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11 Things We Learned This Week

This week, we learned …

… loneliness can start—and be mitigated—in the classroom.

Experts say the ideal school curriculum for teaching loneliness prevention would target social isolation as well as the cognitive processes that make people feel more lonely—while, of course, teaching students the health risks associated with loneliness.
Photograph by David Boyer, National Geographic

Use resources from the good folks at Edutopia to help create a healthy school culture through social and emotional learning.

 

… archaeologists identified the oldest weapons in North America, and the oldest intact shipwreck in the world.

Why are so many ancient shipwrecks preserved in the dark waters of the Black Sea?

 

… what happens when a country bans spanking.

Children are protected from corporal punishment in most public environments, including schools.
Image courtesy Global Initiative to End all Corporal Punishment of Children

To spank or not to spank?

 

… the world’s most popular citizen science activity—birding—is becoming available to more citizens.

Birdability is a new initiative to get mobility-impaired people out in the parks and enjoying nature, by way of birding.
Photograph by James L. Stanfield, National Geographic

Take flight with our most popular blog series!

 

… Google is positioning itself as a model of digital citizenship in schools across the U.S.

Keep your digital citizens down to (Google) Earth with our resources.

 

… the world’s climate zones are shifting, and cemeteries are the perfect place to track those changes.

Where are the world’s climate zones?

Make your own map with MapMaker Interactive’s climate zones layer.

 

… handmade halibut hooks are making a comeback.

Halibut fishing hooks like this 19th century Tlingit model, are making a comeback.
Photograph courtesy the Metropolitan Museum of Art

What other indigenous technologies are resurfacing as cutting-edge learning tools?

 

… a 12-year-old girl built a robot to find microplastics in the ocean, and the EU approved a ban on single-use plastics in its entirety.

We are drowning in plastic.
Map by Jason Treat, National Geographic

Why are microplastics in the ocean such a crucial part of environmental awareness?

 

… why this iceberg is robustly rectangular.

“The iceberg’s sharp angles and flat surface indicate that it probably recently calved from [Antarctica’s Larsen C] ice shelf,” NASA tweeted.
Photograph by NASA/Jeremy Harbeck
What are icebergs?

 

… the long, ambiguous history of national wall-building.

This border wall stretches across part of the long U.S./Mexico border.
Photograph courtesy Pixnio. Public domain

How have border walls defined civilizations?

 

… your state’s most popular Halloween candy.

CandyStore.com Top Halloween Candy by State

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