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What’s Going On in This Picture? | Jan. 4, 2021

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What’s Going On in This Picture? | Jan. 4, 2021

Students in U.S. high schools can get free digital access to The New York Times until Sept. 1, 2021.

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

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, although teachers of younger students are welcome to post what their students have to say.)

3. 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.

Each Monday, our collaborator, Visual Thinking Strategies, will facilitate a discussion from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Eastern time by paraphrasing comments and linking to responses to help students’ understanding go deeper. You might use their responses as models for your own.

4. On Thursday afternoons, we will reveal at the bottom of this post more information about the photo. How does reading the caption and learning its back story help you see the image differently?

More and Less

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More and Less

Students in U.S. high schools can get free digital access to The New York Times until Sept. 1, 2021.

The Times’s At Home section suggests you draw a more/less list to set your intentions for the year ahead. They point out, though, that “these drawings don’t have to be realistic or well rendered; they just have to be recognizable to you. Think of them as secret symbols that remind you of your intention.”

While you can’t post those drawings here, we hope you will tell us about a few things you’ve put on both lists, and why they’re important to you.

Let us know in the comments, then read the related article to learn more.

About Picture Prompts

• Find all our Picture Prompts in this column.
• Have an idea for a Picture Prompt? Tell us about it.
• Teachers, discover more ways to teach with our Picture Prompts and learn how to use our free daily writing prompts for remote learning.

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.

Word + Quiz: bellicose

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Word + Quiz: bellicose

: having or showing a ready disposition to fight

_________

The word bellicose has appeared in 72 articles on NYTimes.com in the past year, including on Dec. 20 in “Nepal Falls Into Political Turmoil. China and India Are Watching” by Bhadra Sharma:

The political turbulence in Nepal is taking place amid rising tensions between China and India, its two powerful and increasingly bellicose neighbors. Their rivalry has intensified as China has made increasingly forceful claims toward disputed land along their rugged border in the Himalayas.

Those tensions came to a boil in June, when unarmed troops from both countries clashed in violence that killed 20 Indian soldiers and an undisclosed number on the Chinese side. Though the two sides have pledged to ease tensions, the rivalry could provide an opportunity for the United States to build stronger ties with India once Joseph R. Biden assumes the presidency, possibly giving it a greater role in American efforts to check China’s moves to increase its sway in the region.

_________

60 of Our Favorite Teaching and Learning Resources From 2020

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60 of Our Favorite Teaching and Learning Resources From 2020

1. What Students Are Saying About What Kobe Bryant’s Death Means to Them

On Jan. 26, the basketball legend Kobe Bryant and his 13-year-old daughter, Gianna, were among nine people killed in a helicopter crash. More than 350 teenagers paid tribute to them in our related writing prompt, and we published a selection of their comments in this special roundup.

2. STEM Writing Contest: Explain a Concept in a Clear, Engaging Way

In a first-ever contest, we invited students to choose an issue or question in science, technology, engineering, math or health and explain it in 500 words or fewer. We received over 1,600 entries from teenagers around the world and selected 44 finalists. We’re holding this contest again in 2021, from Jan. 19 to to March 2.

3. Annotated by the Author: ‘Tiny Tyrannosaur Hints at How T. Rex Became King’

As part of our writing curriculum, we tried something new at the beginning of the year: inviting Times journalists to annotate their own articles to help demystify the research and writing process. Nicholas St. Fleur, a science reporter, was the first of many to let us in on his process — and the feature became an instant hit with teachers and students alike.

4. The Winners of Our Personal Narrative Essay Contest

In another first-ever contest, we asked students to write short, powerful stories about a meaningful life experience. We were thrilled to publish the eight winning essays, which teachers tell us they now use as compelling mentor texts to teach narrative writing.

5. Lesson of the Day: ‘What Is the Coronavirus? Symptoms, Treatment and Risks’

In January, when the novel coronavirus was spreading through Asia, but still a mystery to many Americans, we published this lesson to help students learn about the virus by using Times photographs, graphs and articles. We couldn’t fathom then how much it would turn our lives upside down.

A meaningful Right if Modernized

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A meaningful Right if Modernized

Introduction

I started first grade in 1980, subsequent to a long and tedious war for Zimbabwe’s independence. People who were unable to attend school for years were now able to do so. At age 7, I could see students who were roughly 20 years old, just getting the opportunity to attend grade seven at my school. Bearded men, mother-like grown up women all in the same class room as younger students who were supposed to be in that grade at their age. As the new majority government started their reign, one announcement that excited my family was that education was a human right for all and so every child was supposed to be given an opportunity to learn. Despite the fact that the majority of students in my class came from low income families, it gave us all bright hope that we had the right to learn and that right, no one could take away from us.

Before this era, there were bottlenecks in the education systems of most colonized countries. Due to this, it seemed like the only options natives had were to prepare to be “good subordinates” to the superior colonial systems they wanted to be a part of.

Scholarly Perspectives on Education

I am inclined to agree with the thought that the free market economy has many advantages as it promotes the idea of competition that must motivate all parties to be efficient in decisions and actions. Ver Eecke, W (1998) identifies education as, “a merit good in which if the socio-economic dimension is ignored, society will be deprived.” It is now a common fact that education is regarded as a merit good, one that is likely to be under-supplied and under-consumed if everything should be left to market forces. Biesta, G. (2012) brings a deeper perspective to education as he looks at the need to include education as a “public good”. One may not doubt why such perspectives would be brought into question. One reason for this could be the innumerable benefits to society when people who opt to take education to the public domain. A market system is deemed to have failures if it cannot efficiently allocate education as a merit or public good.

Jongbloed, B. (2003) sheds light on the issue of supply monopolies in education as a market failure. When I was a teenager, I was only aware of one university in Zimbabwe; the University of Zimbabwe. Consequently, the result of having only one such facility privatized, would only allow for a privileged few who could afford it, to attend.  

My Experience

When I completed my Advanced Level education through an external examination body; since Zimbabwe had not yet localized exams by then, I faced great competition to be accepted into a public college. Many students had benefited from the “Education For All Policy”, such that the literacy level of Zimbabwe was climbed to approximately 98%. The number of Ordinary Level students was so high that only advanced level students could be enrolled in public universities. This was a high standard in the region. It became even more evident to me when I visited and started staying in Malawi. All my employers admitted that on average, the education standards set by the new independence government were very high.

Some colleagues disliked this new policy and thought it to be a most unfair advantage to students in our region, which was unfortunate because in no way did it lower the difficulty level of learning the material taught. I remember the rigorous efforts I made in college while I trained for a diploma in education. A colleague from a neighboring country confessed that the Diploma standards that were set in Zimbabwe, could match the degree standards in their country. Another close friend in the Engineering department also admitted to the same thought. He mentioned that the equipment in the department at the same college I studied; donated by the US Government, was far better quality than those at some other institutions.

I am proud to have had the exposure I did during my tenure there as it prepared me tremendously for my degree program.

Online and Adult Education Opportunities

As a zealous student, I am pleased to say that I have completed my bachelors and masters’ degree programs. My degree was completed through a program dubbed the Block-Release program where I utilized my school holidays as a teacher to study for an average of four weeks. It was difficult to cover sixteen weeks’ worth of work in four weeks but the end result was worth it. One thing I learnt is that it is never too late to achieve your goals. As long as there is breath in your body, you have the capacity to achieve.

Another advantage of this program was that it forced us to become computer literate. This was an advantage for us as computers were not in our school system when I was a child. Online education forced me to be computer literate. Even on days when I struggled I reminded myself of the great right I had to learn and used that to propel myself to completion.

Is education a human right?

While in theory, the right to education is often preached in almost all nations, not enough has been done to realize this for a vast majority of citizens. McCowan, T. (2010) makes this observation, “The universal right to education has been enshrined in a range of international rights instruments. Yet despite the considerable secondary literature on the subject, there has been little discussion of the notion of education underpinning the right.” 

Where I now reside, I have witnessed the financial challenges that students at the primary level face even though education is free for all. In my research; The Marketisation of Education, I was saddened when the head of a school revealed  that the school charges a small development levy of about $0.80 per term but some parents still struggle to find this amount. I visited the school and saw that the majority of classes have no chairs or desks leaving students to conduct studies on the cold hard floor. My conclusion was that a mindset change, a paradigm shift must be done since some things that were missing did not need monetary resources.

Modernising Education

There is a dire need to modernize the education system. Africa, which make up a significant part of the developing world, can learn from developed nations such as the US and the UK if they are to transform the current education system.  Courtney, S. J. (2018) outlines how the UK managed to achieve some milestones in modernizing their education system. There is need for investing time, talents and resources to make the right to education a meaningful one. The current generation has much more advantages than those gone before. They have the internet, computers, improved transportation systems, televisions, radios etc. Proper planning and execution can bring new ideas to life to achieve a better system.

Conclusion

Education is a right and we must be thankful for. The right has to be taken to where it is needed most by the less privileged and the disadvantaged potential talents so that our world can be a better home for all. Those in authority in developing nations have an uphill task especially where the education index is low. Even the so-called developing nations have a right to reach levels such as those in Scandinavian countries like Sweden, Finland which boast of high educations indices. Records show that an average child makes it to university while one low income country like Malawi, an average child struggles to complete secondary education. The right to education can be reached by all.

Playing the ‘Green Lottery’: Life Inside Colombia’s Emerald Mines

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Playing the ‘Green Lottery’: Life Inside Colombia’s Emerald Mines

I was half a mile into the mine shaft, and my heart was racing. Hunched underneath the low ceiling and hardly able to see, I was following along by listening to the splashes of the men’s steps in front of me. The water, dripping from above, was up to my ankles. Then we stopped. We’d come to a dead end, one of the miners said. In order for us to proceed, they needed to set off some dynamite.

In a matter of minutes, several packs of explosives were drilled into the mountain and ready to be detonated. I was told to open my mouth and not close it until the last of the dynamite had exploded.

The blasts began, and I sensed the mountain groaning around me. Then: complete silence. Ten seconds later, as the dust began to settle, one of the miners shouted, “Lets go! It’s time to see what we got.”

Less than a month earlier, I was living a comfortable life in Dubai. Though I was born in Colombia, I left the country at age 18 to attend college in the United States — and, since then, had followed my work elsewhere around the world.

Lately, though, I felt the need to reconnect with my country. Conveniently, an acquaintance in Dubai knew a respected emerald dealer and mine owner in Colombia. He invited me to visit and witness some of the country’s mining operations.

The miners I visited live and work in the department of Boyacá, which is six hours by car north of Bogotá, the country’s capital. Boyacá sits on a branch of the Andes known as the Cordillera Oriental. Here, hidden in a series of small mining towns — Muzo, Chivor, Otanche, Peñas Blancas, Coscuez — are some of the most valuable emerald mines in the world.

It’s no secret that the miners in this region work in difficult and often dangerous conditions — some in sanctioned and regulated areas, some illicitly. They labor under the threat of collapsing mines, falling rocks and temperatures in excess of 110 degrees.

Despite the risks, many of the miners speak to me about their work with pride, as if buoyed by a sense of tradition.

The economics of the trade can vary significantly. Some miners operate informally and independently, scouring debris fields or venturing into unregulated mines — and profiting directly from the sale of stones to merchants or gem carvers.

Others officially work for mine owners or mining companies. These miners might be paid steady salaries or make commissions on the stones they find. (The specific circumstances of the financial arrangements — whether the miners are paid upfront, for example, or only after a stone is sold to a merchant, carver or customer — often depend on the level of trust between the owners and the miners.)

The harsh reality inside the mines is contrasted by the grandeur outside them: the smell of the clean air in the mornings, the ever-present sound of the rivers, the imposing peaks of the Andes.

During the dry season, miners set up small tents by the river to protect themselves from the intense sun. After long hours of work, they relax in view of the breathtaking beauty that surrounds them.

Over the course of the five days I spent with them, the miners shared countless stories of how the emeralds, and the surrounding mountains, had changed their lives.

One miner, an older man who lived in a modest house, claimed to have made exorbitant sums of money on several choice stones — only to have squandered it all, he said, forcing him to return, reluctantly, to the mines.

Others have seen family members and friends killed during the intense fighting — much of it tied to the illicit emerald trade — that took place here in the mountains during the 1980s. And some have just been waiting patiently for decades, hoping that one day they’ll find an emerald that will change their lives.

The future of these local miners is largely uncertain. In recent decades, corporations — some of them foreign — have ascended into Boyacá’s mountains and taken control of large swaths of the hills. Some of the companies offer salaries, health care and a sense of stability.

Still, many miners opt for the rewards, and the risks, of working alone.

Many of the men I met described mining as a gamble and an addiction. The mines, they said, are like casinos in the middle of the Andes: One stone could change it all.

And finding such a stone, they say, is ultimately what they live — and are willing to die — for.

Juan Pablo Ramirez is a Colombian photographer based in Dubai. You can follow his work on Instagram.

What Do You Hope for Most in 2021?

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What Do You Hope for Most in 2021?

Students in U.S. high schools can get free digital access to The New York Times until Sept. 1, 2021.

We’re at the start of a new year; so far, though, it doesn’t seem all that much different than the last one.

Are you optimistic about the start of 2021? What changes do you hope for this year?

In “This Year, Try Downsizing Your Resolutions,” Christina Caron writes about making New Year’s resolutions that are both satisfying and doable. Have you made any resolutions yet? If not, perhaps you want to consider setting some goals right now.

Ms. Caron writes:

After the unpredictable, torrid year we’ve had, the idea of making New Year’s resolutions for 2021 might seem a tad overwhelming.

“I am keeping the bar so low,” the comedian Robyn Schall joked during an interview with The New York Times this month.

“No goals,” she said, laughing. “Just one day at a time.”

Schall, 36, became internet-famous in November after she posted a video on TikTok about her unfulfilled resolutions from last December, a list she read aloud while “half-crying, half-laughing” with a glass of wine in hand.

“Travel more,” she wrote. (She has been sequestered in “the tiniest of tiny” studio apartments in Manhattan.) “Make more money.” (Schall has been unemployed since March.) “Be more social.” (Nope.) “Spend more time with my grandma.” (Both of her grandmothers died this year.)

Even if you’re the type of person who is put off by New Year’s resolutions, experts say that in 2021 — or any year, really — writing out one or two specific, small and attainable goals can help develop confidence and a sense of pride, improving your well-being.

And right now we could all use a little more positivity in our lives.

Students, read the entire article, then consider these questions:

  • The article suggests that writing down one or two small goals can be a way to boost self-confidence and develop a sense of pride. Have you ever tried that? What one or two goals would you set this year?

  • What do you think about the rest of the advice in the article? It recommends that you think about your motivations; pick bite-size goals that are actually achievable; make a plan, not a resolution; shorten your list and write it down; and cut yourself some slack. Does it all sound like good advice to you? Do you think you’ll follow any of it?

  • Ms. Caron suggests that we could all use a little more positivity in our lives these days. To what degree do you agree that setting small, attainable goals can be helpful, especially during dark times?

  • The article distinguishes between making a resolution and having a plan. What’s the difference in your opinion? Do you think the distinction is an important one? How good are you at setting goals? How good are you at making plans to achieve your goals, whether small or large? How good are you at sticking to your plans?

  • The last piece of advice in the article is to cut yourself some slack. Do you ever put too much pressure on yourself when you don’t accomplish your goals as quickly as you would have liked? Are you good at celebrating even the small progress that you make along the way?

About Student Opinion

• Find all of our Student Opinion questions in this column.
• Have an idea for a Student Opinion question? Tell us about it.
• Learn more about how to use our free daily writing prompts for remote learning.

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.

Lesson of the Day: ‘Cuttlefish Took Something Like a Marshmallow Test. Many Passed.’

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Lesson of the Day: ‘Cuttlefish Took Something Like a Marshmallow Test. Many Passed.’

Students in U.S. high schools can get free digital access to The New York Times until Sept. 1, 2021.

Featured Article: “Cuttlefish Took Something Like a Marshmallow Test. Many Passed.” by Veronique Greenwood

Cuttlefish are known for their advanced cognition: a power to camouflage with precision, their depth perception and a remarkable ability to strike their prey. A study published this month revealed that cuttlefish are also able to perform complicated calculations about what to eat.

In this lesson, you will learn about the process that scientists undertook to better understand the choices that cuttlefish make about their food. Then, you will design your own cuttlefish experiment.

Choose one carnivorous animal and make a list of five facts about how the animal hunts and eats its prey. You can choose any carnivore, but possibilities include: panthers, sharks, bears, wolves, dolphins, hyenas and snakes. You may need to do some research, but don’t spend any longer than five minutes.

In the featured article, you will learn about a discovery about how cuttlefish, relatives of squids and octopuses, choose what they eat and hunt.

Read the article, then answer the following questions:

1. What are some of the characteristics of cuttlefish that make them unique?

2. What is one way that researchers have been able to identify that cuttlefish can think ahead?

3. What previous discovery did Chuan-Chin Chiao and Tzu-Hsin Kuo, two biologists at National Tsing Hua University in Taiwan, make regarding cuttlefish hunting?

4. In your own words, describe the new experiments that Dr. Chiao and Dr. Kuo created to study cuttlefish. How did they set up the two tests and what did the results reveal?

5. Why is this new research significant? What is one question that you now have about cuttlefish?

The New York Times has written several other articles about cuttlefish over the years. Choose one of the articles below to learn more about these sea creatures.

As you read, write down three new facts you learn about cuttlefish and one new question that you have about them.

The featured article looked closely at a two-part experiment created by researchers at National Tsing Hua University in Taiwan. Now, design your own experiment to answer a question that you have about cuttlefish behavior and cognition.

Start by developing your question. For example, it could be related to their eating and hunting patterns; their social or antisocial behaviors; their shelter selection and use; or their mating habits. Then, create a hypothesis: Based on your prior knowledge or research, how can your question be answered or explained?

Next, using the experiment design discussed in the article as inspiration, consider what materials, setup and procedure you would need to create to conduct the experiment. If you’re feeling stuck, you can look at the other Times articles about cuttlefish mentioned above to see how they set up their experiments.

Finally, lay out your cuttlefish experiment design using this laboratory experiment template.

About Lesson of the Day

• Find all our Lessons of the Day in this column.
• Teachers, watch our on-demand webinar to learn how to use this feature in your classroom.

Word + Quiz: sang-froid

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Word + Quiz: sang-froid

: great coolness and composure under strain

_________

The word sang-froid has appeared in six articles on NYTimes.com in the past year, including on Aug. 9 in “Collin Morikawa Delivers Magic at the P.G.A. Championship” by Brian Murphy:

First, though, there was adversity.

His approach on the par-4 No. 14, from the fairway, came up a disappointing 15 yards short. It was then that Morikawa displayed the sang-froid and the soft hands that have characterized the brilliant start to his career.

He coolly lofted a clean chip from the fairway that rolled into the cup for a birdie.

A nearby pack of volunteers cheered, apparently feeling obliged to punctuate the silence for such a moment.

Morikawa had the lead.

_________

How to Take Your Family Geocaching

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How to Take Your Family Geocaching

If it feels as if you’ve already explored every last nook and cranny of your cramped lockdown life know this: Right under your nose, there’s a hidden world operating entirely out of view.

That world is geocaching, a no-contact game of hide-and-seek between hundreds of thousands of strangers. Players hide caches — waterproof containers, usually small plastic boxes — in out-of-sight spots for others to discover using GPS technology.

How has this world remained totally hidden from you? The first rule of geocaching is to try to keep your searching a secret. If a runner jogs by, players may pretend to be deeply engrossed in plant identification. (Once you know about geocaching, you may realize just how many other folks are pretending to be fascinated by that patch of ivy.)

Geocaching began in earnest in 2000, when the U.S. military adjusted its GPS satellites to improve accuracy for recreational GPS users. An enthusiast in Oregon hid the first cache, said Bryan Roth, president and co-founder of Geocaching HQ, which runs Geocaching.com. Since then, the community has grown steadily, with the pandemic spurring a considerable increase in participation.

“At a time when people are looking for some distraction, getting outside really works well,” said Mr. Roth, who noted that sign-ups for the Geocaching app are up 70 percent compared with last year.

To get started, download an app on your phone, like Geocaching HQ (free download and some free caches, but the $30 annual membership unlocks more); Cachly ($4.99 and free caches, iPhone only); or c:geo (free download and free caches, Android only). You can also geocache with a hand-held GPS device, using online databases like NaviCache.com to find cache coordinates.

Caches are rated 1 to 5 by their difficulty; beginners may want to start with a 1 and work up from there. GPS will usually get you within 30 feet of the cache, and instructions like “look to the north of the roadway” can clue you in on exactly where you should be searching.

Then the real hunt begins.

When you find the cache — be it hidden under a tree, tucked into a log pile or taped to the back of a sign — you can check it off on the app. Most caches have a logbook tucked inside that shows everyone who was there before you, while others will contain a trinket as a treasure. (Putting a few tiny objects in your pocket before you head out gives you options if you think you might want to swap with the trinkets inside.)

One particularly nice benefit of geocaching is that it gets screen-addicted kids outside. And even though geocaching happens outdoors, you needn’t be outdoorsy.

When a friend first suggested that Katie Sweeney and her husband try geocaching in 2007, “I was like, I don’t really like hiking,” she remembered. Ms. Sweeney, a copywriter based in the Netherlands, soon found many caches within a few blocks of her home, in Philadelphia at the time. Today, she takes her 6-year-old daughter out to geocache on their way to or from the grocery store or other errands.

“We’re always discovering new places near where we live,” Ms. Sweeney said, adding that children can really be an asset. Their different vantage points often help them see things adults might overlook.

Nick Geidner, a University of Tennessee journalism professor, doesn’t mind if a hunt is a bust.

“We don’t always find them,” he said. “But if we fail, we can come back and we can try again.” Henry, his 7-year-old son, wasn’t quite so sure. When asked how he felt after giving up on a recent hunt, he said, “I’m not like angry, but I’m not like happy.”

The thrill of finding a tricky or unique cache, though, far outweighs those not-happy moments. In September, Ms. Sweeney and her daughter found a once-in-a-lifetime cache, which had a gamelike opening with a maze, magnetic ball and secret code.

“It was this little joy,” said Ms. Sweeney, recalling opening the cache. “We’re all just looking for little moments of joy.”

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