Art and Learning through NZ History

Hi Squiddlers! I am very excited ...

I am buying this painting by Scotsman, artist and Kiwi, Liam Barr and am going to read more about the character portrayed by searching online. Liam's art is amazing! Check out his website

Free e-book online about John Rutherford here

Government information site, Te Ara, has more here

What are you learning about in your spare time? Our best learning is fired by our interests, needs and passions...

Peachgrove Yr 7 Bilingual cool dudes

I had the pleasure of hanging out with my good friend Whaea Mana's class today. They are very interesting young people. We discussed maori and pakeha culture as well as some geography from around Aotearoa.
One of my favourite parts of NZ is the East Coast from Te Kaha to Gisborne. My wife and I fell in love on a road trip around that region and we found the Ngati Porou people to be very welcoming.
I later got to know a teacher from Rangitukia called Tepu Houia. He gifted me a special carving which I have looked after for several years. Today I discovered that his nephew is in this class so I have gifted it to Whaea Manawaroa and her students to look after.
Their job now is to find out about the history of the clock carving. Tepu's nephew, Aiorangi is in the class so they should be able to find out all about the carving. They can post comments here explaining what they learn.
Also, I would like to introduce the Big T Surfers from Tahaaroa to the Peachgrove Bi-lingual class, Room 24. Please get to know each other and share your differences and the experiences of living in town, country and coastal areas.
Ka kite ano

TED and interesting human stuff

Here is a link to a video clip with a dude chatting about some interesting human bits n bobs:

During part of it, you may recall what I told you about Protestantism, schisms within the Christian church, the significance of a monk named Martin Luther and the invention of the printing press. Interestingly, you guys had a more in-depth discussion about it than these educated adults do, but it is an entertainment "lecture" rather than a discussion - enjoyable though :-)

There are also references to space travel, meteorites and the energy required to read this post.

[Thanks to MrsBanjer from my Twitter community for the link.]

Maths Legends

Who was the coolest mathematician ever?

Could it have been Pythagoras, Archimedes, or Eratosthenes?

What were their claims to fame? How have they influenced our world through their discoveries or theories? Do they have a particular thing they are renowned for?

Pick your favourite and say why :-)

The MechBoy Initiative

Mech Boy has inspired me to post an assignment for you:

List here in the comments a person you think has been the most influential in terms of advancing human knowledge and technology. Please also say what they are noteworthy for and why you think it is so important. Justify your opinion.

More tasks later - let's see who we come up with first...

Here's a little help from a person on the net...
http://www.dlmark.net/hundred.htm

The 100: A Ranking of the Most Influential Persons in History
Revised and Updated for the Nineties
by Michael H. Hart

Mr. Hart's very interesting book contains biographies of all the following people, ranked in order from most influential to less influential, along with the author's reasons for so ranking them. The book is available at most bookstores and libraries.

The links will take you to a site on the Web about the person named
(not to a chapter in the book).

• Muhammad • Isaac Newton • Jesus Christ • Buddha • Confucius • St. Paul • Ts'ai Lun • Johann Gutenberg • Christopher Columbus • Albert Einstein • Louis Pasteur • Galileo Galilei • Aristotle • Euclid • Moses • Charles Darwin • Shih Huang Ti • Augustus Caesar • Nicolaus Copernicus • Antoine Laurent Lavoisier • Constantine the Great • James Watt • Michael Faraday • James Clerk Maxwell • Martin Luther • George Washington • Karl Marx • Orville and Wilbur Wright • Genghis Kahn • Adam Smith • Edward de Vere • John Dalton • Alexander the Great • Napoleon Bonaparte • Thomas Edison • Antony van Leeuwenhoek • William T.G. Morton • Guglielmo Marconi • Adolf Hitler • Plato • Oliver Cromwell • Alexander Graham Bell • Alexander Fleming • John Locke • Ludwig van Beethoven • Werner Heisenberg • Louis Daguerre • Simon Bolivar • Rene Descartes • Michelangelo • Pope Urban II • 'Umar ibn al-Khattab • Asoka • St. Augustine • William Harvey • Ernest Rutherford • John Calvin • Gregor Mendel • Max Planck • Joseph Lister • Nikolaus August Otto • Francisco Pizarro • Hernando Cortes • Thomas Jefferson • Queen Isabella I • Joseph Stalin • Julius Caesar • William the Conqueror • Sigmund Freud • Edward Jenner • Wilhelm Conrad Roentgen • Johann Sebastian Bach • Lao Tzu • Voltaire • Johannes Kepler • Enrico Fermi • Leonhard Euler • Jean-Jacques Rousseau • Nicoli Machiavelli • Thomas Malthus • John F. Kennedy • Gregory Pincus • Mani • Lenin • Sui Wen Ti • Vasco da Gama • Cyrus the Great • Peter the Great • Mao Zedong • Francis Bacon • Henry Ford • Mencius • Zoroaster • Queen Elizabeth I • Mikhail Gorbachev • Menes • Charlemagne • Homer • Justinian I • Mahavira •

Runner-ups:

• St. Thomas Aquinas • Archimedes • Charles Babbage • Cheops • Marie Curie • Benjamin Franklin • Mohandas Gandhi • Abraham Lincoln • Ferdinand Magellan • Leonardo da Vinci •

Biographies and other information about many of these people and their works may be found at Access Foundation's Encyclopedia Britannica's Great Books site.