I made a site that lists the best places to learn things online. I just heard about this community and I thought it was relevant! : IWantToLearn How I built an electricity producing Solar Panel Several years ago I bought some remote property in Arizona. I am an astronomer and wanted a place to practice my hobby far away from the sky-wrecking light pollution found near cities of any real size. In my attempt to escape city slicker yuppies (you know the kind, the ones that like to blab loudly on their cell phone while they work on some business administration degree in a cyber cafe somewhere in Trendyland.) and their light pollution, I found a great piece of remote property. The problem is, it's so remote that there is no electric service available. I built a wind turbine to provide some power on the remote property. Here is a video of the solar panel set up and in use on my remote, off-grid property. Let me state up front that I probably won't be able to help you out much if you decide to build your own solar panel(s). So what is a solar panel anyway? I started out the way I start every project, by Googling for information on home-built solar panels. seller. Oops!
DIY Solar Panels Mike Davis is an astronomer. To practice his hobby away from the light pollution of cities, he bought some land in a remote part of Arizona. But there was a problem: No electricity. But he's a resourceful fellow. He built some solar panels using inexpensive blemished and damaged solar cells from eBay! Read on for more photos and some technical details to give you an idea of how he did it. I bought a couple of bricks of 3 X 6 mono-crystalline solar cells. A solar panel is really just a shallow box. Next I cut two pieces of masonite pegboard to fit inside the wells. I laid out the cells on that grid pattern upside-down so I could solder them together. I used a low-wattage soldering iron and fine rosen-core solder. Here's what the solar panel looks like from the front. Here I am testing first half panel outside in the sun. I drilled a hole in the back of the panel near the top for the wires to exit. [...] Here is the finished product, producing 18.8 volts and 3.05 amps in the sun.
The Benefits of a Classical Education Since the end of the Second World War, and especially since the mid-1960s, America has been deluged with seemingly endless stories of the failure of its educational system. Testing reveals that there exists a significant percentage of high-school graduates who cannot identify the Pacific Ocean on an unlabeled map of the world, who do not know that Abraham Lincoln served as president of the United States after George Washington, who confuse the American Civil War with World War I, and who believe that Christopher Columbus discovered the New World in the 18th century, which examples are typical of the horror stories repeated year after year. Ever fewer young people, even those who have graduated from colleges and universities, are properly able to express themselves verbally or in writing. In response, liberal educators have come up with various nostrums that were supposed to turn things around by means of revolutionary new teaching methods.
11 cheap gifts guaranteed to impress science geeks Science comes up with a lot of awesome stuff, and you don't need a Ph.D, a secret lab, or government funding to get your hands on some of the coolest discoveries. We've got a list of 11 mostly affordable gifts that are guaranteed to blow your mind, whether or not you're a science geek. Click on any image to see it enlarged. 1. Aerogel Also known as frozen smoke, Aerogel is the world's lowest density solid, clocking in at 96% air. Aerogel isn't just neat, it's useful. Price: $35 2. Inside these sealed glass balls live shrimp, algae, and bacteria, all swimming around in filtered seawater. EcoSpheres came out of research looking at ways to develop self-contained ecosystems for long duration space travel. Price: $80 3. NASA has been trying to figure out how to get a sample of rock back from Mars for a while now. Every once in a while, a meteorite smashes into Mars hard enough to eject some rocks out into orbit around the sun. Price: $70+ 4. Price: $150 5. Price: $110 6. Price: $80 7. Price: $15 8.
Students for Social Entrepreneurship | AshokaU The Students for Social Entrepreneurship on-campus internship program provides teams of students with the opportunity to apprentice under leaders in social entrepreneurship to develop key entrepreneurial skills through collaboration and experiential, team-learning projects. Results: Since Students for Social Entrepreneurship won the innovation award we have replicated this on our own campus in four other classes, initiatives, and even one competition. Over 250 students are participating this school year with marquee social innovators such as: Ashoka, Acumen Fund, Teach for America, Kiva, Solutions Journalism Network, Benetech, Ayuda, Youth Ventures, Vittana, New Development Solutions Group, Fundación Paraguaya, and Dowser. Ways To Get Involved / Replicate The Innovation / Contact Us: We welcome talking to any highly recognized social ventures on future projects. We would also be happy to talk to any university interested in replicating this effort.
Greywolfe1982 comments on Back To School Megathread! Derek’s Mission | Magical Teaching This all began when I arrived at my portable classroom on the edge of campus ready to change the world with my magical teaching. I did my best to document the experience, keeping a slapdash journal on my laptop and writing notes on MasterCard junk mail, overdraft notices from the bank, and membership petitions from my college alumni association. Twelve years later, Mr. Smith Is Magic – And Other Fantasies of a First Year Teacher is done. LouAnne Johnson, the wonderful woman behind Dangerous Minds, likes it! Ironically, I struggled with situating my story among “magical teaching” stories like Johnson’s. Maybe, I thought, I could do something to change that. This site is my attempt to make sense of what happened yesterday and years ago, to work with others to reshape the myth in some small way. This is real magical teaching. Derek Like this: Like Loading...
Free to Learn: A Radical Experiment in Education (2006 Free to Learn is a 70 minute documentary that offers a “fly on the wall” perspective of the daily happenings at The Free School in Albany, New York. Like many of today’s radical and democratic schools, The Free School expects children to decide for themselves how to spend their days. The Free School, however, is unique in that it transcends obstacles that prevent similar schools from reaching a economically and racially diverse range of students and operates in the heart of an inner-city neighborhood. For over thirty years in perhaps the most radical experiment in American education, this small inner-city alternative school has offered its students complete freedom over their learning. There are no mandatory classes, no grades, tests, or homework, and rules are generally avoided. Arrange a Screening & Contact Filmmakers: freeschooldoc@gmail.com View the study guide: issuu.com/? educationrevolution.org/?
The Bartleby Project Skipping School 7 Must-Read Books on Education Education is something we’re deeply passionate about, but the fact remains that today’s dominant formal education model is a broken system based on antiquated paradigms. While much has been said and written about education reform over the past couple of years, the issue and the public discourse around it are hardly new phenomena. Today, we round up the most compelling and visionary reading on reinventing education from the past century. Earlier this year, we featured a fantastic Bill Moyers archival interview with Isaac Asimov, in which the iconic author and futurist echoes some of own beliefs in the power of curiosity-driven, self-directed learning and the need to implement creativity in education from the onset. Sir Ken Robinson’s blockbuster TED talks have become modern cerebral folklore, and for good reason — his insights on education and creativity, neatly delivered in punchy, soundbite-ready packages, are today’s loudest, most succinct rally cry for a much-needed revolution.