My thoughts about Education Humanities, Technology and Digital Culture. Interested on social media tools in educational contexts and
gamification in education.
On 19 August 2003, a bomb attack on the Canal Hotel in Baghdad, Iraq, killed 22 humanitarian aid workers, including the UN Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Iraq, Sergio Vieira de Mello. Five years later, the General Assembly designating 19 August as World Humanitarian Day(WHD).
This year we shine a light on the hundreds of thousands of volunteers, professionals and crisis-affected people who deliver urgent health care, shelter, food, protection, water and much more. Because, as the saying goes: #ItTakesAVillage to support people in crisis.
For this year’s WHD, UN are using digital art to tell the stories of people in need and those who help them. At the centre of the campaign is a series of beautifully illustrated aid worker profiles that show the breadth and depth of humanitarian work and collectively symbolize the wider humanitarian village.
Whenever and wherever people are in crisis, there are others who help them.
From the affected people themselves - always first to respond when disaster strikes – to the global community that supports them as they recover, they come together to ease suffering and bring hope.
Because, as the saying goes: It takes a village to support people in crisis.
When crises hit, children lose loved ones, homes, and access to essentials such as water, health care and food. But they also lose safety, routine and access to education. In these situations, teachers are vital.
They help children to learn so they don’t risk losing their future, and they ensure children have safe environments, protecting them from physical dangers including abuse, exploitation and recruitment into armed groups.
Teachers also offer psychosocial support to children – especially girls, children with disabilities, internally displaced children, refugees and migrants – giving them stability and structure to help them cope with the trauma of living through a humanitarian crisis.
Did you know?
In 2021, almost 110 million children in emergency settings accessed formal or non-formal education, including early learning.
In 2021, over 896,900 refugee children and children from host communities were supported with connected or home-based learning in 80 countries,
It's urgent to include Climate Action into school and college curricula to reinforce the alert about all the catastrophes - violent forest fires, or floods - to earth and to their and our lives.
The Perseid meteor shower (also known as the Perseids) greets stargazers every year from mid-July to late August. This year the shower will peak between Aug 11-12, according to the American Meteor Society (AMS)
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The 2022 Perseids won’t be quite as spectacular as they were in 2021, due to the full moon illuminating the sky. See the Moon posing with various planets throughout the month, plus catch the peak ofthe annual Perseid meteor shower.
Last year, the moon was just a thin crescent and didn't obscure the view of the meteor shower too badly, but the moon's glow is a continuing concern for skywatchers looking for a clear view. Even though the Perseids are especially bright, moonlight can make viewing a bit tricky. This year, the peak of the Perseids will be affected by the full moon illuminating the sky.
Most of the Perseids are tiny, about the size of a sand grain. Almost none of the fragments hit the ground, but if one does, it's called a meteorite. This beloved, annual sky spectacle is caused by the comet Swift-Tuttle.
credits: Future
via Space.com
Comet Swift-Tuttle is the largest object known to repeatedly pass by Earth; its nucleus is about 16 miles (26 kilometers) wide. It last passed near Earth during its orbit around the sun in 1992, and the next time will be in 2126.
When you sit back to watch a meteor shower, you're actually seeing the pieces of comet debris heat up as they enter the atmosphere and burn up in a bright burst of light, streaking a vivid path across the sky as they travel at 37 miles (59 kilometers) per second, according to NASA.
The Perseids generally appear to radiate from a point high in the north, called the "radiant." But you need only point yourself generally toward the north and look up.
And while we're talking meteors, did you know many of these "shooting stars" come from comets? Most of the annual meteor showers we observe take place as Earth passes through trails of debris left behind by active comets orbiting the Sun, casting off little bits of dusty debris in their long tails.
Every year from mid-July to late August, observers are able to admire burning cometary debris all over the sky. This year, the peak comes from the evening of August 12 until the morning of the 13th. The moon will enter a phase of the crescent, eliminating additional lighting. The sky will be perfectly dark for viewing the meteor shower.
The Royal Observatory Greenwich in London said: “As the bits of rock and dust in the stream of debris collide with the Earth’s atmosphere, they burn up and create fiery streaks across the sky.”
Education:
A veritable ritual for summer stargazers, the Perseids are considered one of nature's best fireworks shows, with dozens of shooting stars an hour falling at peak times.
How to see?
You can see the Perseids meteor shower best in the Northern Hemisphere and down to the mid-southern latitudes, and all you need to catch the show is darkness, somewhere comfortable to sit and a bit of patience.
To find the Perseids meteor shower, it's a good idea to look for the point in the sky where they appear to originate from, this is known as the radiant. According to NASA, the Perseids' radiant is in the Perseus Constellation. Though Perseus isn't the easiest to find, it conveniently follows the brighter and more distinctive constellation Cassiopeia across the night sky. The meteor shower gets its name from the constellation it radiates from, the constellation is not the source of the meteors.
Perseids shower
credits: Dneutral Han/ Getty Images
This is probably not the best year to make a special trip in order to see the Perseids, but, if you find yourself outside between midnight and dawn on Aug. 13, don’t forget to look up anyway.
Why? Because you never know – you might just catch one of the bright Perseid meteors that defies the glare of the Moon. Also, the occasional early Perseid can streak across the sky as much as a week beforehand.
The mornings of August 11 and 13 are worth trying, too. The morning of August 13 will present a thinner and less bright moon than on the previous dates … and also more hours of dark skyfor meteor watching. Somoonriseis a key factor for watching 2020’s Perseid meteor shower.
credits: unknown
via Google Images Archive
As the full Moon subsides, the Perseids will begin to wane Aug. 21-22 and cease completely by Sept. 1. They’re the debris remnants of Comet Swift-Tuttle, a lumbering “snowball” composed of ice, rock, and dust, which orbits our Sun every 133 years. The comet itself was last visible to us in 1992 and won’t pass our way again until 2125.
How dark must be? Meteor-hunting toolbox:
To best see the Perseids, go to the darkest possible location and lean back and relax. You don't need any telescopes or binoculars as the secret is to take in as much sky as possible and allow about 30 minutes for your eyes to adjust to the dark.
credits: Future
via Space.com
VisitSunrise Sunset Calendarsto find out when the moon rises in your sky, remembering to check themoonrise and moonsetbox.
Also, keep in mind that the Perseids tend to be bright. So we expect a number of them to overcome the moonlit glare over the next several mornings. Will you see as many as 40 to 50 meteors per hour in the predawn hours? Maybe!
Disney+’s presented Ewan McGregor-starring spin-off, Obi-Wan Kenobi, last 27 May 2022. Obi-Wan Kenobi targeting viewers who grew up with the prequels, taking the franchise ever further away from the original trilogy.
Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi watches over young Luke Skywalker and evades the Empire's elite Jedi hunters during his exile on the desert planet Tatooine.
The story begins 10 years after the dramatic events of Episode III “Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith” where Obi-Wan Kenobi faced his greatest defeat: the downfall and corruption of his best friend and Jedi apprentice, Anakin Skywalker, who turned to the dark side as evil Sith Lord Darth Vader.
This highly anticipated Disney+ show stars McGregor, back after 17 years in his beloved role as Jedi Obi-Wan Kenobi. The show is set to explain how he came to be living in exile on the planet Tatooine, watching over a young Luke Skywalker.
Now Christensen is returning to battle Ewan McGregor’s Obi-Wan, who in the events of the series is holed up on Tatooine in a cave, masquerading as Ben Kenobi (which, when you think of it, is not the most spectacular pseudonym) and keeping one eye out for the safety of a preteen Luke Skywalker. It appears Vader has sent various baddies out into space to try to track him down, namely Rupert Friend’s Grand Inquisitor (a sort-of Imperial SS-type) and his red lightsaber-wielding minion, Reva aka 'Third Sister’ Inquisitor.
Moses Ingram plays the skilled warrior, Reva aka, ‘Third Sister’ Inquisitor
After the announcement, Ewan McGregor – who reprises his role from the prequel trilogy of the late 90s and early 00s – explained who this show is being made for.
“People in their late teens or early 20s, those people who were kids who we made those films for, they loved them,” he told Forbes. “To them, they’re their Star Wars films, you know? For us, it was the original films of the 70s, but for them, it was our films were their Star Wars. So to step back into his shoes again now and do a series, a whole series about Obi-Wan Kenobi for those fans, it just makes me really happy."
Education:
“A Jedi must have the deepest commitment, the most serious mind.”
Jedi Master Yoda
Fans of the original Star Wars trilogy, your time is up! Remember when you knew that the one true set of works based in a galaxy far, far away were the ones about Luke Skywalker, Princess Leia and Han Solo?
Carrie Fisher with Harrison Ford in Star Wars
Photograph: Allstar Picture Library
A boy, a princess... no. Not anymore. Luke Skywalker? Yes! But so different...
Over the years I've used to teach several topics, but my favorite is to use Star Wars to teach mythology and science fiction (the narrative) in Literature lessons.
Finally, time passes on, another classes, different young adolescents, but always Star Wars fans. In 2015, we watched Return of the Jedi studying historical connections to be made studying literature novels.
So, my dear fans/ students we will continue the study of science-fiction in Literature lessons. It will be awesome. Every week a new episode to discuss and constructing a new narrative.
Disney+ released this Tuesday, the 31st, an unprecedented poster for its new series inspired by the Star Wars universe, “Obi-Wan Kenobi”, where we can see child actress Vivien Lyra Blair in the costumes of Princess Leia younger.
I hope you had new ideas to include Star Wars into your school curricula. Perhaps you will find among your students the sons or grandsons (who knows?) of the first generation of the sequel (1977) and they are fans as well.
Oh! Your are lucky to teach a new generation of light saber-wielding super fans! What an excitement to you as teachers and to them (as students) find an 'old' fan!
It will be easy to follow the new sequel, not at the movies as their parents did but streaming. The first two episodes of Obi-Wan Kenobi are now streaming on Disney+, with new episodes on Wednesdays.
