findingEducation’s Digital Teachers’ LoungeTips and insights from the findingEducation team.

Test your students’ knowledge of the notable events covered in findingDulcinea’s “On This Day” column this week with Quiztory. It makes a fun extra credit assignment.

1. When Hiram Bingham discovered Machu Picchu, what mythical city did he think he might have discovered?

2. How many Concorde jets were built before the jets were retired?

3. How did Wells Fargo detective James B. Hume track down “Black Bart”?

4. The Empire State Building was constructed as a competition between which two men?

5. What was considered the de facto motto of the United States prior to 1955?

What’s Coming Up?

Next week, “On This Day” will examine the discovery of Machu Picchu, the Air France Concorde crash, the first prosecuted computer hacker and the explosion at Atlanta’s Olympic Park. We’ll also take a look at the Empire State Building airplane crash, the USS Forrestal fire and the adoption of “In God We Trust” as the motto of the United States.

Subject: History, Other History, Social Studies, U.S. Government, U.S. History, World History
Tags: Quiztory

J. Scott Applewhite/AP
The Library of Congress on Capitol Hill in Washington.

Explore some of the most significant libraries from the ancient and modern world, including the largest, the oldest and the most technologically advanced, as well as those with unique collections, architecture or locations.

Great Libraries of the Past

Perhaps one of the best-known libraries of ancient times is the Library of Alexandria. Founded in 228 B.C. in Alexandria, Egypt, this library housed 700,000 scrolls. Many famous thinkers of the time studied or worked in the library, including the astronomers Aristarchus and Eratosthenes, the poet Callimachus, the mathematician Euclid, the scientist Herophilus and the historian Manetho. The library survived for six centuries, but slowly disappeared after a fire and numerous invasions and wars. The library was gone by 400 A.D. But after years of scholars pushing for the revival of the great library, on Oct. 16, 2002, Egypt celebrated the opening of the New Library of Alexandria, designed to rival the original.

About a hundred years after the great Library of Alexandra was formed, another great library was established. After the ruler of Egypt banned the export of papyrus (the plant used to make paper), it is thought that parchment was developed in the city of Pergamum—in modern-day Turkey—which made possible the copying of books outside of Egypt, and the development of the Library at Pergamum. According to Encyclopedia Britannica, eventually the library, along with the entire city, was turned over to Rome, and some think that its collection was given to Cleopatra to become part of the Library of Alexandria.

Predating the libraries at Pergamum and Alexandria was the Library of King Ashurbanipal at the city of Nineveh. In the 600s B.C., Ashurbanipal established a great library housing tens of thousands of cuneiform tablets. The library had many of the same characteristics of a modern library; for example texts, were organized by subject matter, government documents were also held in the library and there were citations explaining what sets of tablets and rooms contained. Eventually the library was buried during an invasion, and although Ashurbanipal’s library was not the first library, it was one of the largest of its time, and one of the first libraries to implement cataloging as we use today.

(more…)

Subject: Uncategorized
Tags: Sites to Bookmark

Did you take the Quiztory last week? Now it’s time to check your answers:

1. What marked the beginning of the Russian Civil War? The Treaty of Brest-Litovsk

2. Where did Hitler write “Mein Kampf?” His private cell in Landsberg prison

3. Who said that it “were better that ten suspected witches should escape than one innocent person should be condemned.” Increase Mather

4. How many Apollo missions were launched before the Apollo 11 crew touched down on the moon in 1969? Five

5. After the 12th Street riot in Detroit in 1967, to what did the Detroit mayor compare the damage in his city? Berlin in 1945

Subject: History, Other History, Social Studies, U.S. Government, U.S. History, World History
Tags: Quiztory, The Answer Sheet

Test your students’ knowledge of the notable events covered in findingDulcinea’s “On This Day” column this week with Quiztory. It makes a fun extra credit assignment.

1. What marked the beginning of the Russian Civil War?

2. Where did Hitler write “Mein Kampf?”

3. Who said that it “were better that ten suspected witches should escape than one innocent person should be condemned.”

4. How many Apollo missions were launched before the Apollo 11 crew touched down on the moon in 1969?

5. After the 12th Street riot in Detroit in 1967, to what did the Detroit mayor compare the damage in his city?

What’s Coming Up?

Next week, “On This Day” will examine the discovery of Machu Picchu, the Air France Concorde crash, the first prosecuted computer hacker and the explosion at Atlanta’s Olympic Park. We’ll also take a look at the Empire State Building airplane crash, the USS Forrestal fire and the adoption of “In God We Trust” as the motto of the United States.

Subject: History, Other History, Social Studies, U.S. Government, U.S. History, World History
Tags: Quiztory

Unlike the arts, Math has struggled to find its place in Web 2.0 communities—until now. Maria Droujkova has developed Natural Math and Math 2.0, “math programs in which learning takes place within communities and networks,” according to Joann Agnitti for EdLabs at Columbia University Teachers College.

Droujkova’s programs combine math with social networking, and encompass “five dimensions,” such as “humanistic mathematics” and “the psychology of mathematics learning and education.” Agnitti calls these combinations “mashups” that allow math to “tell a story,” and help quell math anxiety with psychology.

Natural Math is a colorful site with a children’s storybook quality. Users can peruse member profiles, discuss math in the community forums, and participate in online math clubs and math chats.

(more…)

Subject: Algebra, Calculus, Geometry, Math, Other Math, Statistics, Trigonometry
Tags: Sites to Bookmark

Did you take the Quiztory last week? Now it’s time to check your answers:

1. What did Yankee Stadium become known as during Babe Ruth’s time with the Yankees? “The House That Ruth Built”

2. Who felt that medals of honor were a bad idea during the civil war? Winfield Scott, general-in-chief of the Army

3. Who was targeted during the New York draft riots of 1863? Blacks and those who helped or defended blacks

4. Before the National Socialist German Workers Party was declared the only political party in Germany, what was the remaining political party? Catholic Centre Party

5. What did J. Robert Oppenheimer call the first detonation of an atomic bomb in the U.S.? The “Trinity” Test

Subject: History, Other History, Social Studies, U.S. Government, U.S. History, World History
Tags: Quiztory, The Answer Sheet

Test your students’ knowledge of the notable events covered in findingDulcinea’s “On This Day” column this week with Quiztory. It makes a fun extra credit assignment.

1. What did Yankee Stadium become known as during Babe Ruth’s time with the Yankees?

2. Who felt that medals of honor were a bad idea during the civil war?

3. Who was targeted during the New York draft riots of 1863?

4. Before the National Socialist German Workers Party was declared the only political party in Germany, what was the remaining political party?

5. What did J. Robert Oppenheimer call the first detonation of an atomic bomb in the U.S.?

What’s Coming Up?

Next week, “On This Day” will examine the execution of Czar Nicholas II, Hitler’s “Mein Kampf,” the Salem Witchcraft trials and Wild Bill Hickok. We’ll also take a look at the first moon walk, John Dillinger and the 12th Street riot in Detroit.

Subject: History, Other History, Social Studies, U.S. Government, U.S. History, World History
Tags: Quiztory

Looking for a way to keep your mind sharp while on summer vacation? Exercise your brain with online lectures. We’ve tracked down a few notable professors who have extended their spheres of influence beyond their classroom doors.

Physics in Action

Life Lessons

Stargazing

Where Great Minds Think Alike (or Not)

Subject: Uncategorized
Tags: Sites to Bookmark

Did you take the Quiztory last week? Now it’s time to check your answers:

1. After the USS Vincennes shot down Iran Air Flight 655, the United States agreed to pay compensation to victims’ families on what basis? “Ex gratia”

2. On July 19, the final draft of the Declaration of Independence was sent where? For engrossing

3. Who opened Sun Studio? Sam Phillips

4. Which two men devised UFO classification methods? Dr. J. Allen Hynek and Jacques Vallee

5. Which amendment granted blacks the right to vote? The 15th Amendment

Subject: History, Other History, Social Studies, U.S. Government, U.S. History, World History
Tags: Quiztory, The Answer Sheet

Test your students’ knowledge of the notable events covered in findingDulcinea’s “On This Day” column this week with Quiztory. It makes a fun extra credit assignment.

1. After the USS Vincennes shot down Iran Air Flight 655, the United States agreed to pay compensation to victims’ families on what basis?

2. On July 19, the final draft of the Declaration of Independence was sent where?

3. Who opened Sun Studio?

4. Which two men devised UFO classification methods?

5. Which amendment granted blacks the right to vote?

What’s Coming Up?

Next week, “On This Day” will examine the New York draft riots of 1863, the Nazis, protests in 1927 Vienna and the U.S. detonation of the world’s first atomic bomb. We’ll also take a look at Donald Crowhurst, Babe Ruth and “Disco Demolition Night.”

Subject: History, Other History, Social Studies, U.S. Government, U.S. History, World History
Tags: Quiztory