40 more maps that explain the world

BY MAX FISHER

Maps seemed to be everywhere in 2013, a trend I like to think we encouraged along with August’s 40 maps that explain the world. Maps can be a remarkably powerful tool for understanding the world and how it works, but they show only what you ask them to. You might consider this, then, a collection of maps meant to inspire your inner map nerd. I’ve searched far and wide for maps that can reveal and surprise and inform in ways that the daily headlines might not, with a careful eye for sourcing and detail. I’ve included a link for more information on just about every one. Enjoy.
1. Where the world’s people live, by economic status

Those dots represent people: the brighter the dot, the more people. The color shows their country’s average income level: blue is richest and yellow is poorest. I want to start with this map because it’s a reminder that the world is first and foremost made up of people; to me, the best maps are primarily about showing us people, not politics or geography. It’s also a way of looking at the divisions in the world other than by political borders; that’s a theme we’ll come back to. (One caveat to this map: it doesn’t show economic variations within countries, just the national averages.)

2. How humans spread across the world

Human beings first left Africa about 60,000 years ago in a series of waves that peopled the globe. This map shows where those waves of migration went and when they occurred (the “40K” over Europe means humans arrived there about 40,000 years ago). You can see that humans have the most history in the Middle East, India and of course Africa itself (the map does not show the much longer history of migration within Africa). We are relative newcomers to the Americas, one of the reasons it has not until very recently been as densely populated as other parts of the world.

3. When the Mongols took over the known world

The Mongol conquests are difficult to fathom. Although their most important technology was the horse, they conquered much of the known world from China to Europe, a series of wars that killed tens of millions of people, then a substantial chunk of the world’s population. The Mongols also established what may well have been the largest empire in history until the British surpassed them six long centuries later. It’s difficult to understate how much we still feel their impact today; the country we know of today as Iraq has never fully recovered from the 1258 sacking of Baghdad, which until then had been a center of global wealth and knowledge.

4. When Spain and Portugal dominated the world

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This map shows the Spanish and Portuguese empires at their height. They didn’t hold all of this territory concurrently, but they were most powerful from 1580 to 1640, when they were politically unified. Portugal would later pick up more territory in Africa, not shown on the map. We often forget that Spain controlled big parts of Europe, in Italy and the Netherlands. In the Middle Ages, Spain and Portugal were so powerful that they signed a set of treaties literally dividing up the globe between them. They became so rich so quickly that their trade with the Ottoman Empire, perhaps the other great imperial power of the time, filled the Ottoman economy with more gold than it could handle and plunged it economy into an inflationary crisis so severe that the empire never fully recovered.

5. Major shipping routes in the colonial era
Data source: Climatological Database for the World’s Oceans (James Cheshire)

This map shows British, Dutch and Spanish shipping routes from 1750 to 1800. It’s been created from newly digitized logbooks of European ships during this period. (Unfortunately, the French data is not shown.) These lines are the contours of empire and of European colonialism, yes, but they’re also the first intimations of the global trade and transportation system that are still with us today. This was the flattening of the world, for better and for worse.

 

6. Actual European discoveries

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Click to enlarge.

(Bill Rankin/Radical Cartography)

Americans have mostly come around to accept that, despite what our grade school teachers may have told us, Europeans did not “discover” America; the original arrivals had done that 15,000 years earlier. But Europeans did discover lots of land that had never been before seen by human eyes. You can, embedded in this map, see successive waves of European exploration: first the Portuguese, then the Spanish, then the British and much later the Americans. The map’s creator, the always-insightful Bill Rankin, writes, “this map particularly underscores the maritime expertise of Pacific Islanders. Unlike the islands of the Atlantic and Indian Oceans, nearly all of the Pacific was settled by the 14th century.”
7. How countries compare on economic inequality

Bluer countries have better income equality. Redder countries are more unequal. Data: CGDev, DIIS (Max Fisher / Washington Post)

Yes, the United States has worse income inequality than Nigeria. That’s according to a metric called the Palma Ratio that measures economic inequality. Read more here about how the metric works and the fascinating results of using it to compare the world’s countries.

8. If the polar ice caps completely melted

Click to enlarge. (National Geographic © September 2013 National Geographic Society / Full source info here)

It’s not clear precisely when the polar ice caps will melt completely. But if and when they do, sea levels will rise by 216 feet. This map shows what the world would look like then. Given how many people live near coastlines today, that’s not good. You can see National Geographic’s wonderful, full interactive here.

9. Where the world’s 30 million slaves live

Share of each country’s population that is enslaved. Data source: Walk Free Global Slavery Index. (Max Fisher/Washington Post)

This is not some soft, liberal, by-modern-standards definition of slavery. This is slavery. There are 30 million people living today as forced laborers, forced prostitutes, child soldiers, child brides in forced marriages or other forms of property. There are 60,000 right here in the United States – yes, really. This map shows the proportion of each country that is enslaved. It’s highest in Mauritania, a shocking four percent, due in part to social norms tolerating the practice. A little more than one percent of people in India are enslaved, which translates to 14 million Indians living as slaves today. You can see the breakdown by numbers of slaves here.
10. Our globalized economy: What it takes to make nutella

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Click to enlarge. (OECD)

Put this map alongside No. 5 above, of European colonial-era shipping routes. This is the end product of today’s ultra-globalized economy. A simple jar of Nutella requires natural resources from four continents, vast manufacturing facilities in entirely different countries and a supply and distribution chain that spans the globe.

11. Where populations are growing and shrinking

The world is in for some major demographic changes over the next generation or two. Populations are booming in Africa, growing faster than ever before, just as they’re slowing in Asia and outright shrinking in Japan and Eastern Europe. What’s most interesting about these population changes is what demographers say they will mean for the world’s political and economic future. For more, read: The amazing, surprising, Africa-driven demographic future of the Earth, in 9 charts.

The world is in for some major demographic changes over the next generation or two. Populations are booming in Africa, growing faster than ever before, just as they’re slowing in Asia and outright shrinking in Japan and Eastern Europe. What’s most interesting about these population changes is what demographers say they will mean for the world’s political and economic future. For more, read: The amazing, surprising, Africa-driven demographic future of the Earth, in 9 charts.

12. Walls of the world

A French non-governmental organization put together this map of the world’s major physical barriers – its most consequential walls. The red lines indicate walls and barriers meant to prevent or control immigration; you see a number of those particularly where there are rich countries next to poorer countries. The green walls are mostly political barriers, such as the 1,700-mile-long “Moroccan Wall” dividing Morocco-occupied Western Sahara, the West Bank separation barrier and the Korean demilitarized zone. No single map of something this controversial and sensitive is ever going to satisfy everyone, but it’s a fascinating glimpse into why and where we choose to limit human movement.

13. The Arctic land grab

As the polar ice caps melt, it’s creating something that the world hasn’t seen in a long time: vast, unclaimed territory. That territory also happens to include oil and other natural resources, as well as valuable trade routes. Five countries are competing to claim the new land: Canada, Russia, Norway, Denmark and the United States. How the Arctic land-grab resolves is so potentially important that even Canada is getting much more assertive.

 

14. Who wins Nobel prizes (and who doesn’t)

It’s no secret that Europeans and Americans win most Nobel prizes. But just how much more is pretty astounding. When I looked into how the Nobel prizes have broken down over their century-plus history, I was surprised by the results, which you can see here illustrated in maps and charts. One of several facts from the data: More than one in every three Nobel laureates is from the United States. Put another way, the United States has 4 percent of the world’s population and 34 percent of its Nobel laureates.

15. The 17 countries that could have housing bubbles

You probably remember the U.S. housing bubble burst of 2007 (it was pretty memorable). According to a recent economic estimate, a full 17 countries could face potential housing bubbles today. Alarmingly, that includes China, the world’s second-largest economy. Read more here on the countries at risk and what could happen if they burst.

16. The happiest and least happy countries

A recent study conducted by the United Nations and Columbia University attempted to infer happiness measuring a series of social metrics and survey results. Some of the results are unsurprising: wealth, health, political stability and economic equality all appear to coincide with happiness. But there are some real surprises in the data. Latin America and the Caribbean are, by this measure, the happiest on average in the world. Here’s why that might be and more lessons from the data.

17. All terror attacks worldwide in 2012

This study by the University of Maryland-based National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism tracked every single terrorist attack in 2012 (the most recent year for which all data was available). This should drive home how remarkably safe Americans are from terrorism today. It drives home who the real victims of terrorism are. And it reveals some of the global hotspots for terrorist activity and all the instability and mayhem that can bring. Some readers might be surprised to see how much terrorism there is, for example, in Nigeria, in Kenya and most especially in eastern India, where the Maoist “Naxalite” insurgency has been wreaking havoc for almost 50 years.

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THE AMERICAS

18. North America’s languages, before colonialism

This a remarkable reminder of the diversity and cultural richness of North America before it was so completely transformed by the arrival of Europeans – to the terrible detriment of the societies that once proliferated here. It’s also a reminder that some of these societies had spread widely and established themselves deeply, despite the common American perception today of a mishmash of disparate and unconnected tribes.

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19. Where place names come from in the Americas

This map shows the origin language for place names in the Americas. For example, the word “Texas” comes from the Caddoan language, of the Caddo people who lived in what is today East Texas. It’s a fascinating lens into the Americas’ history, of which Europeans arrived or conquered where, as well as a legacy of the people who lived here first. Bill Rankin, the map’s creator,has this chestnut: “‘Huron’ derives from a French slur for the hairy natives (it shares a root with ‘hirsute.’)”

20. American ancestry by county

This map, which shows the dominant ancestry in each U.S. county, is a wonderful show of American diversity and a living museum of America’s history of immigration, voluntary as well as forced. There are countless stories embedded in this map, and not just American stories. Much of this immigration was driven by far-away wars, economic catastrophes, famines or other major historical events, most especially the trans-Atlantic slave trade. In that sense, America’s diversity – like this map showing it – is a global story.

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21. What territory Mexican drug cartels control

This infographic shows which Mexican drug cartels control what territory. It’s a staggering indication of how powerful these groups have become, as well as a glimpse into the vast cartel economy they collectively run – one in which territory is especially important.

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AFRICA

22. The empires of Africa, before colonialism

This map of indigenous African empires is not exhaustive. It spans two thousands years from 500 B.C. to 1500 A.D., so these empires were not concurrent; some existed centuries apart. But it shows that, like with North America and perhaps even more so, sub-Saharan Africa was rich with vast and powerful empires long before the Europeans arrived. (One of the biggest, Ethiopia, was actually unusually and perhaps uniquely successful in resisting European imperialism.) The Songhai Empire, at its peak in the 14th century, was a global center of culture and learning, based in the still-famous mosques of Timbuktu.

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23. What Africa might look like if it had never been colonized

Historical counterfactuals aren’t much more than informed speculation, but this one is still awfully interesting. Made by the Swedish artist Nikolaj Cyon, the map asks what Africa would look like today if colonialism had never happened. (Africa’s present-day borders were determined largely by colonialism, which continues to create lots of very big problems.) Cyon drew these boundaries based on a study of political and tribal units in 1844, the eve of Europe’s “scramble for Africa.” He oriented it with south at the top to subvert the traditional Europe-on-top orientation. You can see it here with north on the top, if that’s easier for you to read.

24. The amazingly diverse languages of Africa

This is another way of looking at and thinking about Africa’s divisions, without seeing them through the European-imposed colonial borders that we have today. Each shade is a language; each color is a group of languages. Yes, there are an awful lot of languages in Africa, reflecting the continent’s deep history and its diversity. You can see that a number of the borders, such as in Kenya or Cameroon or Nigeria, overlap big swathes of people who speak entirely different language families.

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EUROPE

25. Europe, as mapped by tweets

This shows tweets made in Europe in location and language between Oct. 23 and Nov. 30, 2012, with each language shown in a different color. It’s no surprise that more populous and richer countries have more tweets. But what’s most interesting is places where languages don’t quite line up with national borders. Look at all those German-language tweets in the parts of the Poland that once belonged to the German Empire. Or look at how Belgium seems to disappear, the French- and Dutch-speakers merging into France and the Netherlands. More on the findings here; click here for amuch larger version that shows the whole world and with the languages labeled.

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26. How the Barbarian Invasions reshaped Europe

Europe was completely reshaped in the third, fourth and fifth centuries. The Huns of far-Eastern Europe and Central Asia invaded Central Europe, destroying the Gothic kingdoms. Germanic tribes conquered much of Spain and North Africa. And, of course, the Visigoths of southeastern Europe sacked Rome in 410 A.D. All of this destroyed the Roman Imperial system, starting the dark ages. But it also sparked mass migrations throughout Europe that reshaped the continent in ways that are still with us.

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27. When the Vikings spread across Europe

A few hundred years later, the Vikings had their turn. We often forget just how far they spread. Red, orange and yellow shows areas under their control. Green shows areas where they frequently raided. The word “Russia” actually comes from the Rus tribe, who were descendants of Viking settlers. The “Vikings” who took over Sicily and southern Italy were actually Normans, Vikings who had conquered parts of Northern France, settled in, and then later sailed to Italy. Their descendants also included William the Conqueror.

28. World War II in Europe, day by day

This one speaks for itself and is a fascinating watch; there are countless stories embedded in these frames. If you enjoyed this, I would encourage you to watch this version that includes Asia and the Pacific as well.

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29. The word for “bear” in European languages

The Cold War taught us to think of Europe in terms of East-versus-West, but this map shows that it’s more complicated than that. Most Europeans speak Romance languages (orange countries), Germanic (pink) or Slavic (green), though there are some interesting exceptions.

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30. People who die trying to immigrate to Europe

This shows where and how people die trying to migrate into Europe. In October, when 300 would-be African immigrants to Europe died when their boat capsized off the Italian island of Lampedusa, it was seen as a sign ofhow dangerous and deadly migration paths into Europe had become. It’s a result of wide economic disparity between Africa and Europe as well as European policies to prevent immigration. It’s an ugly issue and, as this map shows, it kills many, many people every year.

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THE MIDDLE EAST

31. The Islamic states of the world, from 1450 to today

This doesn’t show all Muslim-majority countries – southeast Asia and parts of Africa aren’t included – but it does show the history of political borders and nation-states in most of the Islamic world from 1450 though today. You’ll notice themes of invasion and occupation, or empires rising and falling.

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32. The 1916 European treaty to carve up the Middle East

In 1916, French, British and Russian diplomats signed an agreement to divide up the Ottoman Empire into areas of direct control and “spheres of influence.” It’s easy to overstate how big of a role this treaty actually playedin designing modern Middle East borders; in many ways, those divisions had already organically occurred during Ottoman rule. Still, it did fall along the Middle East’s problematic present-day borders, and you hear about that a lot today, so here it is.

33. The religious lines dividing today’s Middle East

Religious distinctions are deeply important for many of the problems in today’s Middle East, particularly between Sunni and Shia Muslims in Syria and Iraq. This map shows not just that those divisions cross of national borders, but that they’re all over the place. This is one of many reasons why these conflicts can be so persistent.

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34. How the 1948 Arab-Israeli war helped lead to Israel’s borders

Lots of maps show Israel’s territory from the 1967 Israeli-Arab war to the present, but I thought I’d show this map from the country’s 1947 founding onward. The leftmost map shows, in blue, Israel as established by United Nations resolution in 1947. Red shows the initial Arab state; green is the Arab state after the 1949 armistice. The center map shows the first months of the 1948 Israeli-Arab war and the advance of Arab armies to retake what they saw as rightful Arab land. The right-most map shows the advance of Israeli armies in the latter half of that war. At the end of fighting, Israel occupied much of what is considered Israeli land today.

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ASIA

35. Percentage of Indian homes with toilets

India’s ongoing rise as a new economic powerhouse continues to be an amazing story. But much of the world’s second-most-populous country still lives in poverty or in otherwise difficult conditions. This map, created from census data by the designer Avinash Celestine, shows what percentage of families in each district have a toilet in their homes. As you can see, it’s less than half in huge swathes of the country, a reminder of how far India still has to go.

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36. The languages of China and the surrounding area

This map, for me, is a wonderful way to observe China’s very long history of expansion and consolidation. Remember that each shade is a different language. Even after thousands of years, Chinese itself remains remarkably diverse, particularly in the country’s dialect-rich southeast. And there are many entirely different language families: Mongolian in the north; the Turkic language Uighur in the West and; in southern Guangxi province, the Zhuang language that’s closer to Thai. This is another of Steve Huffman’s amazing creations; see a larger version here.

37. The WWII firebombing of Japan

This map shows each Japanese city that was bombed during World War II, an American city of equivalent size, and the percentage of the city estimated destroyed by the bombings. All Americans learn about the two atomic bombs the U.S. dropped on Japan at the end of the war, and we’re starting to become more aware of the firebombing campaigns that wiped out much of Germany, including civilians. But we are nowhere near confronting the U.S. firebombing of Japan, which killed several times as many people as the atomic bombs and devastated Japan’s wooden-constructed cities. By the time the war ended, 30 percent of the residents in Japan’s largest 60 cities were homeless.

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38. Territorial claims in the South China Sea

It’s no secret that China claims islands and maritime territory in the South China Sea that other countries see as theirs. But this map shows just how assertive China’s claim is – Beijing claims everything in red, a giant scoop of an area way, way beyond Chinese soil. China’s neighbors are very, very conscious of feeling a bit bullied, and this map shows why.

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39. The naval firepower in the Pacific

The Pacific Ocean, after being set on fire by World War II, is still heavily militarized. Japan, even though its U.S.-imposed constitution bans warfare and codifies pacifism, still has a pretty substantial navy. So does Russia, a legacy of the Cold War. And China’s is, of course, growing substantially. All of this combines with rising nationalism in East Asia, China’s not-misguided fear that the United States is attempting to contain them and growing concern about China itself.

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40. Every airline flight in the world over 24 hours

This map shows every airline flight around the world during a single 24-hour day, looped endlessly. To me, it’s the perfect way to end. Even with no borders, you can still see so much of how the world is shaped. Where people are connected and not, where they are wealthier and not, how and where people have made social and economic connections and how deep they go.

21 Pictures that will BLOW your mind…..I was amazed

Man vs. Machine: 4 Robotics Programs for STEM Classrooms

If robots are ever going to take over humanity, it’s going to be an uphill battle. Undoubtedly, the engineers who create them will be tough to match wits with, at least if they come from the STEM labs in our classrooms today.

Research shows that robotics is an effective tool for improving students’ 21st century skills. And teachers have taken note. In various school settings and across all grade levels, students are engaging in programs teaching them to design, build, and program their own bots. As they do, they are developing their creativity, collaboration, self-direction, and communication skills too. So whether you want to prepare your students to withstand the bionic revolution or hasten its coming, the following educational robotics programs will serve you well.

LEGO Mindstorms

When it comes to school robotics programs, LEGO Education is the big fish in a little pond. Their Mindstorms robotics package, designed for upper-elementary and middle school students, is a natural extension of a childhood love of LEGOs. A computer-based brick, specialized LEGO pieces, a swath of sensors, and programming software, Mindstorms kits power 21st century learning without the accompanying learning curve of new technology. Not only are classrooms and after-school clubs utilizing LEGO Mindstorms for their ability to boost students’ interest in science and technology, many of them have formed teams and compete annually in FIRST LEGO League challenges which take place locally across the country.

WeDo

For early elementary students who won’t wait for middle school STEM classes, WeDo (also by LEGO) will help to create learners who don’t just know about robotics, but do robotics. Designed specifically for the early emerging engineer, WeDo enables teachers to tailor activities to specific curriculum subjects or project-based learning. A simplified version of LEGO’s Mindstorms offering, WeDo comes with a user-friendly software interface and a “plug’n’teach” activity pack that helps teachers cover science, technology, engineering, and mathematics in an engaging hands-on, minds-on way.

Sphero

If your focus is on programming robots rather than building them, Sphero might make you feel magical. At the very least, its going to make you forget that you’re really just playing with a ball. As the name implies, Sphero is a sphere. But it’s one that you control from your iOS or Android device. Make Sphero move, spin, change colors, and more. “Sphero is an interactive and engaging robot that brings programming off the computer and into real life.” With over 25 apps now available for Sphero 2.0, robotics enthusiasts are using Sphero to drive through homemade racecourses, turn their classroom into an augmented reality video game, and engage classmates, friends, and family in multiplayer fun. If you can pry it out of your students’ hands, you will see why Orbotix says that Sphero is “One smart ball [with] infinite ways to play.”

Play-i

Play-i is so 21st century that it’s not even out yet. Still this crowd-funded project has been popular enough that over $1 million worth of pre-ordered Play-i robots sold out in the first month they were available. To get your hands on your own, you’ll have to order now in time to get Play-i by Christmas 2014. But when engineers from both Google and Apple get together to teach kids how to code, the wait for what they made is definitely worth it.

What everybody wants, but nobody has is a duo of robots that fuse storytelling and play with programming. Bo, a mobile three-wheeled bot, and its stationary sibling, Yana, teach kids how to code through narrative. Controlled via Bluetooth-based remote app, children as young as five can learn to use Play-i by looking at and touching the script on an iPad. Bo and Yana can sense each other, respond to objects, play music (literally. . .on a xylophone), and even deliver a freshly picked flower to a friend. But most important, the Play-i robots help kids learn about if-then code without requiring them to master a programming language. It gives them access to computer science education before they’re even old enough to know what that is.

Whether or not our good intentions will lead to the demise of mankind is yet to be determined. But with the opportunities to engage in STEM-based learning listed here, at least we can ensure that our downfall will be fun.

Lest our fears get the best of us, it’s important to remember that even Isaac Asimov, the face of futuristic science-fiction writing said, “I do not fear computers. I fear the lack of them.” Additionally, the author of Robots and Empire believed that “The true delight is in the finding out rather than the knowing.” So, instead of protecting ourselves from our own creations, here’s to our blissful ignorance of a potential apocalypse, even if it is one LEGO brick at a time.

Rethinking Math Teaching

16 Tips from Blogging Experts for Beginners

Written by Belle Beth Cooper 

9 #EdTech Problems You’re Facing

Technology in education isn’t new, despite what it might feel like. The Internet is older than most beginning teachers and depending on how you define “technology,” you have to admit that it’s always been an iterative change process.

However, it does seem as though we’re finally at a breaking point where our old systems have stretched to their absolute capacity for the influx of new technologies. In layman’s terms: we’re maxed out and something has to change. Here are 9 problems that #edtech needs to fix, in 3 categories: #1-3 are about Communication, #4-6 are about Visibility, and #7-9 are about Pedagogy.

1. Parents. No, not the parents themselves, but rather our communication channels with them. We need better methodologies in place to have open, honest, transparent conversations with the parents of the students we teach. Involving parents in the educational process is the single greatest contributor to an increase in student achievement.
2. Students. I’m sure education would be much easier if we just had robots for kids, right? But that would be boring and that’s not our world. Nobody signed up to be a teacher because it was easy and that would be a waste of our talent. Instead, we need an edtech solution to how we can keep communication channels open with our students about their learning. Much like we need more dialogue with parents, we need students as active participants in their own learning as well. Students need to have voice and choice when it comes to their learning and so far, edtech has provided a lot of choice, not so much voice. Tools like Remind101 and Edmodo are changing the paradigm around the conversation of student learning and I encourage others to follow suit.
3. Universal IEPs. This is a problem you probably didn’t know we had. Here’s the scenario: students identified as qualifying for special education services have a meeting once a year where their teachers look at the instructional practices that work or don’t work for that specific student. They set goals for the year and identify any new strategies that could be tried. They talk about the future of this specific child’s education and, as a team, commit to working together for their benefit. Oh, and did I mention that the student is part of this process as well? They are in the room while this is taking place, interacting with these educators, administrators, diagnosticians, and their parents. They are actually a co-creator of their learning. Why don’t all students get this? Time and money. This represents the single biggest opportunity of edtech, in my humble opinion. Show me a tool that provides easy pathways to have a conversation about a specific student with all of their stakeholders with identifiable outcomes and recommended practices for the upcoming school year and I will show you a billion-dollar idea and one that will completely change the face of education.
4. Data. Teacher-accessible data that is clear and easy to understand just doesn’t exist. Data analysis is right up there with ‘root canal’ in most teachers’ prep times. And let’s not even start down what data visibility looks like for students and parents (it’s nonexistent). Companies like Eduvant and Metryx are looking to change this, but the edu-pool is big enough for all to play in. Let’s stop talking about data-driven decision-making and actually do it.
5. Soft Skills. Remember, back in the day, when we had character education? For some, it was even a class! We’re pretty focused on cognitive skills (reading, writing, arithmetic) but we’ve passed the buck on our non-cognitive skills like empathy, respect, and leadership. Yes, we could point fingers at why we think these skills have fallen by the wayside, but the past doesn’t have to determine the future: we can choose to value these again and edtech can help. We need tools to help us track and identify the impact of these skills. We need to be able to demonstrate them and show employers how valuable our skills are: cognitive and non-cognitive.
6. Lesson Planning. Somewhat surprisingly, we still need edtech to step in when it comes to lesson planning. We need embedded state standards. We need collaboration. We need idea discovery mechanisms. We need sharability. We need transparency. There is so much opportunity here and I am excited to watch companies likeTrinket, Planboard, and Common Curriculum as they seek to innovate this space.
7. New tools. This one might seem a little ‘meta’ at first, but hang with me. Teachers need to know what to use in their classroom and how to use it. It needs to be easy and it needs to be fast. Please don’t tell a teacher to go to a conference or “search the Internet” or “join a Twitter chat” to find the latest tools. Yes, these will work, but they are horribly inefficient. Keep an eye on great tools like EduClipper and what they’re doing in this space.
8. Entrepreneurialism and the Maker Movement. Teachers desperately need help here. If we want to see more entrepreneurs and more makers, we’ve got to create the spaces for our students to not only discovery but develop these skills. For this to happen, there need to be the resources in place to facilitate this kind of learning. It represents a pedagogical shift for sure, but education is ripe for this kind of innovation and we think the edtech community is primed to bring it. Here’s the bottom line: if you want entrepreneurs and/or makers and you are one, you need to create something to help expand the playing field. You need to get more folks into the game, not less.
9. The Nature of Learning. The massive influx of personal computing devices into classroom environments represents a tidal shift in pedagogy. If we want teachers to be successful with these pedagogical shifts, we need to give them the support and resources they need to make them. More than just an app or a tool, teachers need training and practical steps to help them cross this chasm.

The 21st century is here and it’s brought some baggage. How will you turn it into an opportunity? Teachers, which of the above most resonates with you? Be sure to leave some feedback for us in the comments.

Digital Roundup

Are You Ready to Be Relevant, Or Will Natural Selection Happen to You?

In 1859, Charles Darwin advanced his theory of natural selection. It states that for a species to survive, production of variations in traits needs to occur throughout generations. Though he formed his theory while observing animal species on an island chain over 150 years ago, Charles Darwin could have just as easily been talking about teachers today. As such, there are certain characteristics of effective teaching that lead to an extra survival probability in the classroom. After reading the following six traits, ask yourself, are you primed to remain relevant, or a potential victim of educator evolution?

Pursuing professional development is not an exception, it’s the rule. Blogs, Twitter, wikis, podcasts, Edcamps, and other social-learning activities are not simply add-ons, but complements to what thriving teachers and principals do. In the 21st century, best practices are being crowd-sourced and largely found online. Whether or not you have time to log on isn’t a relevant concern anymore. It’s an expectation.

Collaborating with colleagues is a fundamental extension of a willingness to grow. About as obsolete as classroom desks are classroom doors. Successful educators are engaging in rich and meaningful discussion with professional learning communities on a regular, if not daily, basis. Contrary to using their prep time for photocopying or updating grades, collaborative colleagues analyze student data and create differentiated instruction to meet individual learners’ needs so that every student has an equal opportunity to grow, succeed, and achieve.

Creating context in the classroom isn’t explaining when math students are ever going to use the quadratic formula beyond Algebra. It is students engaging in work that actually matters. Teaching content standards is important, but learning in a meaningful context is essential. To survive as a teacher today, ensure that your students are too busy asking how they can demonstrate their learning to be asking how much work they actually have to do.

Sharing student work on social platforms follows from adding context to the curriculum. Instead of asking students to turn their work in, require them to publish it online. Why else would we spend our time working on a project if we weren’t going to share what we did with the world? In addition to creating an authentic audience to motivate quality engagement with learning, having students publish their polished projects on the Internet is assisting them in establishing a positive digital footprint long before they will ever wish they had one.

Offering autonomous learning paths is also a practice whose time has come. School is the only place where we are expected to leave our personal pursuits at the door. Apparently, they aren’t valuable enough to budget classroom time for. Not anymore! Allowing students to design self-directed learning projects isn’t en vogue. It’s encouraged by neuroscience. Whether that is time carved out of the day for Genius Hour or a pedagogical approach through quest-based learning, it is imperative that we empower our students by acknowledging that what drives them is at least as important as what drives the curriculum.

Building bridges beyond the blackboard through connecting with other classrooms, experts, and cultures can not only transform your teaching but take instruction to new heights. No longer do you need a school-bus, permission slips, and a cooler full of sack lunches to leave the classroom for the day to explore the greater world. With an Internet connection and a webcam, endless opportunities abound. Software such as Skype, Google Earth, Adobe Connect, and Ustream, along with social networks including Twitter, Google+, and Instagram provide a number of avenues to exit the classroom for an academic journey that will move students to higher order levels of thinking. By designing virtual field trips, video conferences, live streamed productions, and more, your classroom can be as large as you allow it to be.

It’s not sexual selection, but it’s just as important; adopting characteristics of effective teaching leads to survival of the fittest in education. Failure to evolve most likely won’t cost you your job. Much worse, it will cost you your students as they disengage and daydream about getting back to real life, real meaning, and really anything other than what you have to offer. So, are you willing to steer your own HMS Beagle or let natural selection happen to you?

Boost Science Literacy with Music

If you ever watched Bill Nye the Science Guy, you probably remember the song parodies his episodes featured, which rewrote the lyrics of popular songs with scientific themes. Sure, getting the song stuck in your head will probably help you remember a few facts, but the benefits of music to learning science could go beyond just helping your memory.

Check out this recent article from the University of Washington, which suggests that music can help you learn science not necessarily by including mnemonics, but by relaxing and engaging you. After you read that, check out SingAboutScience.org, a database of thousands of songs about science and math. Their navigation isn’t the most obvious–search for songs under ‘Find/Add Songs’ and click on the little purple buttons by each song.

A few of my favorite songs about science from around the web: Fossil Rock Anthem, Bill Nye’s Air Pressure, Large Hadron Rap, Biologist’s Mother’s Day Song, anything from Symphony of Science and a lot from Geek Pop. And let’s not forget They Might Be Giants’ entire album of science-themed songs called “Here Comes Science” (check out my favorite song on the album: Why the Sun Really Shines).

New! Blended Learning Infographic

This infographic first appeared on Navigatorfrom CompassLearning on March 24, 2014. 

Bended learning incorporates multiple methods of instruction in order to customize the learning experience for each student, leading to increased student interaction and engagement. A critical component of a rigorous blended learning model is quality digital learning time, filled with digital curriculum aligned to classroom curriculum. Learn more about harnessing the power of digital curriculum in the blended learning classroom in this new infographic by Compass Learning.