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What’s Going On in This Graph? | March 25, 2020

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What’s Going On in This Graph? | March 25, 2020

This graph shows a possible model for the number of coronavirus cases over time, with and without protective measures including social distancing. It appeared elsewhere in The New York Times.

By Friday morning, March 26, we will provide the “Reveal” — the graph’s free online link, additional background and questions, shout outs highlighting student comments and headlines, and Stat Nuggets.

After looking closely at the graph above (or at this full-size image), think about these three questions:

  • What do you notice? If you make a claim, tell us what you noticed that supports your claim.

  • What do you wonder? What are you curious about that comes from what you notice in the graph?

The questions are intended to build on one another, so try to answer them in order. Start with “I notice,” then “I wonder,” and end with a catchy headline.

2. 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 online. Teachers of younger students are welcome to post what their students say.)

3. After you have posted, read what others have said, then respond to someone else by posting a comment. Use the “Reply” button or the @ symbol to address that student directly.

On Wednesday, March 25, our collaborator, the American Statistical Association, will facilitate this discussion from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Eastern time to help students’ understanding go deeper. You might use their responses as models for your own.

4. By Friday morning, March 26, we will reveal more information about the graph at the bottom of this post. Students, we encourage you to post an additional comment after reading the reveal. How does the original article and the moderators’ comments help you see the graph differently? Try to incorporate the statistical terms defined in the Stat Nuggets in your response.

  • Read our 2019-20 introductory post, which includes the archives of past releases by topic and graph type.

  • Learn more about the “Notice and Wonder” teaching strategy and how and why other teachers are using this feature from our on-demand webinar.

  • Sign up for our free weekly newsletter so you never miss a graph, and add our 2019-20 “What’s Going On in This Graph?” live-moderated discussion Wednesdays to your Google calendar (3/25, 4/1, 4/8). Graphs are always released by the Friday before to give teachers time to plan ahead.

  • Go to the A.S.A. K-12 website, which includes This is Statistics, resources, professional development, student competitions, curriculum, courses and careers.

Mascot

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Mascot

What is your school’s mascot? Do you think it represents your school well?

Imagine you have the chance to select a new mascot for your school. What would you choose? Why would you choose it? How would this mascot be representative of the spirit, values, population or geography of your school?

Tell us in the comments, then read the related article to learn more about Blue IV, Butler University’s mascot in training.

Find many more ways to use our Picture Prompt feature in this lesson plan. You can find all our Picture Prompts in this column.

Word + Quiz: spurious

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Word + Quiz: spurious

1. plausible but false

2. intended to deceive

3. born out of wedlock

_________

The word spurious has appeared in 40 articles on NYTimes.com in the past year, including on Feb. 27 in the theater review “In London, Contemporary Anxieties Take the Stage” by Matt Wolf:

Telling of a surveillance state in which our every move is monitored, the careering narrative devolves into a nasty revenge drama, by which point you’ve lost sympathy for both the hotshot intelligence expert Neil (Oliver Johnstone) and the emotionally damaged journalist, Cora (Rona Morison), on whom he alights first professionally and then romantically. She, for her part, gives scant respect to professional benchmarks like fact-checking and attribution.

It’s a measure of clunky dramaturgy when a play resorts to lapsing into direct address for no other reason but to impart information or gain a spurious relevance. At one point, we’re given a vivid recapitulation of recent terror attacks in London that only distracts from the tortured courtship at the play’s core. The play takes its title, you guessed it, from the proverbial image of a needle in a haystack, but at a running time of nearly three hours, “The Haystack” is at least one bale too many. Compression, not to mention more logical plotting, would seem to be the noninvasive remedy here.

_________

Lesson of the Day: ‘On the Trail of America’s First Women to Vote’

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Lesson of the Day: ‘On the Trail of America’s First Women to Vote’

Find all our Lessons of the Day here.

Featured Article: “On the Trail of America’s First Women to Vote” by Jennifer Schuessler

The year 2020 marks 100 years since the United States signed women’s suffrage into law with the 19th Amendment. In the featured article, you will learn about a time in early American history when women and free black people were allowed to vote in New Jersey. Then, you will engage in your own analysis of the historical events discussed in the article, or research the history of suffrage in your area using both primary and secondary sources.

What do you know about women’s suffrage? Where does your knowledge come from? When you think about women’s suffrage, do you picture a particular time period, key figures or narrative?

What is your reaction to hearing that women and free black people had the right to vote in the late 1700s in New Jersey? Is that information surprising? What more do you want to know about that history?

If it is helpful, you can record your thoughts on this K/W/L chart or discuss it with your classmates.

Teachers: If your students have limited background knowledge on women’s suffrage, we recommend watching this History Channel video:

As you watch, note what you are learning, and also your questions, in your K/W/L chart.

Read the article, then answer the following questions:

1. What is significant about the “New Jersey exception”? What different beliefs and theories do historians have as to the significance of that exception?

2. Philip Mead, the chief historian at the Museum of the American Revolution in Philadelphia, said that period of time was the “American democratic system in its primordial ooze.” What does Mr. Mead mean? What have you learned about the American Revolution that supports his statement?

3. How did New Jersey’s first state constitution and a subsequent 1797 statute allow women and free black people to vote? What are some of the things that are unique about the language used?

4. Have you ever conducted genealogy research or worked with primary sources? Why do you think it was so hard for researchers to find “hard evidence” of women who had voted in New Jersey in that time period?

5. The article states that the voter lists are not unusual, which Jane Kamensky, a historian at Harvard, thinks is significant. What conclusion does Dr. Kamensky draw about the women who were voting?

6. What are some of the different speculations that researchers have as to why women often voted together in groups? Do you agree with any of their theories, or do you have other speculations?

7. According to the article, what were some of the events that eventually led to the 1807 New Jersey law excluding women and black people from voting? Do you agree or disagree with Dr. Mead’s concluding statement, saying, “This is a story both about what we might have been, and about who we’ve become”?

The article demonstrates how historians and researchers must employ speculation to understand moments in history that have limited primary sources or documentation. Read the article again and highlight different instances when multiple historians present different perspectives about how or why something happened in the past.

An example of this from the article is, “the debate over whether the New Jersey story is a grim tale of rollback, or an inspiring first chapter of the struggle for women’s suffrage that began in earnest a half-century later.”

Now, employ some of your own speculative thought or supposition. What do you think? Do you believe that the history of suffrage in New Jersey shows regression in women’s rights, or does it emphasize that those struggles began earlier than most people think?

As you defend your position, be sure to use examples from the article to support your case. You should also use background knowledge that you have about the time period, about later examples of women’s suffrage or about women voting in other states or countries.

You can engage in a classroom discussion, or share your response with others in the comments section.

Begin to do some of your own research about women’s suffrage. You can focus your research on one of the two following tracks:

Local Suffrage: What do you know about the history of women’s suffrage in your state or country? Do you know when women legally got the right to vote? What do you know about the activism and organizing that led to their enfranchisement?

Intersectionality and Suffrage: Intersectionality is defined by the Times writer, Alina Tugend, as “the complex and cumulative way different forms of discrimination like racism, sexism and classism overlap and affect people.” How did intersectional identities affect who was given the right to vote in your state or country? Whose stories do you hear most often when learning about women’s suffrage? Were people of color included in your region’s history of suffrage?

To support your research, you may want to explore these sources:

Two March 18 Webinars: Quick Tips on Using Our Most Popular Features for Remote Learning

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Two March 18 Webinars: Quick Tips on Using Our Most Popular Features for Remote Learning

Update: March 18:

We are using this post during today’s webinar to help people new to our site learn how to comment. Below, the question we’ll be asking listeners. If you need instructions on how to register and post comments beyond what we will share on the webinar, please consult this post.

Question for webinar participants: What has been helpful to you over the last several days and weeks in thinking about how to teach and learn from home?

You can include anything at all, whether reassuring advice or ideas from your friends, family, school, students or colleagues; websites or articles with useful information; social media posts that resonated; or just your own thinking as it has evolved since this crisis began.

Whether you are a teacher, a parent, or a student who is at least 13 years old, this webinar will help you get started in using The Learning Network’s free resources for remote learning. Select a time that works best for you and come with questions. We can’t wait to meet you.

We’ll be focusing on our writing prompts and our “What’s Going On in This Picture?” features, and we’ll walk you through how to sign on and use each of them — and explain how they can work flexibly for a variety of kinds of learners. And if you miss the webinar, don’t worry: It will be recorded, and we’ll post the link here.

If you would like to submit questions to us in advance, write to us at LNFeedback@nytimes.com. And bookmark this page, because we’ll be using it live during the webinar to demonstrate how to sign in to our site and comment.

Finally, if you’d like a bit more help, we’ve created this guide to show teachers, parents and students how to get started on their own.

How to choose a career

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How to choose a career

Whether you’re young and at school, you’ve recently graduated, or you’ve been in the same job for some time, there’s the chance you haven’t quite yet got to where you want to be in terms of having your dream job. 

The issue for many is either how to get to their final destination, or perhaps even not knowing what their ideal career looks like.

This article lays out some of the questions you need to answer and the hurdles you need to cross before choosing your perfect career.

What would you love to do if money wasn’t a barrier?

Although this isn’t going to be the question that puts the entire issue to bed, working out what your dream job is, regardless of money, is a great step to finding out what exactly you want to do. 

Even if not the perfect guide to the job you’re likely to take, this is a quick and easy method of eliminating some types of work that you would entirely avoid if given the opportunity. Whilst a “money is no object” thought experiment won’t resolve the problem, it narrows it down to a smaller list of solutions that you can use to identify your next career move.

How can you make money and do something you love?

Once you have a shortlist of things you’d like to do from the above question, you can further narrow down your career options by seeing which of them could realistically provide you with a living in the near-term future. 

There might be some roles that require you to work voluntarily rather than as a paid position, and, whilst you might enjoy the role, they won’t help you pay the bills. 

By taking into account the monetary factor, you can work out what career gives you the chance to do what you love and live comfortably without having to worry about your cost of living.

What sort of environment are you comfortable working in?

If you’re really ill-suited to working in an office environment or wouldn’t enjoy working from home, you’ll need to factor this into your decision. Although it can be difficult to find a job that also allows you to work where you want, working in the wrong environment can have detrimental effects, including work-related stress. 

Working in the wrong environment, even in what you consider to be a dream job, could be harmful to your mental health, and even make you dislike your passion.

What’s stopping you from changing career now?

When you’re moving from one career to another, there are always going to be some bumps in the road. 

For some, this comes in the form of a sparse CV. In other cases, there’s a skills gap that needs to be filled in order to do the job right in the case that you do change careers. 

In both cases, or any others you might come across, if you don’t make sure that these roadblocks are out of the way, then moving to your dream job could prove to be impossible. Training in cutting-edge areas, boosting your CV and your skillset in the process, could be a big jump along the path to job satisfaction.

What is my first step to a new career?

To start moving towards your new career, you’ll need to make sure you have the skills to do the job. FutureLearn can provide you with the courses and training you need to get up to speed.

We use a variety of online learning modules, including free short courses, to improve your skills level and prepare individuals for the role of their dreams. All our courses are 100% online, which means you can retrain in your own time, at your own pace, with a global community of learners.

If you still don’t know what your dream career looks like, explore FutureLearn’s Career Mapper. This uses a series of detailed questions to help you narrow down what exactly you want your career to look like – starting today.

 

COVID-19: The cultural impact of coronavirus

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COVID-19: The cultural impact of coronavirus

To learn more about coronavirus, join our free online course COVID-19: Tackling the Novel Coronavirus, created by leading health experts at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine.

The effects of coronavirus are having a devastating impact on health services around the world. Beyond the immediate threat to life, COVID-19 is also laying waste to the cultural schedule, forcing cancellations and suspensions of some of society’s biggest cultural events.

Musical delays and cancellations

Major concerts and festivals such as Glastonbury have been cancelled. In South Korea, K-pop concerts have been suspended, while Country to Country, which is normally held in three separate locations (London, Glasgow and Dublin) has been postponed.

In the sporting world, Euro 2020 has been put on hold for a year, and all footballing fixtures put on hold until further notice. The Japanese government still insist the Tokyo Olympics will go ahead, although it looks more in doubt with every new announcement of travel bans and closed borders.

Green Day are among the musical artists who’ve moved to postpone tour dates. They were set to perform in Singapore, Thailand, the Philippines, Hong Kong, South Korea and Japan. Instead, they will begin their tour in California on 25th April, but of course, that too is subject to change if the virus continues to spread.

Most recently, Eurovision has announced its intention to suspend – for the first time – the 2020 edition of the beloved pop competition until next year.

James Bond delayed

The movie industry has also been scrambling to respond. The Chinese premiere of the new Bond film ‘No Time to Die’ was cancelled, along with the planned accompanying red-carpet tour. Sonic the Hedgehog, Little Women and 1917 are also among those whose Chinese premieres have been delayed, with no indication of when they will go ahead. The uncertainty of how long it will take to contain the virus has been a huge knockback to the film industry.

It’s true that these are big-budget films, have the backing of film studios and access to large amounts of money, but when the investment in a film isn’t recouped in tickets sales, this can quickly affect the budget for further productions. Future ticket sales could even be increased to recover losses, but as people may be reluctant to pay more, the losses could have a negative impact on the future of the film industry.

The television industry has been similarly affected. Netflix have announced the suspension of all productions, while the BBC has put its dramas on hold, including suspending Eastenders for the first time in the soap’s history.

Large scale gatherings

Large scale gatherings of over 500 people have been banned in New York, while gatherings of over 250 have been prohibited in Seattle. Many people in other areas, both in the US and worldwide have chosen to self-isolate, or to avoid large scale gatherings. This has led to many events being cancelled or postponed.

Many people working in the arts rely on these events for a large proportion of their income or to supplement their freelance earnings. How governments respond now to the closing of venues and media productions could determine their future prospects once the virus is under control.

Writing at risk

It’s well-known that literary festivals are a vital source of income for authors across the globe. Yet book festivals and fairs have followed the trend and announced suspensions across the board. 

This year’s Oxford Literary Festival has been cancelled, along with the London Book Fair. Meanwhile, the Strand Bookstore in New York has also been shut down.

Art galleries

Some art galleries rely on both funding and paintings being sold, in order to remain open. With people self-isolated because of Coronavirus, this causes a reduction in the numbers of any ticket sales, art sales or people attending associated events which might have bought in much-needed cash.

We’ve seen high-profile art galleries and museums shutter their doors in recent days, including the Wellcome Trust, the V&A, and the Tate Galleries. In New York, all museums – including the legendary MOMA art gallery – have closed indefinitely.

These are just a few of the ways Coronavirus is impacting movies, arts and other cultural events. Although containing the virus should be the number one priority, the effects on the cultural industries will felt long after the threat to our health is over.

If you want to know more about the coronavirus, we have partnered with leading health experts at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine on the free online course, COVID-19: Tackling the Novel Coronavirus. 

We also have a variety of online courses exploring different aspects of the arts; from An Introduction to Screenwriting to Innovation: the Fashion Industry, and everything in-between. Explore our creative arts and media selection and find the course to get you through coronavirus shutdown.

Category Coronavirus, Current Issues

COVID-19: How to boost your immune system

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COVID-19: How to boost your immune system

To learn more about coronavirus, join our free online course COVID-19: Tackling the Novel Coronavirus, created by leading health experts at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine.

The emerging coronavirus pandemic has swept from China across the world, resulting in a blaze of headlines warning of an increasing number of cases, shutdowns and the oft-repeated mantra to wash your hands.

First-hand hygiene

Soap and water can be hugely helpful in stopping transmission of the infection. The virus has a lipid (or fatty) layer on the outside, so simple hand washing breaks it down and stops it spreading. 

We’ve also learned that a person’s underlying level of health is relevant to how well the body copes with infection (as with any virus). Lifestyle changes can do nothing to stop you from becoming unwell – that mostly comes down to hand hygiene or social distancing techniques – but they can help to strengthen your body and mind as the pandemic rolls on.

The strength of the immune system varies not only from person to person but also from day to day – its ability to fight off infection fluctuates depending on many factors. 

Here are five things you can do to keep your immune system in check during the COVID-19 outbreak.

Reduce stress

The headlines we’re bombarded with every day about the virus could easily have an impact on the nation’s mental health. Already we’ve seen waves of panic in the supermarkets as people stockpile everyday goods. In this time of stress, it’s useful to remember the impact stress hormones have on weakening the immune system.

In short supply, the stress hormone cortisol can boost immunity by limiting inflammation. But, once it crosses a certain threshold, too much cortisol in the blood opens the door for more inflammation. 

Stress can also negatively impact the production of lymphocytes — the white blood cells that are the body’s first line of defence against infection — putting you at potential risk of viral disease. Consider limiting your daily screen time and take breaks when you feel burned out. Relaxation techniques like meditation and gentle exercise might also help.

The importance of exercise

Regular exercise promotes cardiovascular health, lowers blood pressure, helps control body weight, and offers protection against diseases. 

Exercise also improves blood circulation, allowing immune system cells to move through the body more freely and do their job more effectively.

Eat a balanced diet

The immune system is the body’s natural defence system, and (like any army) its soldiers need sustenance. Make sure you eat a balanced diet with fruits and vegetables in order to receive the right proportion of micronutrients.

Nutrition, and the advice of nutritionists, is useful in understanding the best way to respond to patterns of illness. If you want to learn how to help others by becoming a nutritionist, you can explore our selection of online courses for that profession.

In addition to learning how to eat a balanced, healthy diet you can learn how to adopt a diet specifically designed to prevent disease.

Monash University’s Food as Medicine course, designed especially for healthcare professionals, gives an introduction to current evidence surrounding the impact of nutrition on the development and treatment of chronic low-grade inflammation, and potential subsequent disease development.

Don’t smoke

Smoking tobacco has several negative effects on immune system health, such as:

  • Greater susceptibility to infections such as pneumonia and influenza.
  • More severe and longer-lasting illnesses.
  • Lower levels of protective antioxidants (such as vitamin C), in the blood.

Try to sleep

Studies show that people who don’t get enough sleep or good quality sleep are more likely to get sick after being exposed to a virus.

When we sleep, the body releases proteins called cytokines, while sleep deprivation decreases their production. Cytokines are paramount during times of infection or inflammation. 

If you want to know more about the COVID-19 outbreak, we’ve partnered with the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine to create a free course exploring the pandemic – from its origins to how we should react to it in the present.

Category Coronavirus, Current Issues

Social Distancing

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Social Distancing

What story does this image inspire for you?

Tell us about something from your own life, past or present, that this illustration makes you think of — or use your imagination to write the opening of a short story or poem from the perspective of one of the people pictured.

Post it in the comments, then read the related article to find out what it’s all about.

Find many more ways to use our Picture Prompt feature in this lesson plan. You can find all our Picture Prompts in this column.

Word + Quiz: sortie

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Word + Quiz: sortie

1. a military action in which besieged troops burst forth from their position

2. (military) an operational flight by a single aircraft (as in a military operation)

_________

The word sortie has appeared in five articles on NYTimes.com in the past year, including on May 8 in “These Jewish World War II Veterans Would Be Legends, if People Knew Their Stories” by Aron Heller:

… Unlike their American counterparts, the Canadians and the Royal Air Force flew their missions at night. Their aircraft had no belly gunners and were at the mercy of Luftwaffe fighters that attacked from below. Whenever they lifted off on a mission, they departed with the knowledge that this sortie could easily be their last.

“The Germans used to come up from the bottom, and boom, that was it,” my grandfather told me in a rare revelation. In addition to flying in daytime, American crews flew en masse, and “they had five or six gunners in each plane, and lots of firepower, so the Germans couldn’t get close to them,” he said. The Royal Air Force and Canadian forces, by contrast, “had a terrible time.”

_________

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