SAND WARS – BRILLIANT DOCUMENTARY

After air and water, sand is the most used commodity in the world.
Sand Wars Documentary

The world as we know it would stop functioning without it – no glass, no highways, no computer chips, no concrete buildings, etc.  And due to greed and sand’s value, it is quickly disappearing.

I’d never even given it a thought previous to seeing a brilliant documentary film on Knowledge Network last night. More here:

http://www.sand-wars.com/

https://www.knowledge.ca/program/sand-wars#

How Smart Are The World's 15-Year Olds? Take The Quiz

The PISA evaluation of global education systems was just released.

PISA results 2012

The testing assessed the competencies of 15-year-olds in reading,
mathematics and science (with a focus on mathematics).

The results?

Asian countries took the top 7 places. (Canada was 13th out of 65, down 3 spots since 2009. The US ranked 26th.)

See the rankings here

Try some of the questions here:
http://www.cbc.ca/day6/blog/2013/12/05/amanda-ripley/

Read more here:
http://www.oecd.org/pisa/keyfindings/pisa-2012-results.htm

KIDS SELF-REGULATING THEIR BEHAVIOR and getting better grades

Kids giving themselves a time-out … using exercise and breathing techniques to calm their minds when they sense they’ve become hyper … putting themselves to bed early in order to be well-rested at school the next day … what an inspirational approach. Kudos to all involved. This is the kind of thing that can change the world.

Listen to Karin Wells documentary on CBC radio’s The Sunday Edition here: http://www.cbc.ca/thesundayedition/documentaries/2013/12/01/draft-documentary-how-is-your-engine-running/