Education has traditionally studied the world by bringing it into the classroom. This can result in situated learning that appears to students to have no relevance outside the classroom. Students acquire inert, decontextualized knowledge that they cannot apply to real problems. The obvious solution to this shortcoming is to reverse the situation and bring the classroom to the phenomena: to learn in a rich, real-world context. The problem with the real world is that it is complex and filled...

What can the human brain and its relationship to the internet tell us about our society, our technologies, and our businesses? A lot, as it turns out. The internet today is a virtual replica of the brain, and the networks that leverage it grow and collapse in ways that are easily predictable if you understand the brain and other biological networks.We're living in the midst of a networking revolution. All of the major technology innovations of the 21st century – social networking, c...

A compendium of tools and techniques that every innovator needsThe Innovator's Toolkit is an essential companion for every innovator, innovation team leader, operations manager, and corporate change agent who needs to drive organic growth. Written and presented in an easy-to-use reference format, the book helps users understand why, when, and how to apply each technique for maximum benefits and results. The fifty-plus tools and techniques in this book are ...

Build your research paper with over one thousand easy to use research sentences. Quick Research Papers helps the beginning research author and graduate student quickly get to work with practical template sentences. Each research paper part is introduced quickly, helping you understand the key goal, then quickly moves to template sentences. Each chapter focuses on one part of the research paper, supplying practical real example sentences. Quick Research Papers includes over 21 research pape...

Security Science integrates the multi-disciplined practice areas of security into a single structured body of knowledge, where each chapter takes an evidence-based approach to one of the core knowledge categories. The authors give practitioners and students the underlying scientific perspective based on robust underlying theories, principles, models or frameworks. Demonstrating the relationships and underlying concepts, they present an approach to each core security function within the con...

The Science Quest introduces the Inquiry/Discovery instructional framework, an innovative method for captivating students? interest in science, for building their skills in scientific thinking, and for dramatically enriching their understanding of scientific content and concepts. For teachers curious how to implement ?inquiry? learning as called for in the National Science Education Standards, this book provides detailed and practical guidance. It shows teachers how to transform o...

This book provides a first synthetic view of an emerging area of ecology and biogeography, linking individual- and population-level processes to geographic distributions and biodiversity patterns. Problems in evolutionary ecology, macroecology, and biogeography are illuminated by this integrative view. The book focuses on correlative approaches known as ecological niche modeling, species distribution modeling, or habitat suitability modeling, which use associations between known occurrence...

Open-Source Lab: How to Build Your Own Hardware and Reduce Scientific Research Costs details the development of the free and open-source hardware revolution. The combination of open-source 3D printing and microcontrollers running on free software enables scientists, engineers, and lab personnel in every discipline to develop powerful research tools at unprecedented low costs.After reading Open-Source Lab, you will be able to: - Lower equipment costs by making your own hardware - Build open...

Construction is the country's single largest manufacturing industry. However, it is a sector that lacks benchmarks against which to gauge performance. This modern thinking intends to provide insight to construction productivity improvement. Taking cues from manufacturing sectors such as computer, automobile and chemical companies, this book will apply the lessons learned to building construction. Supported with a range of pedagogical devices, the book will be of equal value to construction...

Are you looking for ways to incorporate rigorous problem solving in your classroom? Are you struggling with how to include the "E" in your STEM instruction? Here is where to start.In this practical introduction to engineering for elementary through high school teachers, you'll learn how to create effective engineering-infused lessons that break down the barriers between science, math, and technology instruction. Veteran teacher Pamela Truesdell highlights engineering's connection t...

Automation is undergoing a major transformation in scope and dimension and plays an increasingly important role in the global economy and in our daily lives. Engineers combine automated devices with mathematical and organizational tools to create complex systems for a rapidly expanding range of applications and human activities. This handbook incorporates these new developments and presents a widespread and well-structured conglomeration of new emerging application areas of automation. Bes...