The Educator's Guide to the Read/Write Web

review of the article by Will Richardson:

In the past, the Internet was a place to find information, not any longer.  Today, the Internet is not only a place where people can find specific information through complex search engines, but a place people can publish and broadcast their own ideas.  

One of the "new" tools being used by teachers and students is the Weblog, or blog.  Teachers are having students use a blog as a way to draw on critical thinking, reading, and writing.  Teachers are also using blogs to build classroom resource portals, promoting the growth of online learning communities.  Using blogs, both teachers and students can create interactive portfolio's that then can accessed worldwide. 

full review

Energy Conservation Project

Since moving into my one bedroom house back in August, I've wondered how efficient the heating system would be. Last year, I lived in a double-wide trailer and ended up spending thousands to heat the place over the winter.

Even though I am paying a base rate for rent, am I going to send my landlord to the poorhouse if I keep the temperature around 70 degrees for those few hours in the evening I am home, or should I keep the temperature at a constant 60 degrees and live a little uncomfortable?

My question now is, how much more fuel will it take to heat my little cottage 70 instead of 60 degrees?

I could try researching and save myself some time, but to really get some definitive answers I'm going to need to gather some data. To get some worthwhile data, I'm going to need to set my thermostat at different temperatures and study how long the furnace remains on for each thermostat setting.

To get accurate data when comparing fuel consumption (time the furnace is on) for different thermostat settings:

• Outside temperature should be similar 
• Data should be taken after the house has had a chance to "equalize" to the inside temperature of study
• To get a true feel for the diesel consumption, I will need to monitor the furnace for several hours to determine if their may be any patterns, or to get a more accurate average fuel consumption per unit time

Let the data collection begin...