Hot Stuff: Resources for Educators

Credit: William Duke

Global SchoolNet Foundation

Nonprofit organization; free membership www.globalschoolnet.org

More than a million students in nearly 200 countries around the world have joined in on the many projects, competitions, and networks created by this long-standing global education foundation, one of education's premier hubs for international project-based learning, and its partners. Want to take your students on an African safari or a trip across the polar ice caps? Members have access to online expeditions that follow real-time, real-life explorers as they survey the savannah and trek the tundra. Or connect your students with others around the world at the Global Schoolhouse, a virtual meeting place where thousands of online collaborations are carried out. The globe's at your fingertips, so get surfing.

Credit: William Duke

EarthShapes

Collaborative Web site; free www.earthshapes.org

And now, ladies and gents, the new PBL: place-based learning. EarthShapes, created by educator and media specialist Elizabeth Ellsworth, helps kids exchange ideas and images through what are known as Place Capsules -- digital montages of words and pictures that express the unique relationship we have with our local landscapes. Students exchange Capsules with students whose Capsules differ from theirs, and together they can invent a new place: a volcano in a desert, or a gated community in the middle of a city. They (along with their teachers) can also design Learning Experience Capsules, collaborative projects that address, for instance, the geometry of imaginary landforms. Using the power of digital technology to forge cross-cultural, long-distance connections, EarthShapes will take students across -- and perhaps out of -- this world.

Credit: William Duke

Molo Sessions CD

Eddie Vedder and the Walmer High School choir; $9.70 and up (Amazon.com) www.molocare.org

Pearl Jam fans and education activists, rejoice: PJ frontman Eddie Vedder and the Walmer High School choir, from Port Elizabeth, South Africa, collaborated on this limited-edition CD with education in mind. Tracks include renditions of the Pearl Jam favorites "Long Road,""Love Boat Captain," and "Betterman," and all proceeds go to Molo Care, a Seattle-based nonprofit organization raising money for South African schools. Molo means "hello" in Xhosa, a language spoken by many South Africans in Port Elizabeth. So when five boys and five girls from the choir were sent to Seattle to record with Vedder, it was "Molo" indeed.

Credit: William Duke

Maps101

$579 per school per year (discounts for districtwide licenses; free trial) www.nystromnet.com/maps101

Looking for ways to bring the world into your school? The search ends here. Maps101 is an easy-to-use, easy-to-print digital collection of maps, atlases, lesson plans, games, quizzes, current events, and much more for use in the K-12 classroom or school library. From antique maps to earth science maps, from crossword puzzles to geography news, educators will welcome this cost-effective way of gathering a wealth of global resources together under one Web-based roof.