Archives: In the news

The recent economic turmoil in the European Union has thrown some of the world’s major economic powers into a state of anxious uncertainty. Helping your high school students make sense of these developments requires an understanding of the economic structure and policies at the heart of the EU — a topic that may not be covered by your textbook.

The Center for European Studies and the European Union Center of Excellence at UNC-Chapel Hill have developed Euro Economics, an online textbook introducing the economics of the EU to high school students and their teachers. The textbook is offered free to all students and can be used without registration or permission.

Euro Economics affords teachers a worthwhile resource on a safe site to offer to students interested in learning more about economics and contemporary Europe. It provides a solid, up-to-date perspective on a quickly changing region — a feat that can’t be matched by any print textbook. Best of all, it encourages active exploration at a depth and breadth controlled by the student.

If you’re teaching Europe, Euro Economics can help you fill in gaps with in-depth information. If you teach Civics and Economics or economics electives, it can provide a case study for comparison with the United States. Whatever you’re teaching, Euro Economics can serve as a way to experiment with digital texts for teaching and learning, as well as a way to understand and respond to current events.

For more information, contact the Center for European Studies and the European Union Center of Excellence at UNC-Chapel Hill.

The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Education has published a feature article about LEARN NC’s North Carolina Digital History. The piece covers the vision and scope of the project, and the extensive planning and effort that went into creating it. It also explores the possibility of future digital texts. From the article:

Having demonstrated the feasibility of creating a digital textbook, LEARN NC is pursuing funding for additional, similar projects. Grants are a possibility, says [LEARN NC Editorial and Web Director Dr. David] Walbert, and state officials have shown interest. “We’re not going to throw out all of our print textbooks tomorrow, and I’m not interested in going digital just for the sake of going digital,” he concludes. “But the technology allows us to make something better than a print textbook, and we should invest in what works best.”

Read the whole article at School of Education website. North Carolina Digital History is now available in its entirety.

Looking for resources to mark Columbus Day in your classroom? Our digital textbook for North Carolina history puts the state’s past in national and global context, so check out our chapters on Spanish Exploration (including discussions of how Columbus found his way, what happened after, and an aborted attempt by the Spanish to conquer what is now North Carolina) and the Columbian Exchange.

On a personal note, does anybody else find that these sorts of observances just sneak up on them? This is my way of apologizing for not posting something last week. If you leave a comment and tell me what observance or holiday you have the most trouble finding resources for, I’ll see what we can pull together.

In the New York Times this week there was an article about how scientists are rethinking their picture of the early Earth. Basically, the story is this: The earliest period of the Earth’s development, some four billion years ago, is called the Hadean period, after Hades, the underworld of Greek myth. Scientists gave it that name because the Earth at that time was thought to be hot, dry, heavily volcanic, and lifeless. Now, though, some geologists are arguing that the Earth then may have had oceans, plate tectonics, and extremely simple life forms very soon after the planet formed. You may only be interested in the details if you’re an earth science teacher, but the article offers a fascinating look into the process of science, which often is as interesting as the discoveries themselves.

If you want to brush up on your geologic history (or just get a quick reference), we can help. For the digital textbook we’re developing, we produced an “at a glance” guide to the natural history of North Carolina, with some information about how scientists know this stuff (or think they know it). You can find information like this elsewhere (notably from Wikipedia) but our version is, where possible, specific to North Carolina, and might be used in a variety of settings.