Finding Your Perfect Sci Fi or Fantasy Book

NPR did a poll among listeners this year and came up with a list of the 100 best science fiction and fantasy books.  Then SF Signal did this fabulous flowchart about how to choose among those 100 best books.

And then, since it is impossible to see the flow chart on our computer screens, SF Signal did another great thing--they made it into an interactive resource where you answer various questions, and it brings you to the perfect sci fi/fantasy book for your taste.

So I'll admit that most of these books are not really for the middle school reading/maturity level.  But this was just such a cool thing I had to add it.  Also, even if your middler schooler never uses this to find a book, it is a great example of a fairly large, but clear, decision tree.

Curriculum Resource: Population Growth and Climate Change

I found another good resource related to the population growth topic I raised last week when our global population supposedly reached 7 billion people.  The website Population Action International has a lot of great information and resources on it, including an interactive chart where you can see where your birthday falls on the curve to reach 7 billion--and beyond!

But the most eye-opening section to me was a serious of maps that show the connection between population growth and climate change.   In short, it seems that the countries where population growth is the largest are also, in general, the countries who will be most hurt by global climate change, at least in terms of things like reduced agricultural productivity and water availability.  It makes sense when I saw the maps, but I hadn't thought of that before.  Check out this guided tour of the maps, and then you can also make your own maps or research a specific country.

These maps make it even more evident why we need to try to reduce rampant population growth before the full effects of global warming really hit us.  We may or may not be around to have to deal with all this, but our middle schoolers should be, so this is the kind of information about their future world they should know.

Curriculum Resource: Another Visualization of 7 Billion People

I found another great visualization to help our students imagine a world population of 7 billion people.  This one goes well with yesterday's video on the significance of 7 billion people because it traces the growth from farther back in time, and gives more specific information about how many people there are in specific areas of the world.

This one was produced by Adam Cole for NPR:

Curriculum Resource: Explaining the Significance of a World Population of 7 Billion

While we in America were preoccupied with trick or treating, UN estimates said that we reached a new milestone:  an estimated world population of 7 billion people.  But what does that mean?  I'm not sure that I can visualize 7,000,000,000 people, let alone my middle schooler being able to do so.

But below is a great video that can help.  This video is a TED presentation by Hans Rosling, a Swedish doctor and researcher and one of the world's experts on global health issues.  In this 10 minute video, Rosling does a great job presenting a visual representation of global population growth, explains where and why populations are booming, and what we can do to slow the increase.