Most Popular Books by Thomas Armstrong

Many world-class thinkers and creators have been concerned about the state of education in the United States. Discover their thoughts on how children really learn and what teachers must do to optimally tap children''s latent abilities. During the last three decades, education reformers have pushed standardized testing and policies like No Child Left Behind and Common Core to improve test scores and proficiency in basic skills. However, during this period that author Thomas Armstrong calls the "miseducation of America," a number of troubling trends have surfaced, including a decrease in creative thinking scores among children in kindergarten through third grade. Rather than focus on what''s wrong with the education system that has produced these outcomes, Armstrong lays out what creative thinkers know about how children should be educated. In an extended thought experiment, he asks what would happen if we turned the reins of educational policy over, not to the politicians and educational bureaucrats, but to eminent thinkers and creators like Albert Einstein, Pablo Picasso, Martin Luther King Jr., Rachel Carson, Doris Lessing, Jane Goodall, and other seminal culture-builders. What might they say about the best way to educate a child? If Einstein Ran the Schools suggests that the answers to this intriguing question should guide future efforts to reform our nation''s schools.

This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work was reproduced from the original artifact, and remains as true to the original work as possible. Therefore, you will see the original copyright references, library stamps (as most of these works have been housed in our most important libraries around the world), and other notations in the work. This work is in the public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work. As a reproduction of a historical artifact, this work may contain missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.

The title of Why Cats Hates Birds very much reflects the collection''s themes. Are we trapped by our nature? And what is our understanding of nature? What is black and white, straight and gay, reality and fantasy, Canadian and Barbadian? The stories in Why Cats Hate Birds are Armstrong''s way of saying that such distinctions are not natural but of our own construction. The work spans the length of Armstrong''s writing career. The earliest, ''Flying in God''s Face, '' which inspired his novel Of Water and Rock, is set in the 1960''s, though the majority take place in a today familiar to us all. Three stories in particular are linked by the character Charles Blackette: ''Kingdom of Fools, '' ''Invention'' and ''Blood is Thick.'' They explore Blackette''s life as a black man who battles his notion of self. But, at heart, all the stories in Why Cats Hate Birds, perceptive, resonant, emotionally honest, are an attempt to break those silos that separate us, and make us realize that other people''s stories are our stories.

Being smart is more than getting good grades in school. It’s more than reading well, solving math problems, memorizing facts, and having a high IQ. Psychologist Dr. Howard Gardner studied how kids and adults learn. He discovered many different ways people can be smart. You can be Music Smart. People Smart. Self Smart. Nature Smart. Life Smart. Gardner’s Theory of Multiple Intelligences has changed how teachers teach in schools around the world. Look inside to: • Learn about the nine different intelligences and what they mean • Find out which ones you have (Hint: You already have all nine, just in different degrees) • Make the most of your strongest intelligences • Strengthen your other intelligences • Use all nine intelligences at school, at home, and everywhere you go • Discover more about who you are and who you can be • Understand and get along better with the people around you • Look to the future and how you’ll use your smarts when you get older Quick quizzes help you identify the many ways you’re smart. Did You Know? boxes entertain you with fascinating facts. Easy-to-use lists give you lots of fun ways to build your smarts. Resources point you toward books, magazines, and websites where you can learn even more. Because it’s not about how smart you are, but how you are smart. Thomas Armstrong, PhD, is an award-winning author and speaker with 40 years of teaching experience and over 1 million copies of his books in print. He has authored 15 books, including Multiple Intelligences in the Classroom; written numerous articles for Parenting, Ladies’ Home Journal, Family Circle, and other periodicals; and appeared on several national and international television and radio programs, from NBC’s Today show to the BBC.

Ground tire rubber (GTR) stockpiles have been increasing across the state of Florida now that GTR use in hot mix asphalt design has reduced significantly over the past decade. Therefore, the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) is interested in finding possible reuse applications for this material. One possible reuse would be as a blend the GTR with FDOT approved subgrades soils for roadway construction. The objective of this research was to determine the changes in the common pavement subgrade engineering behavior as various GTR percentages were added. Three subgrades were chosen based on their respective Limerock Bearing Ratio (LBR), labeled Low, Medium, and High LBR material in relation to required specifications. The 1-inch, 3/8-inch, and #40 mesh GTR sizes were used throughout testing to determine how the size of GTR particle affected the key engineering properties. GTR blend percentages corresponding to 1/2, 1, 2, and 4-inch lifts in a 12-inch subgrade were chosen, producing blends of 4, 8, 16, 24 and 32 percent by volume of GTR to Subgrade material. LBR, Constant Head Permeability, and Consolidation Tests were performed on the GTR/subgrade blends to determine the key pavement engineering design characteristics. Sieve analysis and optimum moisture content results were provided with each subgrade material by FDOT State Materials Office (SMO). The addition of GTR in any percentage decreased the density and LBR of the blends. Density decreases could be advantageous if the materials were used as backfill behind retaining structures, however the LBR decrease would not be advantageous in pavement systems. Blends with the smallest GTR, #40 mesh, did show slightly increased compressibility throughout the range of testing, however the values obtained from testing indicate almost instantaneous settlement due to the granular grain size distribution of the blends. There was no significant change in permeability with increasing GTR percentages. Overall, the results indicate that adding any percentage of GTR to the three FDOT subgrade materials would adversely affect the density and LBR, and have very little effect on the consolidation and permeability. It is recommended that further research should be conducted to evaluate whether soil/GTR blends would be suitable for low-density fill applications.

At the Navy Prototype Optical Interferometer (NPOI), during stellar fringe acquisition and tracking, optical stations along the NPOI vacuum line array remain in passive mode. Optical drift amplitude and rate must remain below certain limits lest stellar acquisition and fringe tracking become unachievable. Subsequent to each observation, relay mirrors are reconfigured within the long delay line stations to provide appropriate constant delays. The placement of these mirrors must be reliable and repeatable within certain tolerances. We describe the results of drift tests conducted on the current long delay line stations.

Using a 15.9m baseline at the Navy Prototype Optical Interferometer (NPOI), we have successfully detected interferometric fringes in observations of the geosynchronous satellite (geosat) DirecTV-9S while it glinted on two nights in March 2009. The fringe visibilities can be fitted by a model consisting of two components, one resolved ([greater than or equal to] 3.7m) and one unresolved (~1.1m). Both the length of the glint and the specular albedos are consistent with the notion that the glinting surfaces are not completely flat and scatter reflected sunlight into an opening angle of roughly 15 [degrees]. Enhancements to the NPOI that would improve geosat observations include adding an infrared capability, which could extend the glint season, and adding larger, adaptive-optics equipped telescopes. Future work may test the feasibility of observing geosats with aperture-masked large telescopes and of developing an array of six to nine elements.

Sue Crowther is a steadfast, gallant young woman who manages to keep her own high standards in the face of harrowing circumstances.

Long-baseline interferometric observations obtained with the Navy Prototype Optical Interferometer of the Ha-emitting envelopes of the Be stars n Tau and B CMi are presented. For compatibility with the previously published interferometric results in the literature of other Be stars, circularly symmetric and elliptical Gaussian models were fitted to the calibrated H[Greek letter alpha] observations. The models are adequate for characterizing the angular distribution of the H[Greek letter alpha]-emitting circumstellar material associated with these Be stars. To study the correlations between the various model parameters and the stellar properties, the model parameters for n Tau andB CMi were combined with data for other Be stars from the literature. After accounting for the different distances to the sources and stellar continuum flux levels, it was possible to study the relationship between the net H[Greek letter alpha] emission and the physical extent of the H[Greek letter alpha]-emitting circumstellar region. A clear dependence of the net H[Greek letter alpha] emission on the linear size of the emitting region is demonstrated, and these results are consistent with an optically thick line emission that is directly proportional to the effective area of the emitting disk. Within the small sample of stars considered in this analysis, no clear dependence on the spectral type or stellar rotation is found, although the results do suggest that hotter stars might have more extended H[Greek letter alpha]-emitting regions.