Talk about hands on learning, engaged students, and more awesomeness than most could hope to shake a stick at.

In reality all this data already exists in one form or another, so this plan is more about collecting and sorting the data into useful reports. Is it too much? That’s tough to tell. As a teacher I know that it could be useful to search for a students favourite baseball team, but if I have to look it up instead of knowing it from conversations with them I don’t think it would mean as much during future interactions.

This is an interesting idea, but it seems to have a few problems that all large database projects have: who is in charge of collecting the data and who is in charge of keeping it current and relevant? Besides, is it really useful to know that at the age of 12 Adam wanted to be a golf professional like Tiger Woods, then at age 13 he wanted to be a bioengineer? I agree this is interesting historical data, but how useful is it really?

Carmala Garzione of the University of Rochester in New York State, US, and colleagues say the sudden rise was caused by a huge layer of dense rock dropping off the underside of the crust that forms the mountain chain.

The data showed that the Andes rose slowly for tens of millions of years, but then, between 10 and 6 million years ago, suddenly shot up by between 1.5 and 2.5 kilometres. To the researchers, this is proof for a controversial geological theory called ‘delamination’.

Amazon Indians from one of the world’s last uncontacted tribes have been photographed from the air, with images released showing them painted bright red and brandishing bows and arrows. The photographs, taken by Survival International near the border between Brazil and Peru, are rare evidence that such groups exist. [via Reuters]

Survival International is a group that works toward the protection of tribal people worldwide. They estimate that there are more than 100 uncontacted tribes remaining in the world today (with about half living in Brazil and Peru), but their numbers and safety are constantly under threat from illegal logging in their ancestral lands.

There are numerous islands in New Guinea that have yet to be explored and experts estimate there could be as many as 44 tribes living there. In 1984 a group of Pintupi people who were living a traditional hunter-gatherer desert-dwelling life were tracked down in the Gibson Desert in Western Australia and made contact for the first time with European-Australian society.

The term ‘uncontacted’ is used loosely as few peoples have remained totally uncontacted by modern civilization, but a number have chosen to make contact either exceedingly difficult or dangerous (wikipedia). It’s still an amazing thought to know there are pockets of humanity living with little or no knowledge of our modern world; with all our planes, and cars, and computers, and plumbing, and grocery stores, and any number of gadgets most of us cling to for ’survival’. If you have some free time then check out Survival International as they have some interesting articles and video about world tribe populations, the problems they face, and what we can do to help.

Earth Knowledge is a great resource for current environmental news that allows students to match the nature of the article with it’s location on the earth and ask the questions, “Does one region have more of a type of news article than other areas?” Earth Knowledge could be a great first stop for any environmental research project.

The GTA is an intensive, one-day event (8:30am-7:30pm) where participants get hands-on experience with Google’s free products and other technologies, learn about innovative instructional strategies, collaborate with exceptional educators, and immerse themselves in an innovative corporate environment. Upon completion, GTA participants become Google Certified Teachers who share what they learn with other K-12 educators in their local region.

They will be hosting 50 outstanding educators from across the country, with the selection process looking at their passion for teaching, their experience as leaders, and their use of technology in K-12 settings. Preference will be given to people who live within 90 minutes of Google, but anyone in the world can apply, as long as they know they are responsible for all travel and lodging costs. Applicants must submit a 1-minute video (via YouTube or Google Video) explaining, I assume, why they should be considered for the workshop.

I hope they select a healthy mixture of individuals who currently innovate in the classroom, along with those who want to but need a helping hand. Obviously the event will have a strong Google focus, and I’m sure many presentations will revolve around writing and sharing Google Docs, organizing with Google Calendar and Google Mail (free for educators), and doing research with Google Search, Google Notebook, and Google Reader.

More information and the application process can be found at the Google for Educators website.

I’ve previously posted briefly about ‘Helping children create a positive online presence‘ and continue to wonder how the current generation, who conducts a large amount of their social interactions online, and who do share questionable content with friendly strangers, will change the culture of acceptance of these forms of interaction in the next 5-10 years. Will they learn to conduct their lives within the set of rules the current generation suggests? or will they usher in a change in culture and understanding. I don’t think anyone is arguing that previous generations didn’t do the same things, they just didn’t have the misfortune of digital cameras and the Internet to document their activities. Their antics memories are stored safely in a dust covered shoebox on a long forgotten shelf in a closet.

In a world where people are often divided by borders, difference, and conflict, it’s easy to lose sight of what we all have in common. Pangea Day seeks to overcome that – to help people see themselves in others – through the power of film.

Pangea is the name given to the landmass that existed some 250 million years ago, when the continents we know today existed as one. A noble undertaking to say the least, I will be checking it out to see what is going on.