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Numbeo is the world's largest database of user contributed data about cities and countries worldwide. Numbeo provides current and timely information on world living conditions including cost of living, housing indicators, health care, traffic, crime and pollution.

"Importantly, our early indications suggest that the least effective method of reading may be the one society has been clinging to for centuries: reading on paper."

<> Each one-hour program features classroom case studies and informative discussions. When you participate in the workshop in a group setting, you get the added benefits of peer interaction during pre- and post-viewing activities. The Learning Science Through Inquiry workshop provides a solid starting point to explore, discuss, and critique the inquiry approach - and ultimately put it to use in your own classroom.

There needs to be wider examination of the extent to which evidence informs education. Do we heed it enough? Or is what children learn determined more by precedent and cultural or institutional norms?

Literacy as we know it and teach it; is not enough. There is a new grammar and a new literacy that students must understand and embrace in order access to the information, inspiration, and opportunities the world and web hold. You are central to this change process. Our students need teachers, leaders, policy makers and community stakeholders to be actively involved in creating new visions and pathways for literacy, learning and living.

Articles from newspapers around the world - Project Syndicate brings original, engaging, and thought-provoking commentaries by esteemed leaders and thinkers from around the world to readers everywhere. By offering incisive perspectives on our changing world from those who are shaping its economics, politics, science, and culture, Project Syndicate has created an unrivaled venue for informed public debate.

Ten Surprising Truths about Video Games and Learning What we'd assumed about the importance of brain functions - following rules and logic and calculating - are no longer relevant. There's been a revolution in the learning sciences and the new theories say that human beings learn from experiences - that our brains can store every experience we've had, and that's what informs our learning process. Following that logic, he says, the best kind of learning comes as a result of well-designed experiences. Gee, who spoke at the Learning and the Brain Conference last week, used this theory to launch into research-validated reasons why video games are good for learning. Here are 10 truths, according to Gee."

hHelping students learn how to learn: That's what most educators strive for, and that's the goal of inquiry learning. That skill transfers to other academic subject areas and even to the workplace where employers have consistently said that they want creative, innovative and adaptive thinkers. Inquiry learning is an integrated approach that includes kinds of learning: content, literacy, information literacy, learning how to learn, and social or collaborative skills. Students think about the choices they make throughout the process and the way they feel as they learn. Those observations are as important as the content they learn or the projects they create.

" Kapur has identified three conditions that promote this kind of beneficial struggle. First, choose problems to work on that "challenge but do not frustrate." Second, provide learners with opportunities to explain and elaborate on what they're doing. Third, give learners the chance to compare and contrast good and bad solutions to the problems. And to those students and workers who protest this tough-love teaching style: you'll thank me later." Originally shared by JPL! Still awesome. (yes, you Jeff, and this article)

This tutorial shows you how to: Import data into your Maps application. Display that data on a map using simple markers. Use symbols and heatmaps to improve the appearance and legibility of your map, and to represent secondary information. At the end of this tutorial, you will have created a map that displays real-time earthquake data, including magnitude. You can use these same techniques with your own data source to help you tell a more powerful story with the Google Maps API.

Excellent infographic on the reasons your brain craves visual information. 

"Media is everywhere. TV, Internet, computer and video games all vie for our children's attention. Information on this page can help parents understand the impact media has in our children's lives, while offering tips on managing time spent with various media. The AAP has recommendations for parents and pediatricians"

"'Debatabase is an authoritative collection of over five hundred debates mostly written by experienced debaters. They cover topics from the affirmative action to Zimbabwe, on all sorts of themes including politics, economics, religion, culture, science and society. For debaters they may provide useful preparation materials and examples but the debates will be useful to everyone. Debatabase topics provide both sides of the debate rather than giving just one side of the argument as most blogs, newspapers and other articles you can find online do. We want you to make up your own mind on these important issues and believe you need both sides of the argument to make an informed choice."

some great information

"Do NOT allow the iPads to live in mobile carts - when I see an iPad in a cart, I see money being burned. The carts should be where the iPads sleep when school is closed. This is where they re-charge. But there should be a school-wide routine that as soon as kids enter a room with an iPad cart, they each walk up to the cart and get their assigned iPad. They should keep that iPad on their desk until the end of the day and return it to the cart as they walk out of the classroom. iPads should be as essential to a student desk as pencils were 20 years ago. Teachers (and kids) will be much more likely to pick up and use the devices if they're right there, as opposed to having to plan to take them out and use them for "tech time" and then put them away. Think about how you use mobile tech in your everyday life - you pull your phone out of your pocket to look up information when it's relevant, rather than waiting until your "computer time" later in the week. Students should be able to do the same."

a blog post that contains some interesting book-related writing prompts - I particularly like the idea of having students read some forewords to books and think how they would introduce a text that they love. Relevant to both primary and middle/high school teachers.