Moving is almost always more difficult than predicted. Faced with the slightly-too-rough moving guys, the unpredictable extra expenses, and the rearrangement of your entire life in a new location, moving can be hectic, to say the least. But as adults we can make lists, budgets and schedules to wrap our heads around the change. Children on the other hand, have no such luxury—especially when moving [...]
We’ve seen notable examples of leadership lately—some strong and effective, others misdirected and damaging. All agree that strong leadership is needed to help the U.S. out of its economic troubles, so we search for the best political and business leaders to bring their talents and hard work to the fore. But where is the call for leadership in education? An enormous amount of time, [...]
Part of me is a very rational, level-headed human being. The other part of me really wants to believe in extra-terrestrial life. Apparently, this is also tempting for NASA scientists, who are searching for any evidence of life-giving elements on Mars. And it seems that they may have caught a break. Photos taken by the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter show dark streaks on Mars’s [...]
A few weeks ago in a hotel in Providence, Rhode Island, I passed "A Exit." That's not right, I thought. "That's not right," my friend Kerry exclaimed. I was staying there with a group of college friends and half of us are English majors. We were all irritated at the sign. "It should be An Exit," said one, "or just Exit," added another. [...]
Ever stop and think about how odd some of the phrases we use are? Take ‘happy as a clam’ for example. Are clams actually that happy? The phrase most likely derives from an older, now mostly unheard New England idiom, “happy as a clam at high water.” It could also be simply because an open clamshell resembles a smile. But, regardless of whether [...]
Advanced Placement courses are on the rise in American schools. There are 37 courses in 22 subjects sponsored by the College Board being offered in high schools around the country as well as internationally. More than 450,000 students passed at least one AP course in 2009. The College Board boasts that Advanced Placement courses help students get a jump on college-level work and [...]
As a child, I enjoyed Wallace and Gromit: A Grand Day Out, most especially because the moon was constructed as a ball of cheese. My understanding of lunar matters has thankfully grown, but the moon still holds many mysteries, including the asymmetrical pattern of its terrain. The surface of the moon has two distinct planar shapes: lowlands and high mountains. Unlike Earth, the moon [...]
"For much of the last century, educators and many scientists believed that children could not learn math at all before the age of five, that their brains simply were not ready." When I read this in a recent New York Times article I was somewhat surprised to learn that this was the common belief among educators. Fortunately there is a rapidly growing base [...]
Growing up, my parents enforced the idea that breakfast is the most important meal of the day. One reason for that is that it is difficult to perform tasks, both physical and mental, without sufficient energy—which can come in the form of food. Even now, I have difficulty being productive if I have not had enough breakfast. But regardless of breakfast, the human [...]
I don’t profess to be an expert on social media, but I know enough to understand what its purpose is. In recent years, the Internet has become a hotspot for social networking websites: Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn, to name a few. Websites such as these were designed for people to connect, network, keep in touch with one another, and promote events. To my [...]