More than a decade ago, cognitive scientists John Bransfgord and Daniel Schwartz, both then at Vanderbilt University, found that knowledge was not the ability to retain facts or apply previous knowledge to a new situation but a quality they called "preparation for future learning." The researches asked fifth graders and college students to create a recovery plan to protect bald eagles from extinction. Shockingly, the two groups came up with plans of similar quality (though the college students had better spelling skills). From the standpoint of a traditional educator, this outcome indicated that schooling had failed to help students think about ecosystems and extinction, major scientific ideas.

    The researches decided to go deeper, however. They asked both groups to generate questions about important issues needed to create recovery plans. On this task, they found large differences. College students focused on critical issues. The college students had cultivated the ability to ask questions, the foundation of critical thinking. They had learned how to learn.

    Museums and other institutions of informal learning may be more suitable to teach this skill than elementary and secondly schools. At the Exploratorium in San Francisco, we recently studied how learning to ask good questions can affect the quality of people's scientific inquiry. We found that when we taught participants to ask "What if?" and "How can?" questions that nobody present would know the answer to and that would spark exploration, they engaged in better inquiry at the next exhibit—asking more questions, performing more experiments and making better interpretations of their results. Specially, their questions became more comprehensive at the new exhibit.

    This type of learning is not limited to museums of institutional settings. Informal learning environment tolerate failure better than schools. Perhaps many teachers have too little time to allow students to form and pursue their own questions and too much ground to cover in the curriculum. But people must acquire this skill somewhere. Our society depend on them being able to make critical decisions about their own medical treatment, says, or what we must do about global energy needs and demands. For that, we have a robust informal system that gives no grades, takes all comers, and is available even on holidays and weekends.

    In my living room, there is a plaque(匾) that advises me to “Bloom(开花) where you are planted.” It reminds me of Dorothy. I got to know Dorothy in the early 1980s，when I was teaching Early Childhood Development through a program with Union College in Barbourville, Kentucky. The job responsibilities required occasional visits to the classroom of each teacher in the program. Dorothy stands out in my memory as one who “bloomed” in her remote area.

    Dorothy taught in a school in Harlan County, Kentucky, Appalachian Mountain area. To get to her school from the town of Harlan, I followed a road winding around the mountain. In the eight-mile journey, I crossed the same railroad track five times, giving the possibility of getting caught by the same train five times. Rather than feeling excited by this drive through the mountains, I found it depressing. The poverty level was shocking and the small shabby houses gave me the greatest feeling of hopelessness.

    From the moment of my arrival at the little school, all gloom(忧郁) disappeared. Upon arriving at Dorothy's classroom, I was greeted with smiling faces and treated like a queen. The children had been prepared to show me their latest projects. Dorothy told me with  a big smile that they were serving poke greens salad and cornbread for “dinner” (lunch). In case you don't know, poke greens are a weed-type plant that grows wild, especially on poor ground.

    Dorothy never ran out of reports of exciting activities of her students. Her enthusiasm never cooled down. When it came time to sit for the testing and interviewing required to receive her Child Development Associate Certification, Dorothy was ready. She came to the assessment and passed in all areas. Afterward, she invited me to the one-and-only steak house in the area to celebrate her victory, as if she had received her Ph.D. degree. After the meal, she placed a little box containing an old pen in my hand. She said it was a family heirloom (传家宝), but to me it is a treasured symbol of appreciation and pride that cannot be matched with things.

    Do you still remember your favorite poem from high school or some other important periods in your life？Why is it that decades later it still stands out in your mind？Probably the main reason is that some aspect of that poem resonates (引起共鸣) with you. In the same way, you too as a school leader can touch the hearts of your teachers and students.

    Poetry allows us to experience strong spiritual connections to things around us and to the past. The power that poetry has displayed over time and across cultures actually satisfies this common need of the human heart and soul.

    As one of the oldest art forms, poetry has successfully connected various parts of humanity (人性) from one generation to another. Referring to poetry, Hillyer makes a simple yet meaningful statement, “With this key mankind unlocked his heart.”

    School leaders can find and make use of the value of poetry for themselves, their students and their teachers. Beyond the simple use of poetry, techniques of poetry such as repetitions can be used to take advantage of the power of language to transform communication, create meaning and a culture of care and attention.

    Since schools are mainly about people and relationships, school leaders, like poets, are required to inspire and encourage the human heart. The use of poetry—or even of some techniques of poetry—in school leadership not only helps to improve communication, but also serves to meet the human need for inspiration.

Bayfield Shopping Coupons(赠券)

    ⒈Six Hours Free Parking

    If you spend $100 or more in our stores you will receive six hours of free parking. When you have spent $100 or more, just take this coupon and your receipts to the customer service desk on level 4. They will stamp your parking ticket to allow 6 hours of free parking.

    Offer here until November 14.

    ⒉Win a $1000 CD Collection

    Win your choice of $1000 worth of CDs from JB Music Store. Just buy any two CDs and your name will go into the competition. Select your own prize from our wide variety of rock, pop, jazz, and classical music. Competition ends November 14. Prize drawn on November 21.

    Check store for more information.

    ⒊Buy One, Get One Free

    Buy one shirt or tie at Daniel's .Menswear, and get another shirt or tie of the same value free. Choose from any of our dress shirts and we will give you another one at no cost.

    Hurry! Offer ends November 14. Offer limited to one per customer.

    ⒋10% off

    Present this coupon at The Book Store to get a 10% discount on any books you buy. We have lots of books to choose from. Including children's books, novels, travel guides, and science works. You're sure to find something that you will enjoy. Shop now for Christmas. We have plenty of toys as gifts for you and avoid the rush!

    Offer here until November 14.

    ⒌Half-price Movie Tickets

    Buy any full-price movie ticket on Tuesdays or Wednesdays, and you can buy a second ticket for a friend for only half-price. The latest movies are here, showing in one of our five theaters at Bayfield Shopping Centre.

    Offer here through December 1. Limit one per customer.

    ⒍Free Soft Drink

    Buy any meal for at least $6 at Mike's Cafe, and receive a free soft drink. We serve the best fast food in the Shopping Centre. Come in and try our delicious meals and our excellent service. You won't be disappointed!

    Free soft drink offer ends November 14.

    It was May 23, 2016. Arnot, the 32-year-old mountain guide, reached the top of Everest without the use of oxygen (O₂) equipment. It was achieved after seven years, three previous attempts, and fourteen straight hours of climbing.

    After 15 minutes at the top, Arnot began her descent (下坡). Eight hours later, she reached the camp at 7, 600 meters and became the first American woman-and only the seventh woman ever—to successfully reach Mount Everest without oxygen equipment.

    "There are so many reasons for her impressive achievement, especially the physical and emotional efforts that she's put forth over the years to make this happen," says the professional climber and photographer Richards, "The mental courage that it requires is something very few people have."

    Arnot didn't start climbing until she was 19 years old. Money was tight in her family, and climbing mountains never occurred in her mind. After graduating from college, Arnot was invited by her friend to climb a mountain. "It totally changed my life, says Arnot. I always know that if you want something, you can achieve it, but knowing what you want is a whole different thing," she says. "I am athletic but not competitive. After my first climbing, I knew immediately that mountains are what I want—as that is where I felt home for the first time in my life."

    After that first climb, she devoted herself to learning how to climb and move through mountain. It was during her second trip to Everest in 2009 that she first set her sights on a no-oxygen attempt. However, while hiking into Everest Base Camp that year, she hurt her leg and wasn't able to climb without oxygen. In 2013 she nearly made it to the top, but was forced to take oxygen at 8,504 meters while helping another climber.

    When Arnot finally stood atop Everest, she called her best friend, "I reached the top and I'm not using any oxygen." Then, tears began to stream down from her eyes. So much of Arnot's life has been about pushing the limits of her abilities, and in this case, she's also pushed up against the outer limits of the human spirit.

The Ebola virus is an infectious disease that for years had almost no treatments, and it kill s about half the people it infects. Now a new study published in The Lancet Infectious Diseases shows that a promising vaccine （疫苗）, named rVSV△G-ZEBOV-GP, doesn't just help to reduce infections, it also can cut those death numbers in half.

The vaccine is a single-dose （单剂） muscular one that causes cells to produce one of the virus's proteins. "Later, if the person is exposed to Ebola,"explains Rebecca Coulborn, a scientist with Epicentre, the medical research arm of Doctors Without Borders, "their immune system will recognize the viral protein. This recognition allows the immune system to be prepared to attack the virus and protect the person from Ebola virus disease."

Researchers showed rVSV△G-ZEBOV-GP was effective at reducing the risk of infection, but no one knew how capable it was of preventing death in someone who was vaccinated after becoming infected during an epidemic （流行病）. To figure it out, Coulborn and her colleagues focused their efforts on the second-largest Ebola outbreak ever recorded, which occurred in the Democratic Republic of Congo between 2018 and 2020.

"Every single Ebola health facility across the entire Ebola epidemic had a standardized list of all admissions," says Coulborn. This list included 2,279 confirmed Ebola patients, and it recorded whether or not each person had been vaccinated before they got sick—and if so, when they'd received the vaccine.

Coulborn found the death rate was 56% among the unvaccinated. But for those who'd received the vaccine, that rate was cut in half. This was true no matter when someone got vaccinated before the appearance of symptoms. Additionally, those who'd been vaccinated had less virus circulating in their bodies than those who hadn't. So the vaccine played an important role.

Rebecca Coulborn says she feels buoyed by the results—since they offer clear evidence that people who're at risk of contracting Ebola should be vaccinated early. It's an opportunity to cut chains of transmission （传播） and prevent an outbreak before it gains speed.