The Scout Report -- Volume 14, Number 36

http://www.chemtutor.com/

From reactions to the world of acids and bases, the study of chemistry can present certain unique challenges to all types of students. Fortunately, there are helpful sites like ChemTutor. As their site mentions, ChemTutor "begins with the fundamentals and gives expert help with the most difficult phases of understanding your first course in chemistry." The site's layout is quite straightforward, as users can just click on any of the topics offered on the homepage. These topics include reactions, atomic structure, elements, and solutions. Within each topic, visitors can take advantage of sample problems, look over helpful diagrams, and so on. [KMG]

http://www.c-spanclassroom.org

Over the past several decades, C-SPAN has brought many hours of fascinating programming to the generally curious. Many teachers have used their programming to edify their students about various aspects of US government, and now C-SPAN has created this very nice site to complement those informal activities. The formal mission of the C-SPAN Classroom site is "to enhance the teaching of Civics & U.S. Government through C-SPAN's primary source programming." Visitors can start their journey by viewing the "Clip of the Week", and then looking through the other thematic sections on the site, which include "Principles of Government", "Legislative Branch", and "Political Participation". Along with each clip, users can also view a short clip description, and take advantage of the discussion questions as well. Visitors will need to complete a short free registration form to access all of the clips, and this only takes a few minutes. This site is quite a delight, and for anyone who teaches civics and related fields, it will most likely become an essential online resource. [KMG]

http://www.apa.org/monitor/

Professional psychologists and students of psychology have many places to look for information about their field, but the American Psychological Association's "Monitor on Psychology" magazine is certainly one that should be perused on a regular basis. This happens to be the magazine's site, and visitors can look at full-length articles from the monthly publication, along with letters to the editor, the president's column, and news from the Association. To give potential parties a sense of the contents of this fine publication, recent articles have looked at opportunities for psychologists to become part of the "group doctoring" movement and in-depth investigations into the role that psychologists play during wartime. Visitors may also wish to look through the online archive, which stretches back to February 1999. [KMG]

http://mathdl.maa.org/convergence/1/

Some math teachers find themselves confronted by students who ask, "Why do we have to learn this?" or "When am I going to use it?" These are vexing questions for sure, and one suggestion might be to incorporate the history and development of the field of mathematics into the formal study of the subject. That is exactly what a dedicated team of individuals at the Mathematical Association of America (MAA) and the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics decided to do when they created the online magazine, Convergence. The magazine contains a wide range of materials for educators, including animated mathematical demonstrations that can be downloaded for classroom use and discussions of particular problems from an historical context. On the magazine's homepage, visitors can view featured articles, take a look over the "Critic's Corner", and use the "Show Me" search engine to look for new and compelling additions. [KMG]

http://www.bioedonline.org/presentations/

The resources for biology teachers offered by BioEd Online are uniformly excellent, and this particular section of their website is no exception to that trend. Designed specifically for teachers, this site contains dozens of presentations that can be adopted for use in a variety of classroom settings. Users of the site can explore a list of topics and featured presentation materials, which include "The Cell: Cloning", "Diversity of Life: Introduction to Human Behavior", and "The Human Organism: Influenza Vaccination". That's far from all however, as the site also has interactive lesson demonstrations, lab techniques, and teaching strategies. Equally important for instructors is the "Seeking a Teaching Position", which includes presentations like "So You Want to Teach?" and "High Stakes Communication: Interviewing for a Teaching Position". [KMG]

http://www.nasonline.org/site/PageServer?pagename=MEMOIRS_A

The National Academy of Sciences has had many distinguished members, and since 1877 they have published brief biographical sketches of their members who have passed away. During the past year, the Academy has begun to digitize these sketches in order to place them online on this site. Previously only those sketches published since 1995 were available on the site, so this initiative will offer access to an additional 900 works. First-time visitors to the site can browse through an alphabetical list of these profiles, and they may also sign up to receive email updates when new profiles are added to the archive. These profiles include insightful and well-written pieces on John Dewey, Margaret Mead, Thomas Edison, and Louis Agassiz. [KMG]

http://www.library.umass.edu/spcoll/digital/digitalumass.htm

Over the past several years, the Digital UMass initiative at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst has created a number of compelling collections for the web-browsing public and scholars alike. Along with collections that feature the work and correspondence of W.E.B. DuBois, staff members have created this useful online collection of university records and publications. Visitors to the site can view the institution's annual reports from 1864 to 1933, peruse copies of the student newspaper from 1887 to 1889, and read oral histories which document the experiences of women at the school. Overall, it is an interesting way to learn about one of New England's largest state universities, and for persons studying the history of higher education it will be extremely helpful. [KMG]

http://www.nasa.gov/audience/foreducators/plantgrowth/home/index.html

Growing plants on Earth can be hard enough, but what about growing plants in outer space? NASA takes on that very subject in this site designed to help educators address the rather intriguing subject of lunar plant growth. This particular resource is part of the NASA Engineering Design Challenge for students in grades K-12, and visitors can register to take part online at this site. Teachers can elect to participate in a variety of ways, and they will find complete guides that detail how to design, build, and evaluate a lunar plant growth chamber. While space may in fact be the final frontier in many regards, the sustained cultivation of various crops to give astronauts sustenance while they are out on their mission may be the extension of that frontier. The materials presented here are more than a bit fun, and they may get students thinking about a future career in engineering or the space sciences. [KMG]

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-antarcticamain-html,1,567386.htmlstory?coll=chi_news_custom_photos_util_2&ctrack=2&cset=true

Over the past few years, organizations like National Geographic and the National Academy of Sciences have been offering up interactive features on their websites. Many print newspapers have entered this arena as of late, including the New York Times and the Chicago Tribune. Recently, the Tribune offered up this tremendously interesting and visually engaging portrait of the effects of global warming on and around Antarctica. Visitors can start their travels through the continent by looking at the ways in which the thawing sea ice is taking its toll on the Adelie penguins, and then continue to learn about how scientists are attempting to reconstruct the history of various global climate changes. After that, they can take a 360 degree look around the South Pole and also listen to the voices of people who live and work on Antarctica. [KMG]

http://www.visualizingeconomics.com/

Taking a page from Adam Smith, the motto of this delightful site is "Making the 'Invisible Hand' Visible." Under the guidance of Catherine Mulbrandon, the site brings together economic data and the powerful techniques of information visualization. She does this quite effectively through such thematic maps as "Where do Britain's rich and poor live?" and the "United States Household Income Map". Visitors can make their way through the maps here at their leisure, and also post their comments as they see fit. Additionally, users can look through the "Most Popular Posts" area and sign up to receive updates about new maps via email. Overall, the site is quite a find, and could even be used to spark debate and discussion in the classroom or around the break room. [KMG]

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/airlift/index.html

In June 1948, British and American pilots began delivering coal, flour, and other important items of sustenance to residents of West Berlin. It was known as the Berlin Airlift, and the event was one of the earliest serious crises of the Cold War. The noted PBS series, "American Experience", dedicated one of their episodes to exploring the Berlin Airlift, and this site complements that program quite nicely. The materials offered here include an interactive map of the airlift route, contemporary newspaper accounts of the Airlift, and a great essay on "The Chocolate Pilot". For those who don't know, the Chocolate Pilot was United States Air Force pilot Gail Halvorsen, who had the excellent idea of delivering packages of gum and candy to the children of West Berlin via miniature parachutes. [KMG]

http://www.lib.msu.edu/coll/main/maps/index.htm

Michigan State University has a well-known geography department, and an equally fine map library. On the map library's website, visitors will find a very nice selection of digital exhibits and maps. By clicking on the "Printable Maps", visitors will find a number of boundary maps that include those for the entire world and the continents. Moving on, the site also includes a section of scanned maps that includes historic maps of Michigan and a variety of 19th and early 20th century maps of Africa. Finally, visitors should definitely look through the "Exhibits" area as it includes an exhibit that explores the evolution of Michigan's roadmaps and the state's legal boundary. [KMG]

http://www.iucn.org/

Headquartered in Gland, Switzerland, The World Conservation Union (IUCN) was founded in 1948 as the International Union for the Protection of Nature. Today, it is a network which brings together 83 nations, 110 government agencies, and 10,000 scientists and experts. For anyone with the remotest interest in conservation, this site will be quite a find, and one that might be worth returning to multiple times. From their homepage, visitors can learn about their latest research findings, which include everything from reports on the economic contribution of drylands to their annual investigation into at-risk species around the world. A series of tabs near the top of the homepage will help visitors navigate to sections that include "Our Work", "Commissions", "Regions", and "Get Involved". Users looking for research reports and general interest newsletters will want to click on over to the "Publications" area, which includes access to their in-house magazine, "World Conservation Magazine". Additionally, visitors can sign up to receive RSS feeds from the site. [KMG]

http://pewhispanic.org/files/reports/79.pdf

Throughout the United States, there has been a growing concern about the future of the racial and ethnic makeup of public school districts. After a number of prominent court decisions, some people have become concerned that many school districts will become segregated again in a matter of years. Recently, the Pew Hispanic Center's Rick Fry authored an important report on the changing racial and ethnic composition of U.S. public schools. The 17-page report was released in August 2007, and it offers a comparison of public school enrollment date from 1993 to 2006. One of the report's findings is that during this time period, "white students became less isolated from minority students while, at the same time, black and Hispanic students became slightly more isolated from white students." Interestingly, these trends can be traced to the tremendous increase in the number of Latino students in public school systems and throughout the country in general. [KMG]

http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/documentsonline/workhouse.asp

Visitors to the digital archive of the Southwell Union Workhouse with an interest in British history and the broader concerns of social welfare will be positively enthralled. Visitors without an interest in this subject may very well leave with the desire to learn quite a bit more. Recently, The National Archives in Britain digitized records from 1834 to 1871 that document the history of this well-known institution. Along with learning about the history of these places more generally, visitors will find correspondence between the administrators of the workhouse and the central authorities, along with details of individual paupers and workhouse staff. Visitors might wish to start at the "Introduction" area, and then move along to the search engine. Finally, the "Further Information" area contains additional links that provide additional context on the subject of poorhouses. [KMG]

http://www.sfmoma.org/eliasson/data/index.html

SFMOMA (San Francisco Museum of Modern Art) presents this interactive Web feature on Olafur Eliasson, a Danish/Icelandic artist who works primarily in large installations. The web site consists of four sections: Seeing Yourself Seeing; Art As Experiment; Your Experience Is Individual; and Why Take Your Time. The sections utilize video, texts and images to discuss Eliasson's approach to the art making process. Since Eliasson's major works are immersive installations, viewers' responses to the work are an important component, described in the "Seeing Yourself Seeing" section. "Art As Experiment" points out the collective nature of Eliasson's art-making process in his Berlin studio, where Eliasson often works with as many as three dozen collaborators. The title of the exhibition, "Why Take Your Time?" asks viewers to decide if the artist has wasted their time, or created a valuable experience, worthy of the time spent. There is a row of thumbnail images along the bottom border of the main page of the site and clicking anyone of these opens a form to post comments to the exhibition blog. [DS]

http://plusmo.com/start/getstarted.shtml?step=1

Helpful sites featuring free and easy-to-use widgets are becoming commonplace, and this particular site is certainly one of the better. Plusmo specializes in widgets for use with mobile phones, but they also offer several for computers as well. Here, users will find widgets organized into categories, such as "Technology", "News", and "Sports". Visitors can also sign up to receive RSS feeds, if they so desire. These widgets are compatible with computers running Windows 98 and newer. [KMG]

http://www.openoffice.org/

Those who have yet to hear of OpenOffice 2.2.1 will be delighted to learn of its existence. This multi-platform office productivity suite is meant to serve as an open-source alternative to other such suites, and it includes a word processor, presentation manager, and a drawing program. The suite is available in over 65 supported languages and it also works transparently with other file formats. This version is compatible with computers running Windows 98 and newer or Mac OS X 10.1 and newer. [KMG]

Political crisis may break up Belgium
http://thescotsman.scotsman.com/international.cfm?id=1497462007

The EU's trial balloon Walloons
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-rodriguez17sep17,0,5030564.column?coll=la-util-opinion-commentary

Culture clash may break up Belgium
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/33d745a0-6607-11dc-9fbb-0000779fd2ac.html

Disgruntled voter puts Belgium for sale on eBay
http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/WeirdNews/2007/09/18/4506139-ap.html

History of Belgium: Primary Documents [pdf]
http://eudocs.lib.byu.edu/index.php/History_of_Belgium:_Primary_Documents

Brugge Virtual Tour [Quick Time]
http://www.virtualbruges.be/

When most people think of political strife and turmoil, the country of Belgium probably does not pop into their mind as the first place that might be beleaguered by such problems. However, Belgium has been roiled by political crisis as of late, as the country recently passed the 100-day mark without a government. The country held an election on June 10th, and since that date, the country's politicians have been unable to agree on a new coalition government. Separatist feelings continue in the Flanders region of the country, and some have suggested that residents there are beginning to grow weary of the continued political standoff. One Francophone politician, Louis Michel, commented "One hundred days to form a government? Weve seen worse." Michel is certainly correct, as it took Belgian politicians 148 days to form a government in 1988. Citizens have begun to take matters into their own hands, as one resident, Gerrit Six, recently did when he put the country up for sale on eBay this past Saturday. Six offered the advertisement as a way to express his frustration with the ongoing situation, and he remarked in a recent interview, "You almost have to throw a rock through a window to get attention for Belgium." The ad was pulled several days later after a bid of $14 million was made "to avoid confusion." Peter Burin, public relations manager for eBay Belgium noted, "This person, in a very funny way, reminded the Belgians what a great country Belgium actually is and it would be a shame to sell it." [KMG]

The first link will take visitors to a news article from this Wednesday's Scotsman paper which talks about the ongoing political situation in Belgium. The second link leads to a piece from the Los Angeles Times' own Gregory Rodriguez on the broader implications of the situation in Belgium. Moving on, the third link leads to a piece of commentary by Sarah Laitner, writing for the Financial Times. The fourth link leads to an article from CNews which offers some more details on Belgiums brief appearance on eBay as a for sale auction item. The fifth link leads to a great selection of primary documents on the history and evolution of Belgium created by Richard Hacken at Brigham Young University. Finally, the last link leads to a delightful virtual tour of the city of Brugge, Belgium. [KMG]