4Kids.org - Week of November 14, 2004

Week of November 14, 2004

Under the Sea

Chicago’s Shedd World Aquarium introduces Shedd Educational Adventures, an interactive aquatic resource for K-12 students and teachers at www.sheddaquarium.org/sea. SEA takes you up close and personal with the plants and animals that inhabit the reef of the Philippines. Build-a-Fish allows you to make your own fish and release it into the reef to see if it has the necessary survival skills. Then, with the Environmental Action Program and Reefs at Risk, find out what you and your classmates can do to protect the environment and reefs like this one.

Nominate a cool Web site at https://4Kids.org/nominations/

Visit the Featured Web sites to find the answers.

What object does an Alligator Pipefish’s mouth resemble?

A tooth
A straw
A screwdriver

Whose description of the double helix changed the understanding of life?

James Watson and Francis Crick
Albert Einstein
Madam Curie

In what year did Francisco Pizarro make his first voyage to the new world?

1574
1554
1524

Unwinding DNA

The Cold Springs Harbor Laboratory in New York is home to some of the most cutting edge scientific research. For a peak inside this genetic playground, go to Unwinding DNA at http://www.exploratorium.edu/origins/coldspring. In Places, find yourself among scientists as you wander around the Lab’s campus. Interested in learning how mustard, corn seeds, nematodes and rats are used for research? Tools has that information plus movies and links to other model organisms.

Following the Conquistadors

Sail back to half a millennium ago and meet conquistadors Cortes, Pizarro, Orellana and Cabeza De Vaca at www.pbs.org/ conquistadors. There you can retrace the steps of these famous faces in history. Explore an encounter at Cajamarca or the discovery of Amazonia. You’ll find lots of timelines to help you re-live the events during their proper time period. The Adventure for students and teachers will give you a glimpse into the lives of the first Americans. Then, read what other students like you have posted on the site’s message board.

Should languages other than English be taught in elementary school?

Speak Out Here!

Dear Amy: What is the differene between Outlook and Outlook Express? — Kalob, Mt. Hermon, La.

Dear Kalob: Microsoft Outlook is a personal information system available through Microsoft Office. Outlook includes a calendar, task manager, contacts manager and journal. It is the email portion of this that is called Outlook Express. For more information on the features available through the Microsoft Outlook system, visit http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/outlook.

Dear Amy: How many people are there in the world today? — Danielle, Kuala Lampur

Dear Danielle: There are approximately 6 billion 400 million people in the world. The U.S. Bureau of the Census at www.census.gov/main/www/popclock.html has a cool Java POPClock that displays the population of the world and of the United States (almost 300 million). Both counts appear in a pop-up window, and the numbers dynamically change continuously according to mathematical projections. The U.S. POPClock Projection at www.census.gov/population/www/popclockus.html will also tell you the rates of birth, death, international migrant and net gain per person in the United States per second.

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