In this essay, the authors note a particular air of apathy in relation to the post-Katrina era expressed in teacher education classes. They are concerned with what the cultural levees mean for justice-oriented educators. How might they find ways to foster in their students connections of empathy and solidarity with those experiencing these…

In the tragic aftermath of the December 2004 tsunami off the coast of Thailand, a group of nomads known as the Moken village sea gypsies were featured in an investigative report for their high rate of survival along with the animal population (Simon, 2005). In seeking to discover why this particular group of people survived when so many others had…

While the persistence of criminal activity is well documented, this may be due to persistence in the unobserved determinants of crime. There are good reasons to believe, however, that there may actually be a negative relationship between crime rates in a particular area due to temporal displacement. We exploit the correlation between weather and…

Global climate change, rising sea levels, changing weather patterns, collapsing fisheries, and habitat losses are real threats to the American economy and way of life. At the same time, America's youth continue to fall further behind their global peers in science and math, resulting in the threat of a future where fewer Americans are prepared for…

The SATELLITES program uses geospatial technologies to study surface temperatures of Earth's materials, such as sand, soil, grass, and water. Data are collected using Global Learning and Observations to Benefit the Environment (GLOBE) protocols, which are then used in research projects that are a part of the International Polar Year (IPY).…

Of the cadre of non-educators--business leaders, military men, government officials, lawyers--who have been called on to transform large urban school districts in recent years, Paul Vallas has been at it the longest and, in the minds of many, is the one with the best track record. Since 1995, he has tackled the third- and eighth-largest districts…

An inexpensive and easily implemented device to measure wind velocity is proposed. This prototype has the advantage of being able to measure both the speed and the direction of the wind in two dimensions. The device utilizes a computational interface commonly referred to as a "mouse." The mouse proposed for this prototype contains an…

Plant ecology is an important subject that often receives little attention in middle school, as more time during science classes is devoted to plant biology. Therefore, the authors have developed a series of activities, including a card game--Designing the Perfect Plant--to introduce student's to plant ecology and the ecological trade offs…

The author always looks forward to spring, and he's not the only person on the ASD spectrum who feels that way. Often, adult peers report on-line and in person that the relatively short days of winter add to feelings of depression. The beginning of spring means that the annual progress of sunlight from its December low to the June high has reached…

For four months, St. Paul's Episcopal School in the Lakeview neighborhood of New Orleans, Louisiana remained closed after Hurricane Katrina ravaged the entire city in August 2005. The storm left St. Paul's campus under nine feet of water for two weeks, destroying many buildings and the entire first floor of the campus. As the only remaining art…

Project Fleur-de-lis[TM] (PFDL) was established to provide a tiered approach to triage and treat children experiencing trauma symptoms after Hurricane Katrina. PFDL provides school screening in schools in New Orleans and three tiers of evidence-based treatment (EBT) to disaster-exposed children utilizing a public health approach to meet the…

Sourcing decisions for information services departments have become an integral part of every school's IT strategy. Much has been written on what areas to outsource, which partner to select, and how to negotiate contracts and service agreements. In this article, the author shares the operational lessons learned by Tulane University during the…

The purpose of this activity was to help students understand the percentage of cloud cover and make more accurate cloud cover observations. Students estimated the percentage of cloud cover represented by simulated clouds and assigned a cloud cover classification to those simulations. (Contains 2 notes and 3 tables.)

This article presents the research conducted by the authors in an Inupiat Eskimo village on the Alaska North Slope and describes the research in two substantive parts. In the first section, the authors present what subsistence hunters and fishers observed concerning changes to seas, lands, and inland lakes and rivers. Then, they mention changes of…

History teaches that a lack of disaster awareness and preparation are common threads among all major weather-related disasters. Weather hazards come in many forms: storm surge, high winds, blizzards, earthquakes, hurricanes, tornadoes, flooding, or a combination of these. It is important for both family and work colleagues to have an action plan…