The Scout Report -- Volume 23, Number 31

The Open Anthology of Literature in English is a project headed by John O'Brien of the University of Virginia. This "anthology in progress" was created to help students explore texts authored in English between 1650 and 1800. The texts in this collection are organized into six categories: Fiction, Essays, Poetry, Life Writing, Drama, and Authors. Each text is annotated to help contemporary readers read and analyze these works. In addition, readers may add their own annotations via the hypoths.is plug in. This extensive collections, which includes dozens of famous works authored on both sides of the Atlantic, is designed for literature students and instructors as well as members of the general public. The Anthology includes works by Daniel DeFoe, Samuel Pepys, Benjamin Franklin, Phyllis Wheatley, Anne Bradstreet, and much more. O'Brien and his team plan to additional works, so stay tuned. [MMB]

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Oregon's Classroom Law Project (CLP) is a non-profit organization dedicated to helping youth "become active, engaged, and informed participants in democratic society." On its resources page, K-12 social studies teachers will find a range of materials for teaching civics and law, including a number of lesson plans that engage young citizens with contemporary legal issues and debates. Educators can best browse these lessons via the Teaching Materials link, where lesson plans, readings, mock trials, role play activities, handouts, and more are organized by topics such as First Amendment, Fourth Amendment, Congress and Lawmaking, Criminal Law, and more. The CLP also allows instructors to explore this wealth of material with a bit more ease via an Online Library, where users may conduct a keyword search or filter material by grade level, topic, or type of research. [MMB]

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K-12 English teachers and parents alike may be interested in this collection of ReadWriteThink videos designed to enhance instruction. For example, the Art of Rhetoric is a an eight-minute long video that explains pathos, logos, and ethos by providing examples of these persuasive techniques in advertising. Other videos in this collection are designed to model instructional techniques and activities that teachers and parents might consider using in the classroom or at home. For instance, "Write Around the Room" shows three young children practicing literacy skills in an activity that could be enacted at home or an Early Childhood Education (ECE) classroom. As of this write-up, there are over twenty videos in this collection, including teacher interviews and filmed presentations. [MMB]

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The National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) and the American Library Association (ALA) teamed up to create this impressive collection of lesson plans and other classroom resources related to famous American art works. These resources, which center on forty different works created between 1100 and 1996, were developed as part of a national initiative that ended in 2009. While no longer active, these materials are still available on this website. Educational materials include Resource Books, Lesson Plans, and Special Features. Resource Books are available in English, Arabic, Spanish, and Portuguese, and provide an image of each selected artwork accompanied by a short essay and suggested classroom activities and discussion questions (labeled by grade level). Lesson Plans facilitate student exploration of Jacob Lawrence's migration series, Grant Wood's Paul Revere and His Midnight Ride, and the Mission Nuestra Senora de la Concepcion. Finally, readers will find multimedia, interdisciplinary resources related to particular topics or artists in Special Features. [MMB]

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From the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) comes TryComputing.org, a collection of resources designed to engage youth in computer science. K-12 instructors may want to start by checking out the Lesson Plan section, which features 28 lesson plans as of this write up. In Choose Your Best Way, middle school and high school students build their own mathematical model to help them solve problems, and, in the process, learn about computer algorithm. Another lesson, Networks, engages middle school learners with the concepts behind graph theory via a number of interactive, kinesthetic activities. Meanwhile, in the Career Profiles section, visitors can read a collection of short interviews with individuals who work in different careers related to computer science, from academia to game development to engineering, and more. [MMB]

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The Yellow Nineties Online is an open-access digital archive dedicated to Great Britain's avante-garde periodicals and influential movers and shakers of the 1890s. Edited by Ryerson University scholars Dennis Denisoff and Lorraine Janzen Kooistra, The Yellow Nineties contains complete editions of The Yellow Book, dated from April 1894 through April 1897 (FlipBook, HTML, XML, PDF). It also houses a lengthy catalog of biographies for eminent figures in this bold and industrious time period of Great Britain. Other The Yellow Nineties texts include The Pageant, The Pagan Review, The Life of Sir Thomas Bodley, and The Evergreen: The Northern Seasonal. For enthusiasts of the late nineteenth Century, The Yellow Nineties Online offers a glimpse into the art, lives, and interests of the people of that era. [MMB]

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For almost two decades, the Public Library of Sciences (PLOS) has offered open-access, peer-reviewed scholarship from all areas of science. For science scholars, instructors, and students who want to stay abreast of developments in a particular research topic, PLOS offers PLOS Currents, "an innovative, online publication channel for new scientific research and ideas organized by focused research areas." As with other PLOS publications, PLOS Currents facilitate open communication among researchers by publishing completed and in progress research. There are currently six PLOS Currents listed on this page, which readers may browse and explore at their leisure. Topics include Huntington Disease, Muscular Dystrophy, Disasters, Outbreaks, Tree of Life, and Evidence on Genomic Tests. [MMB]

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How do you evaluate a graph that you see in an advertisement or online? Why do airlines overbook their flights - and how do they decide how many tickets to sell per flight? Is there any strategy to the game of rock, paper, scissors? TED-Ed offers this engaging series of short videos about real-life applications of mathematics. As of this write-up, the series includes almost 90 videos. Some of these videos explore the unexpected ways that math is essential in art and everyday life (for example, in Pixar animations or Van Gogh's Starry Night). Other videos feature riddles for students to solve, followed by explanations of real-world application. And, one video explains the math behind online dating websites. Each video is accompanied by a multiple choice quiz (Think), additional information (Dig Deeper), and an open-ended discussion question (Discuss) to facilitate further student engagement. [MMB]

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The Institute of Arts and Ideas (IAI) was founded in 2008 "with the aim of rescuing philosophy from technical debates about the meaning of words and returning it to big ideas and putting them at the centre of culture." Today, the IAI sponsors a series of short videos, often featuring panel discussions (which can be browsed via IAI Player); an online magazine featuring a range of essays (IAI News); a series of free online courses (IAI Academy); and a podcast (IAI Podcast). One British magazine describes IAI as "Europe's answer to TED." Like the popular American organization, IAI features commentary on a wide range of subjects and debates. One recent video features a conversation about lying between philosopher James Mahon (author of Lying for the Sake of Truth), comedian and actress Helen Lederer (of Absolutely Fabulous) and psychiatrist Mark Salter. Recent IAI Academy courses explore the science behind psychedelic drugs and the future of money. [MMB]

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What are the 100 most influential photographs? To answer this question, Time magazine reached out to historians, curators, and photo editors and conducted interviews with photographers, subjects of famous photographs, and others to assemble this collection of photographs taken between 1826 (when the first known photograph was taken by Joseph Nicephore Niepce) and 2015. Each selected photograph is accompanied by a short essay. These photographs, which can be browsed chronologically, vary widely. Some are poignant, while others are whimsical. Visitors, especially educators and parents, should be aware that some of these photographs depict violence and human suffering and may be disturbing. There is also a series of short documentary films, Behind the Photographs, that provide additional context to some of these famous images. [MMB]

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From the Wellcome Trust's Mosaic Magazine and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation comes Global Health Check, an interactive feature that allows visitors to see how global health has changed over their lifetime. On the homepage, visitors are invited to first enter the year when they were born. From there, a variety of infographics illustrate how global health has changed between then and now. Some infographics highlight changes in statistics, such as longevity and infant mortality. Others highlight major health science breakthroughs throughout the twentieth century. Visitors can learn about major epidemics and pandemics across the twentieth century, as well as the current global pandemics of HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria. This informative tool may especially be of use in health, social studies, and science classrooms. [MMB]

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On August 21, 2017, a number of locations across the United States will experience a total solar eclipse. Whether you are hoping to catch the solar eclipse or are simply interested in learning more about the event, Boise State University's Department of Physics offers this helpful resource list. While some of these resources are specific to Idaho, others provide general information about the eclipse and how to safely view it. These resources include an interactive Google map that highlights where the eclipse can be viewed, NASA's extensive resource page dedicated to the eclipse (which includes a number of educational resources and activities related to the eclipse for both K-12 and college level students), and a research guide from the Astronomical Society of the Pacific (which features a broad range of articles and websites). [MMB]

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The custom of exchanging cards, or valentines, on February 14th emerged in the United States in the 1840s, largely inspired by a similar custom in England. The American Antiquarian Society and the Smith College Department of Art have teamed up to create Victorian Valentines: Intimacy in the Industrial Age. One section of this virtual exhibit, Time is Money, highlights the earliest American commercial valentines, including those designed by Esther Holland and her "biggest rival," George Clarkson Whitney. One of Holland's valentines is actually a three-dimensional box adorned by images of flowers, two young girls, a windmill, and a hen surrounded by baby chicks. Visitors may also explore some impressive examples of handmade valentines in the Taking Love in Hand section. Finally, lest one idealizes Victorian-era American culture, the Love Bites section exhibits the less savory aspects of early valentines. "Vinegar valentines" were designed to mock and wound their intended recipient. These valentines, along with the more "traditional" sort, often use racist language and imagery. As the team behind this site notes, vinegar valentines "confirm simultaneously the ephemerality of nineteenth-century industrial print culture and the persistence of human cruelty." [MMB]

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ScienceAlert is an online magazine, based out of Australia, that aims to "fuel public understanding of science and celebrate science as a vital part of our culture." Authored by science journalists and academics, this publication features articles related to all areas of science and can be browsed by the categories of Tech, Health, Environment, Space, Humans, Physics, Nature, and Video. ScienceAlert features both accessible written summaries of science news, along with articles designed to help citizens be more science-aware in their everyday life (e.g. "10 Farming Myths to be Aware of on Your Next Grocery Run," "12 Science-Backed Reasons You should Spend More Time Outside," "3 Science Based Food Hacks That Will Make Your Meals Better"). [MMB]

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Belt Publishing is a small publishing company based in Cleveland, Ohio that is dedicated to telling stories about the American Rust Belt, a term used to describe a number of cities in northeastern and midwestern states that have been impacted by industrialization and deindustrialization. Belt Magazine, the company's online magazine, features essays, investigative journalism, creative nonfiction, and more about Rust Belt cities. As of this write-up, recently published articles include an investigation of the impact of oil pipelines on the Great Lakes, an article about recent revitalization efforts and changes in Gary, Indiana, and a personal essay by Detroit-raised writer Amy Kenyon about letters that she penned as a child to Jackie Kennedy and Ray Bradbury. Visitors may also browse archived articles by category under the Belt Magazine tab. [MMB]

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Are you looking to learn a new language, or to brush up your skills on a language you are studying? If so, Memrise offers online learning opportunities that may be of interest. Memrise offers courses in numerous languages, including Spanish, Japanese, Chinese, Russian, and American Sign Language. The team behind Memrise designed these courses to center on elaborate encoding, a strategy that places new words in a context that may remind language learners of similar words in their native language. (For example, "aburrido," the Spanish word for "bored," is presented to English language speakers in the sentence, "It is boring to eat a burrito everyday.") While most courses center on language (Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages, take note: the site includes a course on common words on the TOEFL exam), Memrise also includes a few courses on other topics. To access these courses, users must first create a free account. Memrise is also available as an iOS or Android application. Some features are only available with the premium version. [MMB]

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Launched in April 2017, the Whole Story is a citizen historian project dedicated to making the accomplishments and contributions of women a visible part of public history. As the team behind the Whole Story points out, statues around the world honor "a staggering amount of men, but very few women." This free mobile application (available for both Android and iOS devices), invites "artists, coders, historians, and everybody else" to create virtual statues that celebrate influential women throughout history wherever a statue of a famous man currently exists. These virtual statues of historical women are then placed on an interactive map. When visitors are physically at the same location as one of these virtual statues, they will be able to view the new statue via augmented reality on their phone or personal device. For example, visitors at Mount Rushmore will be able to view a statue honoring Sacagawea, Harriet Tubman, Susan B. Anthony, and Florence Nightingale via the Whole Story app. [MMB]

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