World Water Day 2013 & Education

“International Year of Water Cooperation”

UN

World Water Day is observed annually on 22 March as a means of focusing attention on the importance of freshwater and advocating for the sustainable management of freshwater resources.

The international water day to celebrate freshwater was recommended at the 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED). The United Nations General Assembly responded by designating 22 March 1993 as the first World Water Day.

http://www.unwater.org/

Each year, World Water Day highlights a specific aspect of freshwater. 2013, will reflects of the International Year of Water Cooperation.

World Water Day is also dedicated to the theme of cooperation around water and is coordinated by UNESCO in collaboration with UNECE and UNDESA on behalf of UN-Water.

http://www.unwater.org/

Education:

As you see, educators must be prepared for all kinds of events to share and teach. March is an inspirational month! Perhaps it is about Spring?

Yesterday, it was World Poetry Day, Arbor Day and Forest International Day! Wow so much to talk about and inspire our students! 

The success of the "International Year of Water Cooperation" and the World Water Day depends on the involvement of everyone! We start this involvment in school education.

We could start with this infographic where students can vizualize the importance of Freshwater.

Freshwater is one of today’s most pressing developmental challenges, impacting food & agriculture, gender equality, health & sanitation, population & urbanization.

http://www.unwater.org/

Some Activities WWD:

• Promote the International Year of Water Cooperation and the World Water Day at school: use the logo, web banners on students blogs and other campaign materials;

• Raise awareness of the benefits of water cooperation: use the brochure, the messages, case studies and success stories;

• Share your knowledge with students, fparents, and colleagues;

• Develop the students capacities by asking students to organize a workshop to other students and why not to some teachers;

• Foster dialogue and cooperation among schools in countries where water could be a problem;

• Take action by asking students to write news and articles about water for school journals or ask a radio station to cooperate with your students and get an interview to be broadcasting;

• Send UN Water your students success stories;

• Send UN Water your students' pictures, artworks, videos and other creations. They wiill be shared with the world;

Levels: Every teacher must adapte the activities to school level.

Curricula: Cross-curricula.

Other Resources:

SG Ban Ki-moon video message for World Water Day

The Key Water Indicate Portal is online here

Fresh Water For All | Infographic

World Water Day: 10 facts you ought to know | Greenpeace

World Water Day: Celebrating Women's Rights | Amnesty International

Be innovative! Inspire your students!

G-Souto

22.03.2013

Copyright © 2013G-Souto'sBlog, gsouto-digitalteacher.blogspot.com®

World Water Day & Education by G-Souto is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.

May: rundown of the most-read posts

Photo: Björk | Rui Gaudêncio

http://p3.publico.pt/

" I have found that some of our best models of how to teach already exist in many of our classrooms. Good elementary teachers, good music and art teachers (and our best teachers in general) rarely lecture; they almost always let their students create “by and for themselves” with the teacher’s guidance."

Marc Prensky

The quote identifies the diversity of pedagogical proposals that I share with you throughout the years. 

I believe and practice the differentiation by focusing on individual identity of my students. They are free to be creative by discovering 'by and themselves' with my guidance, just the sufficient to let them more comfortable in their learning. I wrote about it on the differentt posts of my blog.

The classroom is an open window to the world. Students must feel free to talk  and share ideas about all the subjects they care about.

May rundown shows the diversity of subjects and summarize the most-read topics in a collection of seven posts.

From Digital Natives to Digital Wisdom

Janvier 2012

http://www.marcprensky.com/

Now doubt! Marc Prensky à Serious Game.be was the most-read post May!

Eh! Oui! Marc Prensky fut l'invité d'honneur, le "guest star" à Serious Game.be. Marc Prensky, le célèbre inovateur, auteur, speaker, futuriste, consulteur et game designer de l'éducation et du learning. Oui! Marck Prensky!

Vous mouriez d'envie. Moi aussi! Surtout que la Conférence Serious Games  à Louvain-la-Neuve (Belgique) était dans mes plans depuis quelques mois. 

J'aimerais tellement écouter à nouveau Marc Prensky dont je vous ai parlé sur Digital Schools versus Digital Teachers ou Gaming to re-engage students in learning en pratiquant ses idées dans mes cours, en les exploitant sur plusieurs posts, en partageant ses citations sur beaucoup d'autres.

Marck Prensky qui a ouvert les portes à la nouvelle pédagogie, une pédagogie qui s'appuie sur la creativité des nouvelles générations. Il a bien compris, en écoutant des étudiants, que l'éducation devrait avancer différemment, y compris les technologies, pour bien appuyer les 'digital kids' comme Prensky les appelaient en 2006 dans son livre Don't Bother Me Mom - I'm Learning!

Sans doute! Il faut croire aux compétences des enseignants, à leur créativité, à leur savoir de voir plus loin, à leur volonté de changer un enseignement qui s'adapte trop lentement aux besoins des nouvelles générations. Et souvent ils innovent dans leurs cours, même contre 'la volonté' du système éducatif, bien plus conservateur.  

http://www.hotline116000.eu/

"It is essential for us to raise awareness of this phone number, as experience shows that the first hours following a child’s disappearance are of vital importance,"

Sir Francis Jacobs, President of MCE

International Missing Children's Day promoted the hotline, MCE  releasead a video in all countries where the 116 000 hotline is available and launches a new Google Search Appliance for missing children in cooperation  with its partners Google and Telefono Azzurro. 

Let children remember summer

Let the children be children

Let the children play safe in the park 

Aldo Kraas

"Together, we can make Europe a safer place for our children,” 

Sir Francis Jacobs

http://desclicspositifs.fr/

Campus bac: une idée à pratiquer! Pas mal! Campus Bac, une chaîne de télévision totalement dédiée aux révisions du Bac? Eh, oui! Une alternative pour aider les étudiants à réviser les épreuves tout en restant scotchés à la télévision.  

"Campus Bac, la télé qui va faire école!"

C'est le slogan! Bravo! Je crois, moi aussi, comme enseignante qui a fait des cours en télévision au Portugal, que ce genre d'émission est le chemin idéal pour attirer l'attention des étudiants, en les aidant à se concentrer d'une façon tout à fait adaptée à leur vie quotidienne. Les jeunes adorent la télé, l'image. Et réviser en faisant du zapping, c'est parfait!

Bien sûr qu'il ne faut pas leur donner les clefs! Rien que les ressources.

Les étudiants doivent savoir analyser les documents, complémenter les informations qu'ils ont recueilli pendant les cours, tout au long de l'année scolaire, séléctionner les informations les plus importantes, trouver des solutions, apprendre à faire la synthèse, penser!

Child poverty in developed conutries: Children's Day was marked this year with speeches on children's rights and wellbeing, and other events involving or dedicated to children.

"As debates rage on austerity measures and social spending cuts, a new report reveals the extent of child poverty and child deprivation in the world’s advanced economies. 

Some 13 million children in the European Union (plus Norway and Iceland) lack basic items necessary for their development. 

Meanwhile, 30 million children - across 35 countries with developed economies - live in poverty."

UNICEF (Brussels, 29 May 2012)

Every year we write and show pictures about poverty in underdeveloped countries. But a new reality appears. Poverty among children in "developed" countries.

Photo: unknow author

www.google.com/images

Reading this report and watching the video, as an educator, today, I must write about the new poverty among our students in our schools, in our countries.

Teachers stimulate their pupils to think about the differences between themselves and others and explain the idea of "rights". In countries where the rights of children are generally well-respected, teachers may draw attention to situations in countries where this is not the case. 

Now, teachers help students draw attention to situations like students living below poverty line in their own schools, or countries.

Teachers in their countries have a crucial role on the alert of poverty cases among their students.

International Museum Day 2012

http://network.icom.museum/

Let's talk about Museums! May 18 plently of Museums were celebrating International Museum Day with free admission and other special activities. 

The theme for 2012 is "Museums in a Changing World. New challenges, New inspirations."

"The world is changing faster than ever. New technology delivers new ideas, gigabytes of information, news of an increasingly unstable climate, all shared by social media. 

http://riponmuseums.co.uk/

Well, let you and your students embark on an adventure learning experience at  the International Museum Day. 

A visit to a Museum will find you enjoying the numerous interactive exhibits, the daily hands-on activities and the monthly special events.

http://www.cbd.int/

"Despite its importance, marine biodiversity — the theme of this year's International Day for Biological Diversity — has not fared well at human hands. Commercial over-exploitation of the world’s fish stocks is severe. Many species have been hunted to fractions of their original populations"

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon (2012)

Participe no Mapa Sonoro da Biodiversidade. Celebrou-se em 22 Maio 2012, o Dia Mundial da Diversidade Biológica. O tema 2012 é Biodiversidade Marinha cujo mote é Um Oceano – Muitos mundos de Vida. 

The National Museum of Natural History and Science of Lisbon in partnership with ISPA-Instituto Universitário within the project "natural soundscapes in a changing world" is challenging the community of researchers and nature recordists to record animal sounds in Portugal and else where from the 14-27 May to celebrate theInternational Day for Biological Diversity.

https://sites.google.com/site/sonsdosanimais/

Uma excelente actividade para envolver alunos do ensino básico (3ª ciclo) e secundário a realizar ao ar livre num projecto que encherá de satisfação os alunos ao poder usufruir do contacto com a Natureza. uma lição prática sobre Biodiversidade que muito enriquecerá os currículos e as aprendizagens que se pretendem realizar.

Currículos: Ciências; Música (transdisciplinar)

http://t3.gstatic.com/

In Portugal Mother's Day is celebrated first Sunday in May. So today, for Portuguese mothers is the day!

"Com uma gotas de mãe tudo fica bem"

Minha Mãe | Eugénio Rocha & Gémeo Luís

http://www.gemeoluisoriginais.com/

A beautiful book honoring Mother's Day by Portuguese writer Eugénio Roda (thematic aphorisms) and Portuguese illustrator Gémeo Luís, selected to represent the Portuguese illustratrors at Chidren's Book Bologna Fair (Italy 2012).

MinhaMãe, My Mother is published in eight languages: French, English, Spanish, Italian, Deutsch, Dutch, Greek. A different colour for each language.


A lovely suggestion for Mother's Day?

I really hope that you enjoy every pedagogical proposal written in May or discover some new pedagogical ideas to introduce in your lessons.

I thank you very much to all the colleagues from around the world that kindly read my blog.

 

G-Souto

07.06.2012

copyright © 2012G-Souto'sBlog, gsouto-digitalteacher.blogspot.com

May: rundown of the most-read posts by G-Souto is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.

Schools : Transit of Venus ! Prepare your students !

Credits: NASA

It's Coming! Today starts the last Transit of Venus in this century - next in 2117. Don't miss it!

This transit only takes place on the very rare occasions when the Sun, Venus and Earth are almost exactly in line.

In average, it only happens every 80 years. Before the last transit on June 8th 2004, no living person had seen a transit of Venus - the previous one was on December 6th, 1882.

Transit of Venus 2004

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/

In astronomy, a 'transit' occurs when a smaller body passes in front of a larger one. A 'Transit of Venus' happens when Venus is seen in silhouette against the bright face of the Sun.

credits: AP Photo/Mark Baker, File

http://cdn.physorg.com/

Education:

1. Telling students:

Venus transits occur four times in approximately 243 years; more precisely, they appear in pairs of events separated by about eight years and these pairs are separated by about 105 or 121 years.

This has happened only seven times in the telescopic age: in 1631, 1639, 1761, 1769, 1874, 1882 and 2004.

The transit which occurs when Venus passes directly between the Earth and the Sun was last recorded in 2004. There won't be another one until the year 2117, with not many of us likely to be able to witness then.

And before it happens again, the Earth will change beyond recognition. It won't happen again until December 2117. 

This Tuesday/Wednesday, June 5/6th, 2012, Venus will transit the face of the Sun in an event of both historical and observational importance.


The 6 June transit will start at approximately 00:04 Central European Time (CET). It will then take about 20 minutes from the point when Venus first bears upon the disk of the Sun.


The first contact, until the planet is fully silhouetted, the second contact. The planet will then take a curved path across the northern part of the Sun, and the mid-point of the transit will occur at around 03:30 CET. 


Venus begins to leave the Sun, the third contact, at about 06:37 CET, and the transit will be over, the fourth contact, at 06:55 CET.

NASA | World Visibility

http://www.nasa.gov/

Of course you don't want to miss it all! Neither your students in Sciences curriculum or not! 

2. Watching? Where:

The best places of the world to watch predicted to last seven hours, are  Easrern Asia and Australia, the south Pacific and the north-western parts of North America.

If you live there, you are privilegious people, you and your students! 

In Europe, we only be able to watch the later stages. But travel is not required.

NASA | 2012 Transit of Venus → http://venustransit.nasa.gov/transitofvenus/

Check on map where will be visible → http://goo.gl/iSDsT

Venus Transit Test Data | NASA   → http://venustransit.gsfc.nasa.gov/data/

Watch NASA video → http://goo.gl/ARlC1

See pictures on NASA Venus Transit Observing Challenge |Flickr → http://www.flickr.com/groups/venustransit/pool/

3. Observing: 

NEVER look directly at the Sun, with or without a telescope or pair of binoculars, without using a safe solar filter. To do is very dangerous and is likely to result in permanent blindness.

Young people watching the transit of Venus 

using approved solar filters

credits: Charles Barclay 2004

http://cdn.physorg.com/

For safe viewing of the transit,  experts from the Royal Astrnomical Society (RAS) advise the same rules apply as those for observing a partial or annular eclipse of the Sun. Eclipse viewing glasses can be used, as long as they are undamaged and observing is limited to a few minutes at a time. Note that they must NOT be used with binoculars or a telescope. For an enlarged view, an image of the Sun can be projected onto a screen by a small telescope. Pinhole projection, however, will not produce a sharp enough image to show Venus clearly.

To safely watch the transit, experts from the Royal Astronomical Society (RAS) advise using special eclipse-viewing glasses, so long as long as they are undamaged and observing is limited to a few minutes at a time. 

Read more here



Apps:

New technologies, like the free Transit of Venus phone app, will allow individuals to send their observations of the 2012 transit of Venus to a global experiment to measure the size of the solar system. 

Join this unique effort, spearheaded by the non-profit Astronomers Without Borders, as a supporter and a participant. 

In the classroom:


Ipads ans smartphones on the desk! A wonderful animation can be watched on BBC Venus to put on Sun Spectacular

Students were invited to watch live on their devices at home or joining sky watchers with family or friends.

In classroom, they are invited to use their devices watching BBC animation or NASA videos for an open debate on the subject with colleagues and tutoring by educators.

Curricula: Sciences; Languages; Arts (cross-curricular)

Languages: It is very important to guide students writing a good school report for Sciences curricula.

Activities:

But as an educator, you know how students love science-fiction literature! You can not miss this opportunity!

It would be nice to read some Jules Verne excerpts. For information and activities read here.

Invite your students to write some sci-fic stories about this awesome event, individually or in small groups.

Ask your colleague of Arts curriculum to invite students to draw some illustrations that can enrich the creative sci-fic stories.

Blogs in Education: 

My students were invited to write a post on their environmental blogs. Please read here and here

Outside school:

Students can join astronomers and sky watchers at national observatories of Astronomy, observing the transit of Venus and snap some photos to explore in the classroom.

credits: © NASA/SDO, HMI
via Space.com

Dr Thomas Widemann of the Observatoire de Paris, one of the partner institutions, describes the transit of Venus as "a unique opportunity to closely observe an Earth-like planet passing in front of a Sun-like sta".

We are all so excited!


G-Souto

04.06.2012

Copyright © 2012G-Souto'sBlog, gsouto-digitalteacher.blogspot.com®

Schools : Transit of Venus! Prepare your students by G-Souto is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Credits: video 1 NASA

Some important links for educators:

Transits of Venus | Royal Astronomical Society (RAS)

http://www.ras.org.uk/education-and-careers/for-everyone/125

Watch the transit Venus Live
http://www.ras.org.uk/news-and-press/219-news-2012/2129-watch-the-transit-of-venus-live

Astronomers Without Borders
http://www.astronomerswithoutborders.org/projects/transit-of-venus.html

ESA mssions gear up for transit of Venus
http://www.esa.int/esaCP/SEM33Q4XX2H_index_0.html

5-6 Juin 2012: passage de Venus devant le Soleil. Un nouvel instrument. Une expédition scientifique française 
http://www.grandpublic.obspm.fr/5-6-juin-2012-passage-de-Venus

CORDIS Europa.eu | Don't miss the transit of Venus

http://cordis.europa.eu/fetch?CALLER=EN_NEWS_FP7&ACTION=D&DOC=1&CAT=NEWS&QUERY=01379d1cee97:3d24:25527b94&RCN=34664

PHYS.ORG | The transit of Venus

http://phys.org/news/2012-05-transit-venus_1.html

Local Transit Times
http://transitofvenus.nl/wp/where-when/local-transit-times/