The latest trends in education and parenting July 17, 2014
Summertime is a time to dream about different places, cultures, things to do and be. It’s a time to shake off preconceptions and explore with an open mind things you’ve never thought about before. At least not in depth.
Take for instance, travel. Have you ever wondered about the people you see in a large international airport? Their notions about everything are so different than our own, and yet in many ways, the same.
The women dress different. Even their makeup palettes mark them as foreign. What does it mean to be beautiful in the Ukraine or in Italy? Why is milk-white skin prized in one country, while big hair is the height of beauty in another?
Journalist Esther Honig thought it would be interesting to compare these cultural notions of beauty and to that end, sent off a photo of her own face to various Photoshop experts in 23 countries, asking them to “make her beautiful.” The result is a fascinating study in aesthetics. You may find yourself nodding in recognition—you’ll completely “get” why some of the portraits reflect the countries they represent, while other portraits may leave you completely confused. Fun thing to do with your daughter: cover up the names of the countries and try to guess. See the 23 portraits HERE.
Do you believe in divine justice? Love to watch it in action? You’ll get a kick out of these gifs of people being jerks and getting their own as a result. Watch these with your child. Ask her what she feels as she watches the gifs. Are they funny? Sad? Why do we feel satisfaction when we watch justice dispensed? Check it out HERE.
(photo credit: Carlos Di Nallo)
Did you know that NASA has an astronomy photo of the day? This is cool stuff, even geek stuff, perfect for the budding astronomer. Each photo comes with a short explanation. When we took a look at today’s photo, we got THIS awesome close-up of the Moon eclipsing Saturn.
It happens all the time—you or your child thinks out loud: there should be a website for that. Well, now there is. This is a great list of all the websites you’ll ever need. For instance, who hasn’t wished for a website that tells you how to avoid the crowds? Bet you never knew about avoidhumans.com! Once you see THIS list you’ll be thinking, “Where have you been all my life?”
Better bookmark it for that next time you want to write a note that will self-destruct after your friend reads it (it really works!).
Speaking of things that work, do you have a child that is fascinated by electricity? ELECTRIC BOX illustrates the mechanics of circuitry and electric power with an educational computer game. You have to complete the circuits to reach the target. There are interesting options and many levels. At the very least we think Electric Box will give your future electrician child a charge at least for an hour or so.
Last but not least is a collection of short films you can watch in the time it takes to eat a sandwich. There’s an early short created by Martin Scorsese when he was in film school, another short film by Roman Polanski, but our favorite clip on the page is Josh Raskin’s animated film, a serious treat for Beatlemaniacs. The latter film depicts in animation a conversation between John Lennon and a 14 year-old boy, Jerry Levitan, who broke into Lennon’s hotel room in 1969 with a reel to reel tape recorder. A classic. See the clips HERE.
That’s it for another random link day at EDU Review. Hope you and your child will enjoy our selection. Oh, and by the way, while you’re still here, check out The Kids4Kars Safety app, the parents’ helper that keeps babies safe. Free download. Bluetooth enabled.