transient ˈtran-zē-ənt, ˈtran(t)-sē- adjective and noun
adjective: lasting a very short time
noun: one who stays for only a short time
noun: (physics) a short-lived oscillation in a system caused by a sudden change of voltage or current or load
_________
The word transient has appeared in 91 articles on NYTimes.com in the past year, including on Dec. 11 in “The New Influencer Capital of America” by Taylor Lorenz:
What the creators in Valid Crib and Collab Crib want is to fundamentally change the system and show that mainstream success can be found outside the L.A. bubble.
“We’re starting a wave that isn’t there for people that look like us,” said Mr. Dorsey. “We could have easily moved to L.A., but we wanted to trailblaze something new. Everyone in L.A. is trying to fight to get a seat at the table, while we’re in Atlanta building our own table.”
… But these next few months will be pivotal. Hype is transient on the internet, and without the right press or the amplification that comes with big brand partnerships, some houses fizzle. Creators are acutely aware of the fleeting nature of online success, and those in Atlanta plan to churn out more and more content in coming weeks.
Daily Word Challenge
Can you correctly use the word transient in a sentence?
Based on the definition and example provided, write a sentence using today’s Word of the Day and share it as a comment on this article. It is most important that your sentence makes sense and demonstrates that you understand the word’s definition, but we also encourage you to be creative and have fun.
Then, read some of the other sentences students have submitted and use the “Recommend” button to vote for two original sentences that stand out to you.
If you want a better idea of how transient can be used in a sentence, read these usage examples on Vocabulary.com.
If you enjoy this daily challenge, try using multiple Words of the Day in a 50-word story that you submit to our Monthly Vocabulary Challenge.
Students ages 13 and older in the United States and the United Kingdom, and 16 and older elsewhere, can comment. All comments are moderated by the Learning Network staff.
Climate change is one of the most monumental news stories of our time. We know that the planet has already started experiencing alarming trends related to this crisis, from increasing frequency of wildfires and floods to more intense storms and droughts to melting ice and rising sea levels.
But how do you report on a worldwide disaster slowly unfolding?
For a special Earth Day interactive panel on April 22, three climate journalists — Hiroko Tabuchi, Veronica Penney and Julia Rosen — will share with students how they do just that, making the impact of climate change accessible to readers via compelling reporting, data visualizations and multimedia storytelling.
We invite middle and high school students to use the learning activities below to get to know some of this work and to come up with good questions for the journalists.
Prepare for the Panel
To get ready for the panel, we ask teachers and students to use one or more of the following resources, each of which features an article or a graphic created by at least one of the panelists. For students who aren’t familiar with climate change, we suggest starting with the fourth resource, a digital children’s book.
OurStudent Opinion question invites students to take a quiz called “Think You’re Making Good Climate Choices?” and then asks them to reflect on their own. Your students are invited to read and respond, on our site or on their own.
Our math-focused Lesson of the Day encourages students to think algebraically about car costs, emissions and trade-offs — and uses our related What’s Going on in This Graph? exercise about climate-friendly cars.
Our social-studies-focused Lesson of the Day asks students to explore the history of Black-owned farms and the role they can play in fighting climate change.
Coming on April 18: A Lesson of the Day that draws from a new guide for kids (and everybody else) about climate change and what we can do to make the future less bad.
Get to Know the Panelists
Hiroko Tabuchi is a climate reporter for The New York Times, based in New York. She was previously a reporter in the paper’s Tokyo bureau, where she led the coverage of the 2011 nuclear disaster in Japan. In 2013, Ms. Tabuchi was part of the team awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Explanatory Reporting for an examination of the business practices of Apple and other global manufacturing giants. Before joining The Times in 2008, she reported for The Wall Street Journal and The Associated Press, both from Tokyo. She is a native of Kobe, Japan, and is a graduate of the London School of Economics and Political Science.
Veronica Penney is a climate reporter for The New York Times and a member of the 2020 Times Fellowship class. She holds a degree in data journalism from Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism. Her work has also appeared in The Miami Herald and The Guardian.
Julia Rosen is an independent journalist covering science and the environment from Portland, Ore. She writes stories about how the world works and how humans are changing it. She became a journalist after getting her doctorate in geology and was an AAAS Mass Media Fellow at The Times in 2014. Her work has appeared in The New York Times, The Atlantic, Science, Hakai, High Country News and many other publications.
Note: Teachers can register to watch the panel as a class. Students 13 and older in the United States and the United Kingdom, and 16 and older elsewhere, can register to watch the panel on their own device.
‘Goodbye, Earth’: A Story for Grown-Ups is a two-minute film that tackles the themes of environment, responsibility and change. In the video Op-Ed, 9-year-old Zayne Cowie turns the table on grown-ups, reading a children’s book written especially for them: “Goodbye, Earth.”
The book calls out the adults who’ve failed at addressing climate change, leaving the consequences to be dealt with by younger generations: “While cities burned and temperatures soared, you upped and left the Paris accord. You chose big cars, fast food and coal. The fossil fuels, my future stole. You think this is a fun rhyme book? With your inaction, the Earth will cook.”
Where do you think responsibility lies for the climate change crisis? If you were to create a children’s book on climate change for adults, what message would you want them to understand?
Students
1. Watch the short film above. While you watch, you might take notes using our Film Club Double-Entry Journal (PDF) to help you remember specific moments.
2. After watching, think about these questions:
What questions do you still have?
What connections can you make between this film and your own life or experience? Why? Does this film remind you of anything else you’ve read or seen? If so, how and why?
3. An additional challenge | Respond to the essential question at the top of this post: What could adults learn about climate change from a young person’s perspective?
4. Next, join the conversation by clicking on the comment button and posting in the box that opens on the right. (Students 13 and older are invited to comment, although teachers of younger students are welcome to post what their students have to say.)
5. After you have posted, try reading back to see what others have said, then respond to someone else by posting another comment. Use the “Reply” button or the @ symbol to address that student directly.
6. To learn more, you can browse the full book version of Zayne Cowie’s “Goodbye, Earth” here.
If you are interesting in exploring the issue of climate change further, please join us for our live panel for students, “Covering the Climate Crisis,” on April 22.
• Read our list of practical teaching ideas, along with responses from students and teachers, for how you can use these documentaries in the classroom.
Ms. Penney then discusses the results of a study in which most participants struggled to assess the impact of different activities on the climate:
Were you way off?
If so, don’t feel bad. You’re not alone. Researchers surveyed 965 people in the United States and Canada, and only one answered three of four questions correctly. Nobody got all four questions right.
When participants were asked to rank the impact of different activities, four out of five people underestimated the climate importance of flying. More than half overestimated the significance of reusable grocery bags.
“I was a little bit surprised at the persistence of some misperceptions,” said Seth Wynes, a doctoral candidate at the University of British Columbia and the lead author of the study, published this month in the journal Climatic Change.
Ms. Penney also explores the significance of individual behaviors in the context of global greenhouse gas emissions:
The United States and Canada are two of the top greenhouse gas emitters worldwide, both in total and per capita emissions. On average, each person produces over 15 tons of carbon dioxide, a primary contributor to global warming, each year. That’s around three times as much as the British average and about eight times as much as in India.
For many people around the world, of course, hopping on a plane to Paris or eating fewer steaks isn’t an option to begin with. A report last year in the medical journal The Lancet suggested far less red meat for people who eat a lot of it, like Americans and Canadians, but not the world’s poor, who need more animal protein for better health.
“We don’t live in a world where everyone has sort of a carbon budget, like a carbon credit card, where we only get to expend X tons of CO2 per year,” said Dr. Shahzeen Attari, an associate professor at Indiana University Bloomington who studies climate perceptions and decision-making and who was not involved in the survey.
Furthermore, reducing carbon emissions to curb climate change will require sweeping policy changes on the government level and an overhaul of the world’s energy grids.
But, individual carbon footprints, particularly in the world’s wealthiest countries, still add up. Household emissions, which include energy use, food purchases and transportation, make up a fifth of all emissions in the United States.
When people in the survey were asked to pick the most significant lifestyle change they could make to cut emissions, driving less was the most popular answer. In reality, the most meaningful change would be to have fewer children. The next three are living car-free, avoiding air travel, and eating a vegetarian diet. (Eating vegetarian, for example, is eight times more effective than upgrading lightbulbs.)
How did you do on the quiz? Are you a good judge of the best ways to reduce carbon emissions?
What surprised you from the article or quiz results? Are any behaviors more or less effective than you thought they were?
Do you try to make good climate choices? Do you already incorporate any of these strategies in your life? Will you adjust your behavior based on the information in the article?
How much should we consider individual behavioral change versus structural change when it comes to reducing emissions? Do you think that people who live in countries that produce more emissions, like the United States and Canada, bear a greater responsibility to be conscious of their choices?
The study Ms. Penney discusses suggests conducting education around high-impact activities and adding carbon footprint labels to consumer goods. What do you think of these proposals? What would help you reduce your carbon footprint? What other solutions can you come up with?
How does this quiz help tell the story of climate change? What articles, videos, podcasts or other pieces of media have helped you better understand the issue?
Veronica Penney, the author of the article above, is one of the guests on our live climate change panel for students on April 22. After taking the quiz and reading the article, what questions do you have for Ms. Penney? You can register for the event and submit your questions here — we might use them during the panel.
Students 13 and older in the United States and the United Kingdom, and 16 and older elsewhere, are invited to comment. All comments are moderated by the Learning Network staff, but please keep in mind that once your comment is accepted, it will be made public.
Seventy percent of US government IT leaders believe that a lack of digital skills in areas such as cloud development, artificial intelligence (AI), data analysis, and enterprise engineering will significantly impact their agency’s mission, according to a WorkScoop and FedScoop survey. The report states: “Federal agency leaders will need to support nimble and agile management of the workforce, including reskilling and redeploying existing workers to keep pace with the current pace of change.”
In 2020, when the COVID-19 pandemic hit, the pressure to move everything online and the need to drastically expand teleworking further heightened upskilling requirements.
To discuss why digital skills are so important for federal, state, and military organizations, Sam Combs, Senior Manager of Government Partnerships at Coursera, convened a panel of experts including Jason Brown, Strategic Cloud Advisor at Google; Frank Kelley, Vice President of the Defense Acquisition University (DAU) at the US Department of Defense; and Vinod Bakthavachalam, former Senior Data Scientist at Coursera. The participants drew on their experiences to discuss why digital skills matter, which skills are most important, and how to implement upskilling initiatives at scale.
Here are some highlights from their discussion:
Sam Combs:Why are digital skills so important today?
Jason Brown: They provide a competitive advantage that helps organizations achieve their mission. When I was in the US Air Force, we embraced the OODA Loop [Observe, Orient, Decide, Act], a concept that’s all about moving faster than your adversary. Digital technology provides levels of speed and scale unimaginable in the public sector just a few years ago.
Sam Combs: Frank, what do you see from your vantage point at the DAU?
Frank Kelley: As a career Marine, I agree with Jason that tempo and scale are critical. I also believe we don’t have time to train people to become our new digital elite in the way that we used to. We need people who are ready today to flex their intellect, and e-learning addresses this challenge.
Sam Combs: What is the implication of digital technology for those in non-digital careers?
Jason Brown: In that context, it’s more about what technology can do: for example, how it can transform workflows, processes, and make missions more attainable. I visited the headquarters of one of the major airlines last year. Ten years ago, they had roughly 3,000 maintenance cancellations per year, whereas in 2019, they had 80. In the same timeframe, they went from bankruptcy to achieving a $6 billion profit and awarding bonuses to 90,000 employees. How did they do it? By applying digital technologies to overcome longstanding constraints, such as ensuring that relevant, real-time information was available to anyone that needed it. That single step was transformational.
Sam Combs: Why else are digital skills important?
Frank Kelley: From a national defense standpoint, we’re focused on readiness, enhancing partnerships and alliances, and optimizing processes. The reality is, we can’t hire enough people to do the work that needs to be done. Digitization in the form of AI, for example, can handle much of that workload and free up people to do what they do best. Through recent projects, we’ve seen that a joint human/machine venture beats a person performing tasks alone or a machine working in isolation. Understanding these synergies is important.
Sam Combs: I’d like to ask Vinod as the data scientist responsible for Coursera’s Global Skills Index, what skills are most in-demand today?
Vinod Bakthavachalam: Every year we look across countries, industries, and within fields of study to understand the state of demand. Right now, organizations have three priorities: having a high-level business understanding coupled with competencies in computer science and data science. Organizations also want people that know how to ingest and analyze data to make better decisions. So while STEM skills such as coding, machine learning, or cloud engineering are important, foundational business skills – essential for communication and data interpretation – are too.
Jason Brown: Agreed. At Google, we’re seeing customers place increasing value on leading change and in softer skill areas such as design and product management.
Frank Kelley: Our president Jim Woolsey wants DAU to “win the competitive environment of the future.” To do that, you need to start by understanding where you are now – and if you’re not in the lead – how you’re going to get there. That requires the ability to plan, measure, analyze, and act on data insights – all soft skills.
Vinod Bakthavachalam: One of our Skills Index learnings is not to limit the number of ‘data people’ within your organization. It’s far more effective to share data among a broad, diverse group. You’ll gain richer, more varied insights than you would have otherwise.
Frank Kelley: On a related topic, we need to be more aware of bias in relation to skillsets. For example, we tend to think of the youngest people in our organizations as the ones who are most digitally fluent, but that’s not always the case. I’ve been blown away by the conclusions of some of our oldest employees when they interpret data – they’re great at it!
Sam Combs: Frank, what’s the best way for agencies to build and scale upskilling programs? And is there a role for third parties?
Frank Kelley: Before COVID-19 struck, there was a view in DAU that classroom teaching was indispensable. Post-COVID, we know that’s not the case. We moved 90% of our instructor-led courses online. When you add our 30,000 annual hours of Coursera training to the mix, we’re now delivering e-learning to 183,000 people. Coursera’s inherent speed and scalability helped us facilitate a complex transition to blended learning, and it’s a prime example of the value a third-party partner can provide.
Jason Brown: When I was in the Air Force, we often spoke about the ‘false choice’ of being either an innovator or an operator. One can absolutely be both. But in my view, the public sector can only go so far with scaling innovation before it requires private sector expertise. They need the best of both worlds.
Sam Combs: With a few minutes left, final thoughts?
Frank Kelley: I’d add that within military organizations, it’s important to have free-flowing communication up and down the ranks. You want a command climate where people feel valued and that their opinions matter.
I envision a scenario where personnel are free to follow their own paths and even design curricula to be the person they want to be. That’s why e-learning solutions such as Coursera, with all the knowledge and wisdom that can be tapped into, are so valuable.
Vinod Bakthavachalam: Frank makes a good point that employees need to feel valued and invested in. The most successful organizations are the ones where employees are rewarded for personal development and given the opportunity to apply their new skills. Because when people feel empowered to make a difference, they usually do.
Sam Combs: Absolutely. At Coursera, we believe individuals should be given the freedom to explore and pursue skills aligned to their interests and aspirations, yet that also support organizational goals. I’d like to thank the panel for the fascinating conversation today.
In summary, here are three key takeaways from the panel discussion:
US federal civilian and DoD organizations have reached an inflection point: to meet the mission needs of tomorrow and guard against evolving security threats, they must invest in building digital skills and knowledge today.
Soft skills such as leadership, communication, problem-solving, and teamwork are just as important to organizations as technical skills – including coding, cloud engineering, artificial intelligence, machine learning, and data analytics.
To upskill at the speed and scale required, government organizations should look to innovation from the private sector. The DAU is just one example of a government organization realizing its skills-building vision with the Coursera e-learning platform.
Watch the on-demand webinar to hear the full discussion or visit coursera.org/government to learn more about how Coursera for Government can help upskill your government employeesfor the digital age.
This month Alison is celebrating its 14th birthday. While the last 14 years have seen the company grow enormously, one thing has stayed the same: we remain as committed to breaking down barriers in education today as we were in 2007.
Every day we strive to source and publish the best and most up-to-date courses across an ever-widening range of topics and disciplines. With over 2,500 quality courses available on our platform, a number growing all the time, we know that our goal of free global access to education is becoming more and more of a reality.
For our 14th birthday, we’ve decided to put together a list of our 14 most popular courses – courses that have already empowered millions of Learners around the world and which will hopefully inspire many more.
14 Courses that have Empowered Millions
Human Resources is the cornerstone of every organisation and those responsible for HR need to have the very best in training. Our Diploma in Human Resources covers everything you need to know about hiring, training, and motivating staff effectively.
Regardless of your field, this course is a must for anyone overseeing projects at work. The Diploma in Project Management will guide you through the crucial phases of the system development lifecycle, including analysis, planning, design and evaluation.
This course covers one of the most important standards prescribed by the International Organisation for Standardisation (ISO). ISO 45001:2018 – Principles of Occupational Health and Safety Management Systems will teach you why the ISO has chosen to develop this standard, how the standard works, the benefits the standard can deliver to businesses, and much more.
There’s never been a greater public awareness around mental health, and it’s important to have a solid understanding of a range of mental health issues, both for your own wellbeing and for that of those around you. Alison’s Diploma in Mental Health will help you gain a better understanding of the causes, symptoms, and treatments of various forms of mental illnesses.
The Diploma in Nursing and Patient Care covers a wide variety of topics central to the work of nurses in modern healthcare systems, from caring for elderly patients to operating relevant equipment.
Customer Service Skills are a must in every profession. This course will teach you how to focus on the customer and identify their expectations, as well as how to deal with complaints and manage stress.
This essential course in CPR, AED and First Aid covers critical subjects such as how to check a patient’s responsiveness, how to recognize a variety of symptoms and how to respond to choking.
Advanced Parenting Skills will teach you cutting-edge tools, strategies and techniques that you can use to help you become best parent you can be. Parenting is an amazingly difficult and complex job, it can seem truly impossible without the right training!
The Diploma in Operations Management covers all of the key functions of an operations manager. By learning the key decision-making skills involved in operations management, you’ll be better equipped to deliver your company’s goods or services to your customers on a day-to-day basis.
Having a good command of food safety and hygiene techniques is essential for any food industry professional. Food Safety and Hygiene in the Catering Industry will teach you the standard food safety guidelines for the catering industry.
Mental health has become an increasingly important concern of healthcare systems around the world. Mental Health Studies – Suicide, Violent Behavior and Substance Abuse will provide you with some truly important knowledge that can help alleviate actions and habits that might be endangering your health.
Our Diploma in Workplace Safety and Health is essential for businesses that need to implement workplace health and safety policies to ensure compliance with legislation, promote employee well-being, and foster a productive work environment.
Children with special needs have different requirements, especially when it comes to classroom learning. Working with Students with Special Educational Needs will provide you with an in-depth understanding of the relevant pedagogical techniques and educational psychology.
Focusing on the legal and ethical issues of providing care, the Diploma in Caregiving will help you develop the skills you need to become an effective caregiver. The course will help you develop the necessary skills for meeting the physical and emotional needs of a family member or a patient.
What do you think this image is saying? How does it relate to or comment on society or current events? Can you relate to it personally? What is your opinion of its message?
Tell us in the comments, then read the related article to learn more.
Students 13 and older in the United States and the United Kingdom, and 16 and older elsewhere, are invited to comment. All comments are moderated by the Learning Network staff, but please keep in mind that once your comment is accepted, it will be made public.
: in a cautious or watchful manner, usually on alert to detect danger or deceit
_________
The word warily has appeared in 110 articles on NYTimes.com in the past year, including on Sept. 25 in “The Long Road to Fatherhood” by Michael Beckett:
When my son’s life was stuck in neutral last fall, I decided to take him on a cross-country road trip. I thought an adventure would give him new experiences and perspectives, open his mind to possibilities.
… Things were fine at the start. From the Statue of Liberty to the Lincoln Memorial. Through the Shenandoah Valley, Charleston and Savannah. A soccer match in Atlanta and birthday dinner in Montgomery. It was three weeks of smiles, selfies and souvenirs. It was everything I’d hoped it would be.
And then, on a steamy night in New Orleans, a snide comment from him set things off. It quickly escalated into a sidewalk scene to rival any “Real Housewives” episode. For 10 minutes we yelled at each other as tourists eyed us warily and moved out of the line of fire. We argued in disconnected bursts about respect, expectations and attitude. Finally, panting and spent, we hugged and then ducked into a nearby bar — and were soon bopping along to a tight blues band.
Daily Word Challenge
Can you correctly use the word warily in a sentence?
Based on the definition and example provided, write a sentence using today’s Word of the Day and share it as a comment on this article. It is most important that your sentence makes sense and demonstrates that you understand the word’s definition, but we also encourage you to be creative and have fun.
Then, read some of the other sentences students have submitted and use the “Recommend” button to vote for two original sentences that stand out to you.
If you want a better idea of how warily can be used in a sentence, read these usage examples on Vocabulary.com.
If you enjoy this daily challenge, try using multiple Words of the Day in a 50-word story that you submit to our Monthly Vocabulary Challenge.
Students ages 13 and older in the United States and the United Kingdom, and 16 and older elsewhere, can comment. All comments are moderated by the Learning Network staff.
Use your imagination to write the opening of a short story or poem inspired by this illustration — or tell us about a memory from your own life that this image makes you think of.
Post it in the comments, then read the related article to learn more.
Students 13 and older in the United States and the United Kingdom, and 16 and older elsewhere, are invited to comment. All comments are moderated by the Learning Network staff, but please keep in mind that once your comment is accepted, it will be made public.
The Times reported last week that Myanmar’s security forces had arrested at least 56 reporters, outlawed online news outlets and crippled communications by cutting off mobile data service, as the military seeks to stamp out dissent after it seized power in a coup d’état on Feb. 1.
Regardless of your field, this course is a must for anyone overseeing projects at work. The 
There’s never been a greater public awareness around mental health, and it’s important to have a solid understanding of a range of mental health issues, both for your own wellbeing and for that of those around you. Alison’s 
