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education

Los Angeles schools seek savings with green upgrades

Article: Los Angeles schools seek savings with green upgrades

Posted March 08th, 2010, 4:03 PM by

State-level budget crunches are taking their toll on local school systems, with many resorting to layoffs and service cutbacks to stretch funds. The Los Angeles Unified School District is no different: a quick scan of their news releases shows the board approving layoffs, and the district’s superintendent proposing a shorter school year and even taking furlough days.

LAUSD is also considering some more unusual, and more sustainable, approaches to making ends meet: cutting energy and water use through the implementation of green building and transportation.

St. Louis' green elementary school

Article: St. Louis' green elementary school

Posted February 24th, 2010, 7:02 PM by

Green jobs training programs are popping up all over the country. Often funded by grants from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (i.e., the stimulus bill), these programs generally aim to retrain displaced workers in skills such as building efficiency and renewable energy installation and maintenance. Recent numbers tend to bear out the potential for job growth in green industries: wind power, for instance, grew by 39% in 2009.

Interactive music table

Article: Interactive music table

Posted February 23rd, 2010, 2:02 PM by

Noteput – Interactive music table from Jonas Heuer on Vimeo.

A very cool proof of concept by Jürgen Graef & Jonas Heuer that would’ve been useful to me when I was trying unsuccessfuly to learn basic and fundamental music theory in elementary school.

“Notput” is an interactive music table with tangible notes, that combines all three senses of hearing, sight and touch to make learning the classical notation of music for children and pupils more easy and interesting.

Green Cup Challenge invites schools to save energy, money, and maybe the planet

Article: Green Cup Challenge invites schools to save energy, money, and maybe the planet

Posted January 12th, 2010, 2:01 PM by

Can schoolkids do what world leaders in Copenhagen failed to do last month: lower greenhouse gas emissions in the face of climate change? You may have already seen how some students challenged leaders in Denmark with patches from the climate quilt; now, the Green Schools Alliance (a sponsor of the quilt) has persuaded 128 schools in 22 states to take direct action against global warming by participating in the Green Cup Challenge.

School is in session

Article: School is in session

Posted January 12th, 2010, 12:01 PM by

An Art History lesson at BHQFU.

Even though the Bruce High Quality Foundation has exhibited at places both high and low, from the W Hotel to P.S.1 MoMA and the upcoming Whitney Biennial, they still, quite often, have to explain themselves. One such example is the BHQFU, the Bruce High Quality Foundation University, a series of classes open to the public in subjects such as Philosophy of Motion Pictures, What’s a Metaphor and Occult Shenanigans in 20th/21st Century Art. More explanation defying courses are listed here, the most stupefying being the BHQFU Detective Agency (just try making sense of the website). But if you’re really interested and you want to know more, BHQFU, like a proper institution of higher learning, is having another open house this evening.

Blogging for Solar Schools: fundraising via the blogosphere

Article: Blogging for Solar Schools: fundraising via the blogosphere

Posted December 23rd, 2009, 4:12 PM by

Solar systems at elementary and secondary schools create opportunities for reduced energy bills and student education… but they’re also expensive. Even when a school system recognizes the long-term potential for savings, the money just may not be there for the up-front investment.

The Foundation for Environmental Education (FEE) and Solarpower.org are trying out an innovative method of raising for school solar systems: get bloggers involved.

Climate Quilt panels on display in Copenhagen

Article: Climate Quilt panels on display in Copenhagen

Posted December 14th, 2009, 6:12 PM by

As world leaders gather in Copenhagen this week to negotiate continued international action on climate change, they’ll have one good example of the kinds of pledges they’ll need to make: the Climate Quilt. A project of Habitat Heroes and The Green Schools Alliance, the Climate Quilt Campaign asks school kids from around the world to make “pledge patches” (from recycled materials, of course) that display individual promises “to preserve the future of the planet.” While the finished quilt won’t be available until Earth Day, 2010, panels from kids in New Jersey and Australia have made their way to COP15.

Huge Alaska Oil Spill Blamed on Ice Plugs

Article: Huge Alaska Oil Spill Blamed on Ice Plugs

Posted December 10th, 2009, 12:12 PM by

Ice plugged an inactive pipeline, causing it to burst, officials said Tuesday in an attempt to explain how 46,000 gallons of crude oil spewed onto the tundra near a BP Exploration processing center at Prudhoe Bay on Alaska’s North Slope

Solar boat racing provides hands-on learning for students

Article: Solar boat racing provides hands-on learning for students

Posted November 18th, 2009, 4:11 PM by

When you were a high school student, how did you prefer to learn your science: formulas on the board and text books, or hands-on experiments involving building things (or maybe even blowing things up, or dropping items from high distances)? Yeah, I thought so… Southern California’s Metropolitan Water District has provided a hands-on opportunity for kids throughout the area to learn about engineering principles, solar power and electrical systems, and even water pollution and other broad environmental issues through its annual Solar Cup boat races.

Environmental education and at-risk kids: 4 programs making a difference

Article: Environmental education and at-risk kids: 4 programs making a difference

Posted November 11th, 2009, 7:11 PM by

If you’ve read Richard Louv’s Last Child in the Woods, or looked into the detail of “No Child Left Inside” legislation and initiatives,you know that broad health issues (obesity, diabetes, ADHD, and even depression), and concern over environmental awareness, tend to drive the idea of getting kids outdoors more. For a number of programs around the country, though, the stakes are even higher: environmental education is becoming an integral part of working with kids at risk of falling into lives of crime, addiction, and poverty (which make the above-mentioned health issues a bigger likelihood).

They Might Be Giants teach science

Article: They Might Be Giants teach science

Posted September 18th, 2009, 3:09 PM by

Science class is in session with Grammy award winning band They Might Be Giants as they teach the periodic table elements in this animated music video for “Meet the Elements” which debuted on Boing Boing. This song is from their new album Here Comes Science, which is aimed at entertaining and educating (or “edumataining”) children…

Viagra for your intellect

Article: Viagra for your intellect

Posted June 30th, 2009, 12:06 PM by

Although the Internet has successfully reduced our collective attention span to the time it takes to watch “nunchucks pro” fall flat on his face, there are still some great online opportunities for enlightenment if you apply some patience and commitment. Fora.tv, for example, is a vast “collection of unmediated video drawn from live events, lectures, and debates going on all the time at the world’s top universities, think tanks and conferences.” Basically, the kind of fascinating stuff that’s wasted on hungover college students.

Story of Stuff called "anti-capitalist"

Article: Story of Stuff called "anti-capitalist"

Posted May 12th, 2009, 1:05 PM by

In internet time, Annie Leonard’s The Story Of Stuff is relatively old. But the 2007 web video, produced by Free Range Studios and funded by the Tides Foundation and Funders Workgroup for Sustainable Production and Consumption (among others) has attained cult status in American classrooms. According to the New York Times, teachers around the country use the video to supplement environmental education textbooks that often lack information on recent scientific discoveries.

Creative teaching, right? Not in Missoula County, Montana, where the school board responded to a parent’s complaint about the video’s “anti-capitalist” message with a decision that use of The Story of Stuff “violated its standards on bias.”

Arturo Sandoval – Backstage at Iridium Jazz Club (Part 2)

Article: Arturo Sandoval – Backstage at Iridium Jazz Club (Part 2)

Posted April 24th, 2009, 2:04 PM by

ARTURO SANDOVAL SHAKING THINGS UP ON PERCUSSION BETWEEN SETS WITH ARTURO SANDOVAL (PART 2): Sundancechannel.com caught up with the legendary Cuban-born trumpeter, composer, pianist, percussionist and, yes, scatter (!) between shows at the world-famous Iridium Jazz Club just north of Times Square in New York City this past Saturday night. Be sure to read Part…

Rock It Green: 3 musical acts with an environmental message

Article: Rock It Green: 3 musical acts with an environmental message

Posted April 14th, 2009, 3:04 PM by

Sure, you’ve heard about environmental efforts by Jack Johnson, Pearl Jam, and Neil Young. But Eco Elvis? That’s right, babuh: a handful of lesser-known acts have gone “all green all the time,” with music focused on lightening their (and our) footprint on the planet. Eco Elvis: “Born” in 1997, this Kansas City-based Elvis impersonator has…

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