Tag A Giant — TED Talk

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Barbara Block and her Tag A Giant project are well known to folks at Duke Marine Lab, where I work.  It was fantastic to see her talk and I encourage you to take 20 minutes to see how technology is shaping our view of the oceans and [finally] contributing to our knowledge.  Perhaps some day in the near future we will put to rest the fact that “we know more about the surface of Mars, then about our very own oceans”.  Thanks to Barbara and other ocean scientists.

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Teaching math through KenKen – Mathematics 24×7

This was Posted by Jake Schonberger on August 3, 2010 on Mathematics 24×7

http://mathematics24x7.ning.com/

 

KenKen is a new math puzzle, and unlike Sudoku (very similar aesthetically), it employs arithmetic in addition to logic. KenKen was originally created by a Japanese math teacher, who needed a new way of engaging his students.

I have been working to promote the game, mostly to other teachers. KenKen.com has a great teacher program, which provides weekly puzzles to teachers for free throughout the academic year. There has been over 8,000 teachers signed up for this program.

I wonder if any of you have heard of KenKen, and if so, what kind of uses have you found it good for? It is an amazing way of keeping kids engaged.

Here is a picture of a 4×4 KenKen puzzle:

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Teaching math through KenKen – Mathematics 24×7, posted with vodpod

 

Connectome

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This is a very interesting TED talk on an ambitious project to better understand the brain.  The scope of the project of mapping the “connectome” –the sum of the connections between neurons and synapses, etc in the brain — is enormous and the potential for understanding the brain is astounding.  Although I would tend to say I am even more than my connectome from a spiritual and Christian worldview, I think you should watch the talk, it is well worth a few minutes of your day.

http://on.ted.com/8bfp

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• Human Connectome Project to start mapping brain’s connections (sentientdevelopments.com)
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