Here is an imaginative way of trying to reduce CO2 emissions:
Fruit and vegatables are grown in an enriched CO2 atmosphere just outside Rotterdam using waste CO2 from an oil refinery.
Triple A Learning IB Blogs
August 27, 2010
August 25, 2010
The Lazy Gas?
Which element is lazy?
It is Argon, named by William Ramsay in 1865 named from the Greek word ‘Argos’ – which means lazy.
Ethnography, leadership & social action
As May session schools begin to gear up for a new academic year, teachers may be concerned with how they will meet all of the goals laid out in the subject guide. While this is important, I also encourage teachers to think about how their courses not only fulfill the subject guide, but also simultaneously address the IB mission and the broader goals of helping students to learn about leadership and world peace.
August 24, 2010
The Rare Earth
Lanthanum, La – discovered by Carl Gustav Mosander in 1839 – this discovery ‘catalysed’ the discovery of the other ‘rare earth elements’ or the ‘Lantanides’.
And the name? It comes from the Greek ‘lanthanein’ – to lie hidden……
August 23, 2010
Design for the Environment
Design For The Environment
There are numerous strategies that may be employed by designers, manufacturers, organizations and governments to deal with the issue of sustainable development.
August 20, 2010
Why Study Economics?
Source: istockphotos
For those of us teaching IB Economics in the May exam cycle our courses have just started and the questions, “Why study economics?”,and “What is economics?”, are bound to surface. I usually have my students write a blog post explaining why they enrolled in the course and what they hope to get out of it. There are a number of videos that also look at the issue though they are usually from the point of view of studying economics at the tertiary level like this video. A more professionally produced version can be seen here.
A Question of Sport or simply Hidden Persuaders?
Can you remember the sponsor names for the last World Cup or Olympics? What about other major sporting or cultural events? Your ability to remember brand names and then to associate them with certain qualities is crucial for advertisers. Attribution theory suggests that a message lacking in credibility will be discounted and will not be very persuasive. So the purpose of sponsorship is to link a product or service to respected role models, positive attributes and desirable outcomes and emotions.
What words spring to mind when you think about the Olympics: power, tenacity, competition, aesthetics, achieving, winning, durability, quality, skill, pride, focus…? I am sure you could think of many more. What the sponsors want is for the consumer to associate some of these qualities and emotions with their brand name and that this process will influence purchasing behaviour, even if this is at a subconscious level.
You Against the Ferocious Fallacies
From my old files I pull a test I once wrote on logical fallacies — in the form of an adventure story.
My students really, really liked it. I don’t like it so much any more because I wouldn’t use this list of logical fallacies (I prefer the list in the course companion), but if you teach using common fallacies by their Latin names you might find it useful…or at least amusing.
August 18, 2010
Making a reverse call
For many people making a call to a call centre is not an enjoyable experience. If the issue is a standard query it normally works fine. The problems arise when you are ringing about something more individual or you would like some more complex details. Then things can become more frustrating. This is because your call has probably been routed several thousands of miles away to a centralised call centre in countries like India, Costa Rica or the Philippines.
Outsourcing support functions to locations outside of a country are not popular on several fronts. Firstly many, including trade unions, regard the offshoring of jobs as a means of undermining wages in the domestic economy, as well as adding to levels of domestic unemployment. It is claimed, but disputed by call centre operators, that the service offered is inferior. There are issues with accents and cultural knowledge. Some call centres train their staff about the customs and lifestyles of countries they service, so the operators can make conversation and engage with callers.
Designing a Two-year IB Economics Course
Image Source: Alexander Boden
Correctly pacing a two-year IB Economics Course is a challenge. With 5 units to cover, most of us would like to finish the course 6 to 8 weeks before the exams so that there is adequate revision time. Most teachers I have talked to aim to finish Sections 1 to 3 in the first year, leaving International Economics and Developmental Economics for the second year.
