The Gifted Kids Network

Reject Elimination of Gifted & Talented Education Funding
Urge Your Representative to Sign Letter to Restore Javits Funding

With Congress on the verge of eliminating the Jacob K. Javits Gifted and Talented Students Education Act, the only federal program dedicated to identifying best practices in gifted education, we need everyone to ask your Representative to sign on to the Courtney-Gallegly letter, rejecting elimination of the Javits program.

As the only federal program dedicated to addressing the academic needs of America’s three million students with gifts and talents, the Javits grants focus on students who have been traditionally underrepresented in gifted education: those from low socioeconomic backgrounds, those with disabilities who may also be gifted (twice exceptional), and English language learners. 

Funding the Javits program is more important now than ever. Recent studies have shown a growing gap at the highest achievement levels between low income students and their more advantaged peers. Our nation is failing to serve high-ability, low income students. The Javits program directly addresses this issue by funding grants that help teachers and school leaders develop strategies to identify and serve students who traditionally have not had access to gifted education programs.

Eliminating funding for Javits will also close the National Research Center on the Gifted and Talented. The mission of the center is to develop best practices, which have been disseminated and implemented in schools across the nation. The loss of this resource will leave students, classroom teachers and school leaders without the support they need.

CEC makes it easy to send an email.  Please act today!

Most of the technology links that I write about are tools that gifted students can use to create projects and products on topics they are learning about. Today’s tech tools  are a bit different.   There are many websites to help curious kids investigate our world. 

The Why Files can help students better understand current events and connect today’s news to their own lives by encouraging them to further explore the issues of the day. The Why Files uses news and current events as the basis for science, health, and technology questions and explorations.  

 How Stuff Works is another great site.  Categories listed in those resources include earth science, engineering, physical science, life science, space, and the supernatural. Each category offers many individual tutorials that clearly and completely explain a particular topic. The earth science section of the site, for example, includes tutorials on volcanoes, rainbows, diamonds, quicksand, carbon-14 dating, and much more. Although this site is not new, the resources are constantly being updated and extended. Unlike many static science sites, How Stuff Works will provide you and your students with the most current information on any researched topic.

The Howard Hughes Medical Institute invites curious kids to explore biology…
invites curious kids to explore biology through interactive games and activities. For older students, there are virtual labs, where students can explore anatomy and physiology through online experiments.

I’ve started a wiki listing many of the great resources I have found in developing my online classes.  Most of the resources are free.  Join the wiki and add your great finds to the list. 

Gladiators were a rather brutal form of entertainment in ancient Roman culture. The first recorded gladatorial game took place around 264 BC to honor a man’s dead father. The games slowly transformed into public performances. A day at the arena began with animal hunts called venationes and animal on animal fights. Over lunch, criminals were executed in the arena. Many people of the nobility would leave and come back later because they considered it bad taste to watch these executions. After lunch, the gladiators would do combat. The popularity of the games began to decline as Christianity became the major religion of the Romans. The last known game took place in 404 AD on January first. The gladatorial games impacted Roman culture rather negatively because it caused them to view violence as entertainment. You can see the video at http://animoto.com/play/QityDR8fs1DS4pwR0GmGtw

Check this out! Fodey

 Biodiversity loss of the Deciduous Forest will grow into a major problem. We need to save it. If biodiversity loss goes on like it is, we will lose the forest. We will lose our source of wood and one source of food. we need to stop polluting and start making more nature preserves to conserve the resources that they hold.

Biodiversity

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As some of us might know, the Dolores River Basin is one of the most ecologically diverse river basins in America. But it is now coming under a threat: a threat of an explosion from gas and oil drillings on public land. Oil and gas drilling is projected to increase by 160 % over the next two decades in the West. More than 160,000 new oil and gas wells have been approved in the West. A large portion of the Dolores watershed is targeted for drilling, and that includes habitat for Gunnison sage-grouse and other animals and plants.

As if that’s not enough. There in another threat immerging for the Dolores River Basin; destructive uranium mining. Mining operations that failed after the uranium boom in 1980 are being reinvigorated for new nuclear power plants, which require uranium. Hence we are witnessing what seems to be an edge for another uranium boom. Environmental study shows that twelve western states have increased uranium mining claims by 80 %, and more than 50,000 have been filled in the past nine months! The uranium-rich Dolores River Basin will be a hotspot for the latest boom.

As a community, we should be increasingly worried for our beautiful basin. We should get together and discuss possibilities to save the Dolores Basin. We will preserve the animals and plants unique to this endangered region, and we will continue to be the proud, thriving community we are.

The Sahara desert is known to have one of the most extreme and harsh weather conditions in the world. The Sahara ranges from miles of sand dunes, rocky flats to dry safari and covers 35% of Africa. The center of the Sahara is hyper-arid, with little vegetation. The northern and southern reaches of the desert, along with the highlands, have areas of rare grassland and desert shrub, with trees and taller shrubs in wadis where moisture collects.

The Arabian Desert vastly stretches from Yemen to the Persian Gulf and Oman to Jordan and Iraq. It has an area of about 900,000 miles squared. This makes it cover most of the Arabian Peninsula. This Ecosystem consists of many different species of animal. Gazelles, oryx, sand cats, and spiny-tailed lizards are just a few. These animals have adapted to survive in the extremely arid area. White oryx and the sand gazelle have been re-introduced to their habitat and are currently protected at a number of reserves. Due to hunting species such as striped hyena, jackal, and honey badger have become extinct. At the very center of it all is the Rub’al Khali. The Rub’al Khali is one of the largest continuous bodies of sand in the world.

Climate is a huge part in why the Arabian Desert is hyper arid. Rainfall is only about 35 mm per annum and relative dry. In summer temperatures can get up to a scorching 104-122 degrees Fahrenheit while in winter temperatures are usually around 41-59 degrees Fahrenheit. Daily extremes are very important. Overgrazing by camels and goats and other cattle effect the land highly. In the 1990’s this ecoregion was the victim of a massive oil spill which released toxins in the atmosphere. The end result of the pollution was death of thousands of water birds and the Arabian Gulf’s aquatic life such as shrimp, sea turtles, dugongs, whales, dolphins and fish.

Desertification in this area is caused by climate.People cannot change the climate in an area.Perhaps scientists could use cloud seeding to make it rain but if so the animals would have to re-adapt to the climate and that could be potentially harmful. Personally, I think that desertification cannot be reversed or avoided in the Arabian Desert.

 Death Valley is a large desert in the United States, located in the states of California and Nevada. Usually, you count how many feet above sea level you are. But in Death Valley, you are actually 282 feet below sea level! It has an area of about 3,000 square miles.

            This desert is one of the best examples of Basin and Range configuration (a valley bounded by mountains bounded by valleys.) Temperatures here can range from 130 ° F to 15° F. The lower the altitude, the hotter the area tends to be. This is especially true for Death Valley, because the mountains surrounding it let of such radiation to make Death Valley one of the hottest places on Earth! The highest temperature ever recorded in the United States was in Death Valley, reaching 134° F.

            Even though Death Valley gets very little rain, it can be known for its flash floods. One example was in August, 2004. It caused two deaths, and hence the closing of Death Valley National Park.

            I believe that if we could harness these flash floods, perhaps by irrigation into a reservation, and keep the temperatures low there, we might be able to distribute this water all over Death Valley. Over a series of years (and flash floods) we might be able to reverse the effects of desertification in Death Valley.