will want to scout the site according to their curriculum needs. There are tabs dedicated to 4th grade, 8th grade, and high school, each of which boasts a wealth of textbooks, activities, links, maps, and other resources on agriculture, geography, climate, geology, and early settlement. The site also includes an excellent Teacher Resources tab, where readers will find lesson plans, North Dakota studies links, and other helpful bits of information.[CNH]

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With Women's History Month coming up in March, many educators will be planning lessons to honor the legacy of leaders who have helped shape the United States and other nations. This site, from the National Education Association (NEA), can help. Here educators will find resources for three age groups, including elementary school (Grades K-5), middle school (Grades 6-8), and high school (Grades 9-12). Each section is bursting with lessons, activities, tools, background information, links, quizzes, printables, videos, and other resources. For instance, the Grades K-5 section includes lesson plans on women jazz artists, suffrage strategies, and women's contributions to World War II, as well as crossword puzzles, primary sources, and a fascinating link to Notable Speeches and Addresses by U.S. Women, 1849-present.[CNH]

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This excellent, interactive site, which won a Webby Award and an award from the American Association of School Librarians, takes students on a journey - into garbage. Along the way, young readers learn which items should be reused or recycled, and which should be composted. Each time a student drags a piece of trash (or a banana peel, or a can) to the right receptacle, an interesting fact appears on the screen. For example, putting the plastic bottle in the recycling calls up this bit of trivia: Americans make enough plastic each year to shrink wrap Texas. Putting an item in the wrong bin produces comical results. A fun and engaging site, young readers will learn important lessons about our trash, and our world. [CNH]

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The Suicide Prevention Resource Center is a federally funded resource that adheres to the Surgeon General recommended National Strategy for Suicide Prevention. Readers will find a wealth of resources on the site. After browsing the information-packed landing page, they may like to review the Suicide Prevention Basics tab, which includes graphs, charts, maps, and articles that cover the Scope of the Problem, Taking Action to Prevent Suicide, and an excellent Glossary, among other topics. The Library & Resources tab also offers excellent educational materials. Readers may search the impressive library, using an advanced search function with dozens of filters, including different populations, settings, and programmatic issues, while the Resources section organizes the same topics in list form for easy scouting. [CNH]

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The Hagley Digital Archives offers readers access to "collections of images, documents, and publications related to the history of business, technology, and society." Readers unfamiliar with the collection may want to begin by selecting "Browse a list of digital collections," which navigates to a selection of dozens of topics, including American Iron and Steel Institute Photographs, Workplace Posters of the United States, Postcards of Railroad Stations, and many others. Each section features a number of related resources. For instance, selecting Sewing Machine Times, pulls up a number of issues of this bi-monthly trade journal, which was published between 1891 and 1911, and includes articles, news stories, information on new products, employment notices, and advertisements for new and innovative equipment. [CNH]

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Courtesy of the National Center for Families Learning, this site "walks the line between formal and informal education," creating experiences that highlight that "wonder is for everyone." Readers may like to begin by scouting the homepage, where they will find some recent wonders from the wonderopolis community, such as How Do Hearing Aids Work? and Do Snakes Have Ears? Selecting one of these wonders calls up a page with erudite answers. For instance, What Do Bees Do in Winter? calls up a 2-minute Vimeo video on winter bee feeding and an article that carefully answers the question. In addition, the article features highlighted words that are defined right on the page. In addition, readers may add a question to the wonderbank and use the search function under the Explore Wonders tab to filter the 1,500+ wonders that users have already submitted. [CNH]

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The 36-year Guatemalan Civil War, which ran from November 1960 to December 1996, claimed the lives of approximately 200,000 civilians. This site at the University of Texas Library includes thousands of scanned primary sources and commentaries that elucidate the repressive acts of an American-sponsored military dictatorship that went to war with its citizens. Readers may like to begin with the five-minute video at the bottom of the landing page, which portrays the archiving process and digitization that led to the current site. From there, they may like to scout the nearly 500-page tome, From Silence to Memory: Revelations of the AHPN, Carlos Aguirre's erudite treatment of the archives, which includes chapters on the Structure and Functions of the National Police, 1975-1985, Relations Between the State Security Forces, and other informative explanations of how this decades long genocide was carried out. [CNH]

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Drawing from the collections of the Austrian Film Museum, the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, and the Ludwig Boltzmann Institute for History and Society, the Ephemeral Films Project: National Socialism in Austria has digitized and annotated 50 ephemeral films from the Nazi occupation of Austria. Ephemeral films - that is films "with a limited purpose" that "were not meant to endure" - include "amateur, institutional, industrial, and educational" snippets that provide rich insight into Austria before and during the German occupation. The innovation behind this project, and what makes it unique, is the fact that these films are annotated scene by scene, with maps and current photographic overlay. Readers may peruse the How-To Guide before moving on to Explore Films where they may view the films themselves, time capsules that display a complex and lost world. [CNH]

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For lovers of the Indian Subcontinent, the archives of The Hindu provide a virtual treasure trove of news, opinion, investigative journalism, and ephemera. The archive is divided into Web content, which dates back to 2009, and Print content, which dates to January of 2000. From the landing page, readers may select a month and then a day. From there, they may scout the relevant articles. On January 1, 2000, for instance, the headlines included an article about Boris Yeltsin's resignation, and his appointment of a then little-known former KGB operative, Vladimir Putin, as his replacement. Meanwhile, the September 14, 2012 issue included four articles on horse racing, a strike against rising diesel prices in Kerala, and a recipe for Kachumber salad. [CNH]

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Have you ever wanted to track down all the web apps and online accounts that have your personal information and just remove yourself? JustDelete.Me helps readers do just that. The service features a giant list of the web's most popular apps and services with links so that you can delete your account. In addition, the site categorizes services into four categories by how difficult it is to remove yourself. Green means it's easy, yellow signifies a service that requires a few additional steps, red indicates that the account cannot be deleted without contacting customer service, and the black code, which is thankfully rare, marks an account that cannot be deleted. In addition, readers may install the associated Chrome Extension, which alerts readers to when they are on a page that is listed on the JustDelete.Me site and then takes readers through the deletion process. [CNH]

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Icon lovers rejoice, the Noun Project, which is easily searchable and visually pleasing, is a virtual repository for icons of all kinds - over 100,000 of them and counting. A web-based service, it was founded in Los Angeles in 2010 with $14,000 in Kickstarter donations and a dream to "simplify communication, across borders and around the world." Looking for the perfect representation of a tree? Browse the 2,098 possible options. Do you need a phone booth image? There are 4,441 phone booth icons from which you may choose. Icons are downloadable with a free membership, as long as you credit the creator. Readers who would like to waive the attribution requirement may pay $10 per month. Downloads are easy: simply select the desired icon and choose either PNG or SVG file. The Noun Project will do the rest. [CNH]

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