[NAEP] MPES Newsletter 1.7

[Dawn Wiseman]

								April 13, 2008
 
	Volume 1, Issue 7


Last week I was in Salt Lake City for the annual conference of the 
National Council of Teachers of Mathematics. If you've never been, 
it's quite the event - 20,000+ math teachers all in one place. 
Congratulations to Florence Glanfield who chaired the program 
committee for this year's meeting. She and her team brought together 
some fabulous people who gave great presentations.


Complexity
My favourite was by Brent Davis (UBC) and Elaine Simmt (University of 
Alberta). They spoke about dealing with complexity in math education. 
Complexity is an emerging issue in education, and Brent has a few 
links on his web site that will get you started into the subject.
http://cust.educ.ubc.ca/faculty/davis.html


Ecologists Go Holistic to Measure Ecosystem Health
from New Scientist

When it comes to measuring ecosystem health, top predators such as 
tigers get all the ink. Their numbers are relatively easy to measure, 
they are sensitive to pollution -- and they are great for publicity.

However, a more holistic analysis suggests that prey species may be a 
better overall indicator of health.

Tobias Roth and Darius Weber at the Swiss Biodiversity Monitoring 
Programme in Basel, analysed data on plant, bird and butterfly 
species richness from across Switzerland. They compared the richness 
of sites where birds of prey had been spotted to areas where they 
were absent.
http://environment.newscientist.com/article/dn13558-ecologists-go-holistic-to-measure-ecosystem-health.html


Oldest gold jewelry of the Americas found in Peru
The earliest known gold jewelry made in the Americas has been 
discovered in southern Peru.
The gold necklace, made nearly 4,000 years ago, was found in a burial 
site near Lake Titicaca, researchers report in Tuesday's issue of 
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The discovery "was a 
complete shock," said Mark Aldenderfer, an anthropologist at the 
University of Arizona.
"It was not expected in the least," he said in a telephone interview. 
"It's always fun to find something and go, 'Wow, what is that doing 
here?'"
http://www.cbc.ca/technology/story/2008/04/01/science-peru-gold.html


Position Papers on the Effects of Climate Change on First Nations in Canada
In the event of most of the predicted climate change, First Nations 
will be significantly and uniquely impacted due to their locations, 
reliance on the environment, and current limited adaptation 
strategies.

The Assembly of First Nations (AFN) saw it as a critical need to 
explore climate change issues and engage with First Nations to 
develop the AFN's climate change policy responses. They requested the 
assistance of the Centre for Indigenous Environmental Resources to 
prepare five reports on climate change and the unique impacts and 
adaptations facing First Nations as a result of potential climate 
changes.

These five reports introduce the global and regional issues of 
climate change, examine the unique issues associated with climate 
change as they relate to First Nations' economies, governance 
structures, and the physical, social and cultural aspects of First 
Nations, and examines gaps in knowledge that must be filled before 
making recommendations on areas that require further research.

The opinions expressed within the series of papers are the opinions 
of the authors of the documents, and do not necessarily represent the 
opinions or perspectives of the Assembly of First Nations.

To access the reports, please visit the links below:

Report 1: An Introduction to the Science of Climate Change
http://www.cier.ca/WorkArea/linkit.aspx?LinkIdentifier=id&ItemID=942

Report 2: How Climate Change Uniquely Impacts the Physical, Social 
and Cultural Aspects of First Nations
http://www.cier.ca/WorkArea/linkit.aspx?LinkIdentifier=id&ItemID=950

Report 3: Impacts of Climate Change on First Nation Economies
http://www.cier.ca/WorkArea/linkit.aspx?LinkIdentifier=id&ItemID=944

Report 4: First Nations Governance and Climate Change Key Issues
http://www.cier.ca/WorkArea/linkit.aspx?LinkIdentifier=id&ItemID=946

Report 5: First Nations and Climate Change Recommendations for Action 
http://www.cier.ca/WorkArea/linkit.aspx?LinkIdentifier=id&ItemID=952


Alberta beaver dam visible by satellite
An Ottawa scientist has identified what he believes to be the world's 
largest beaver dam in Wood Buffalo National Park in northern Alberta.

Ecologist Jean Thie, who is executive director of the Canadian 
Institute of Geomatics, said he discovered the 850-metre long dam 
while scanning satellite images for signs of climate change.

"They are one of the few species that really leave a footprint on the 
Earth that is visible from satellite," Thie told CBC News
http://www.cbc.ca/technology/story/2008/04/14/beaver-park.html

Dr. Thie's web site
http://www.geostrategis.com/p_beavers-longestdam.htm


Upcoming events
Summer Technology Conference for Middle School Teachers
August 3-7, 2008
College of Staten Island, NY
http://www.library.csi.cuny.edu/~csi-conferences


Next issue
The next issue of the MPES newsletter is due out in two weeks. If you 
have any information you'd like to share with colleagues please email 
it to dawn at nativeaccess.com.