"Our brain uses two different types of cognitive processing when doing these two operations: typing and writing. As tested on a group of undergrads, the research proved that laptop users type almost everything they hear without processing the meaning or devoting much thought to what it is they're taking notes on. Basically, when you type, all you're doing is mindlessly transcribing, and that does not require much cognitive activity."

Speaking from his home in England, Nicolson describes how being caught in a storm at sea inspired his passion for Homer, how the oral bards of the Scottish Hebrides may hold the key to understanding Homer's works, and why smartphones are connecting us to ancient oral traditions in new and surprising ways.

Norman Shapiro wrote to the geometry newsgroups one day offering to share materials from his Geometry Through Art workshops. We immediately expressed an interest, ever ready to seize an opportunity to bring more teaching materials to the Forum and to build our site with contributions direct from the classroom. As we looked over his handouts and the artwork they can generate, we realized this would be a good moment to experiment with taking someone's lessons and turning them into Web pages that would be useful to others. You will find here a wonderful assortment of lesson ideas, facilitation suggestions, lists of materials needed, and handouts for you to photocopy. Mr. Shapiro focuses on the student as investigator, learning through doing, and using perception to stimulate the motivation for more developed concepts and language. Art is one of the intrinsically interesting applications of geometry and these pages point to a wonderful way in to this topic for children and adults alike.

Math-Kitecture has a number of activities, including "Floor Plan your Classroom," which offer engaging ways for students to study mathematics by doing real-life architecture.

Johnnie's Math Page is the site to find fun math for kids, math games, and even a little math homework help.    Interactive math activities from across the web have been organized by topic to make math learning enjoyable and interesting. These activities have been chosen to represent the range of math learned from kindergarten to middle school.  

Various geometry math lesson ideas

There's lots of information on the Web about fractals, but most of it is either just pretty pictures or very high-level mathematics. So this fractals site is for kids, to help them understand what the weird pictures are all about - that it's math - and that it's fun! Teachers: Every lesson has a print version for classroom use.

Episodes from the Entry into Jerusalem through Christ's Passion and Ascension are illustrated in paintings and prints by Dürer, El Greco, Rembrandt, and other artists.

Twenty objects illustrate artistic traditions and achievements from Europe, Africa, Asia, and the Americas around (circa) the year 1492, when European explorers created new links among continents.

Based on an exhibition of decorative, ceremonial, and utilitarian objects produced in the late 18th and 19th centuries by the native peoples of the Eastern Woodlands and the Great Northern Plains, this packet explores how their dramatic and dynamic artistic styles evolved.

For almost 5,000 years-from about 3000 BCE to 1500 CE-the prehistoric Indians of the woodland areas of midwestern and southeastern North America fashioned utilitarian and ceremonial objects from shell, stone, metal, wood, and clay. This program discusses the cultural and aesthetic significance of these ancient artifacts. Illustrations accompany the text, which also includes maps showing the Archaic, Woodland, and Mississippian period sites where the pieces were excavated.

This family-oriented art resource introduces children to more than 50 great artists and their work, with corresponding activities and explorations that inspire artistic development, focused looking, and creative writing. Grouped around seven general themes, the book highlights works from different time periods to encourage comparisons among them. We hope the book will inspire children to develop "an eye for art."

This family-oriented resource brings together in one lively, activity-packed book a selection of forty art features from the National Gallery of Art's popular quarterly NGAkids. Each feature introduces an artist and several works from the Gallery's collections and is paired with activities to inspire creative writing, focused looking, and artistic development in children ages 7 and up. Seven child-friendly chapters ranging from studying nature to breaking traditions are populated with a wide spectrum of artists, art mediums, nationalities, and time periods. This is an attractive gathering of art and information from the nation's collection that lends itself to family enjoyment, classroom instruction, and homeschooling for the young. Artists included: Giuseppe Arcimboldo, Romare Bearden, Osias Beert the Elder, George Bellows, Alexander Calder, Canaletto, Mary Cassatt, Chuck Close, John Constable, John Singleton Copley, Jasper Francis Cropsey, Edgar Degas, André Derain, Dan Flavin, Fra Angelico, Fra Filippo Lippi, Paul Gauguin, Vincent van Gogh, Andy Goldsworthy, Martin Johnson Heade, Willem Claesz Heda, Winslow Homer, Jacob Lawrence, Leonardo da Vinci, Roy Lichtenstein, Édouard Manet, Henri Matisse, Joan Miró, Claude Monet, Thomas Moran, Georgia O'Keeffe, Pablo Picasso, Jackson Pollock, Martin Puryear, Raphael, Rembrandt van Rijn, Diego Rivera, Peter Paul Rubens, Augustus Saint-Gaudens, Jan Steen, Wayne Thiebaud, Joseph Mallord William Turner, Johannes Vermeer, Elisabeth Vigee-LeBrun, and Rogier van der Weyden

This program surveys two centuries of art and culture in the city now known as Tokyo. Ceramics, screens, textiles, prints, paintings, and armor are among the materials discussed. --PDF is available

The monumental Memorial to Robert Gould Shaw and the Massachusetts 54th Regiment commemorates the first African American infantry unit from the North to fight for the Union during the Civil War. The relief, by the 19th-century American sculptor Augustus Saint-Gaudens, depicts Colonel Shaw and the 54th marching into battle. This was the regiment whose courageous assault on Fort Wagner, South Carolina, was recounted in the movie Glory. --Part of this packet is downloadable

The Index of American Design consists of approximately 18,000 watercolor renderings of American decorative art objects from the colonial period through the 19th century. Produced between 1936 and 1942, this visual archive reflects the expanding interest in American material culture that began to emerge at that time. The CD includes more than 350 images selected from 11 subject areas ranging from costumes to woodcarving, as well as an overview of the project's history illustrated with archival photographs. -It is possible to borrow any of their teaching packet materials from the NGA for an extended period of time. 

Students will identify polygons and angles in Tony Smith's sculpture Moondog. They will then create a sculpture with polyhedra nets, calculate the cost of covering sculpture in gold, and write an exhibit label for their finished sculpture. Lastly, they will research the origin of words related to geometry.

Students will compare and contrast design elements in neoclassical and modern architecture, using the National Gallery of Art's West and East Buildings. Then they will design a geometric pattern using Pei's polygons. Last, they will consider the role of geometry in planning and designing buildings and cities by creating their own city plan using a variety of lines and polygons.

Using the painting, Cakes by artist Wayne Thiebaud, students will learn and practice math concepts of volume and surface area. Then they will create a bold cake painting, either online or with classroom art materials.

Students will learn the vocabulary of contemporary sculpture and be able to distinguish between abstract and realistic sculpture, mobile and stabile, and biomorphic and geometric. Then they will build a Calder-style mobile online and/or offline with art supplies. Lastly, they will complete a worksheet to connect the Fibonacci sequence to a mobile by Alexander Calder.