history – Page 6 – Montessori Muddle

In-credible sources

Screen shot 2010-11-18 at 9.21.12 PM — All About Explorers (be careful).

All About Explorers is a wonderful site if you’re interested in talking about the credibility of sources. It looks real, is well organized, well written and could easily pass for credible to the uninitiated. The article on John Cabot starts with:

One might wonder what John Cabot and Christopher Columbus have in common. Both were born in Liverpool, England. Cabot was born in 1405, but his birth certificate was lost at sea and no one knows for sure.

Now, there are more telltale clues that everything is not on the up-and-up, particularly where they mention Cabot’s cartographic exploits on his ”alleged” return to England from growing up in Italy:

In 1484, John Cabot moved back to England with his wife and eleven sons. This was a great career move for John. He developed his own website and became quite famous for his charts and maps depicting a new route to the Far East.

I find sites like these delightful. To think that someone spent the time, energy and intelligence to create this particular little snare, says something wonderful about way the human mind works.

Nicely, the “About This Site” section notes:

All About Explorers was developed by a group of teachers as a means of teaching students about the Internet. … Because we wanted to make a point about finding useless information even in a site which looked at first to be fairly well put together, all of the Explorer biographies here are fictional. While many of the facts are true or based on truth, many inaccuracies, lies, and even downright absurdity are mixed in indiscriminately. As such, it is important that you do not use this site as a source of reference for your own research!

The site also has a set of lessons, handouts and other stuff on its “For Teachers” page.

John Quincy Adams’ Tweets

John_Quincy_Adams_1824 — Slightly disturbing daguerreotype of John Quincy Adams. Image from Wikipedia.

Exactly 200 years after he wrote them, the Massachusetts Historical Society is posting John Quincy Adams’ diary entries as Tweets. By posting a sentence or so with every tweet, the diary works very well in the new format. It makes for a fascinating read.

8/16/1810: Letter to Secy State sent to Hixon. Captain Delano here. Note to Balacheff for Everett and Gray. Dinner. – from JQAdams_MHS

St. Louis overview

I had not particularly wanted to go up into the St. Louis Arch myself, but the students really wanted to and we had a little time to spare after the Science Museum. So I grabbed tickets for the last tram to the top, and I’m glad I did. Looking down on the city and river from above you could, in an almost tactile way, reconcile the geographic elements with the history that we’d talked so much about at Anheuser-Busch.

arch-eads — Eads Bridge across the Mississipi River in St. Louis.

Standing in line, waiting for the tram to the top, we were treated to a short documentary on the Eads Bridge, the first across the Mississippi in St. Louis. The video stressed the importance of the bridge in allowing the city to become the gateway for westward expansion.

The tram arrived and small rectangular doors opened up to reveal tiny escape pods fit for a spaceship. Five of us squeezed in, fortunately we were all friendly. The distinct possibility of claustrophobia tinged the air. Three minutes 47 seconds later we reached the top. Forty-five degree rain was pouring down outside. The wind was so strong you could, if you held still and waited for it, feel a slight sway in the Arch itself.

arch-river-traffic — Barges in the distance.

arch-cargill — Grain silos and transhipment docks.

Looking east we saw the mighty Mississippi. Not quite so mighty as it is in Memphis, which is downstream of the confluence with the Ohio River, but enormous nonetheless. On the river, huge barges carried freight cars with unknown cargo south toward New Orleans. Just below, an helicopter sat on an helipad barge waiting for an emergency call. Directly across the water, on the east bank, enormous silos with their own docks waited to load barges with grain collected from across the mid-west.

It was still pouring when we left the Arch, and the rain continued on even during dinner. But leaving the restaurant, heading back to the hotel, the setting sun to the west, refracted through raindrops over the river, created one of nature’s own ephemeral monuments. A poignant reminder that forty-five, or even one hundred and forty-five years are but a moment in the deep span of geologic time.

Physics and history in Vicksburg, MS.

Salvage of the ironclad, USS Cairo, in Vicksburg National Military Park.

Four hours away, Vicksburg, MS. is just within reach for an immersion trip so, since we were in the area, I scoped it out for a future trip. Vicksburg was the final town to fall before the Union could control the Mississippi River and split the Confederacy into two, so it’s historically important. The Vicksburg National Military Park is chock full of monuments and markers that give a good idea about the chaos and carnage of the battle for the town, and even a chance to observe practical application of simple machines and steam engines.

The park could complement Shiloh and Corinth quite nicely since Vicksburg’s importance was because of its control of transportation routes, just like with Corinth. It also has the salvage of the USS Cairo, an ironclad sunk during the Civil War. Much of he Hull is still missing so it’s a wonderful chance to see all the mechanisms and engines in a steam powered ship.

watermill2 — Watermill at Grand Gulf Military State Park.

What I found most interesting, however, were the old watermill and farming equipment at Grand Gulf Military Park, about 45 minutes south of Vicksburg. They seem almost in working order, and if you’ve been discussing simple machines, as we have, it’s a great opportunity to see how they were applied in real-life.

sub-and-still — One-man submarine with bootlegger's still in background.

The watermill is quite picturesque, making it a great subject for sketching or drawing. I like to combine art and science in this way when possible. Grand Gulf also has a small, submarine used by bootleggers during prohibition which is quite the curious piece of engineering.

[googleMap name=”Grand Gulf Military State Park” description=”Watermill and camping” width=”400″ height=”300″ mapzoom=”8″ mousewheel=”false”]12006 Grand Gulf Rd, Port Gibson, MS[/googleMap]