Classroom Ideas, Current Event Connection, Main

11 Things We Learned This Week

This week, we learned …

… a digital archive of slave voyages details the largest forced migration in history. Resource of the week!

Behold the Triangle Trade. The first leg of the triangle, represented here in green, was usually from a European or New World port to Africa, in which ships carried supplies for sale and trade, such as cloth, beads, guns, and ammunition. When the ship arrived, its cargo would be sold or bartered for slaves. On the second leg, represented here in red, slave ships made the harrowing “Middle Passage” from Africa to the New World. (Dig deeper with AfricaMap’s layers on the second leg, outlining human trafficking by nationality, number of people exported, and the year of the voyages—these are my favorite, and most devastating, layers of the map.) The third leg of the triangle, represented here in black, took the ships back to their home port with cargoes of sugar, rum, molasses, tobacco, and hemp.

Browse through an interactive timeline of America’s “peculiar institution.”

 

… where oil rigs go to die.

Zoom in on this great map here.
Map by William E. McNulty, National Geographic

Where are the Gulf of Mexico’s oil and gas platforms, wells, and pipelines?

 

… why king snakes win every fight.

It’s all in the hips.
Photograph by Connor Long, courtesy Wikimedia. CC-BY-SA-4.0

Did you know king snakes migrate? All the way across a road.

 

… the weird status of Native American nations under the U.S. Constitution.

This gorgeous, fascinating map was produced based on information from the 2000 U.S. Census.
Map by Census Bureau, Geography Division, Cartographic Operations Branch

Where was the first Indian reservation?

 

… how detours help teachers grow.

Illustration by P.Ctnt, courtesy Wikimedia. Public domain

Use our road map to navigate your detours.

 

… the Northwest Passage remains treacherous, despite ice retreat.

Do not use this map to try to navigate the Northwest Passage.
Map by Jean Janvier, courtesy Wikimedia. Public domain

Where is the Northwest Passage?

 

… the five universal laws of human stupidity.

Illustration by Vincedevries, courtesy Wikimedia. CC-BY-SA-4.0

Our website has ways to help you break the laws of stupidity.

 

… Microsoft is making a major education push.


How have Microsoft and other tech companies coded students for success?

 

… the fine print in the ‘State of Black America’.

The biggest increase in the report came in the area of education. Don’t limit your teaching of black history to Black History Month.

 

… why dark matter matters.

Dark forces are at work in the universe.
Illustration by Jason Treat, National Geographic

How can the biggest science experiment in the world see in the dark?

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… what walls mean.


How can you help students break down invisible walls?

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