title: European bison

text: As below-mentioned, there are established herds in Spain and Italy, however European bison has not been recorded naturally from the Iberian and Italian Peninsulas, while these regions were once inhabited by Pleistocene woodland bison and Steppe bison.


title: European bison

text: The total worldwide population recorded in 2019 was around 7,500 – about half of this number being in Poland and Belarus, with over 25% of the global population based in Poland alone. For 2016, the number was 6,573 (including 4,472 free-ranging) and has been increasing. Some local populations are estimated as:


title: European bison

text: The largest European bison herds — of both captive and wild populations — are still based in Poland and Belarus, the majority of which can be found in the Białowieża Forest including the most numerous population of free-living European bison in the world with most of the animals living on the Polish side of the border. Poland remains the world's breeding centre for the wisent. In the years 1945 to 2014, from the Białowieża National Park alone, 553 specimens were sent to most captive populations of the bison in Europe as well as all breeding sanctuaries for the species in Poland.


title: European bison

text: Since 1983, a small reintroduced population lives in the Altai Mountains. This population suffers from inbreeding depression and needs the introduction of unrelated animals for "blood refreshment". In the long term, authorities hope to establish a population of about 1,000 animals in the area. One of the northernmost current populations of the European bison lives in Vologodskaya Oblast in the Northern Dvina valley at about 60°N. It survives without supplementary winter feeding. Another Russian population lives in the forests around the Desna River on the border between Russia and Ukraine. The north-easternmost population lives in Pleistocene Park south of Chersky in Siberia, a project to recreate the steppe ecosystem which began to be altered 10,000 years ago. Five wisents were introduced on 24 April 2011. The wisents were brought to the park from the Prioksko-Terrasny Nature Reserve near Moscow. Winter temperatures often drop below −50 °C. Four of the five bison have subsequently died due to problems acclimatizing to the low winter temperature.


title: European bison

text: Plans are being made to reintroduce two herds in Germany and in the Netherlands in Oostvaardersplassen Nature Reserve in Flevoland as well as the Veluwe. In 2007, a bison pilot project in a fenced area was begun in Zuid-Kennemerland National Park in the Netherlands. Because of their limited genetic pool, they are considered highly vulnerable to illnesses such as foot-and-mouth disease. In March 2016, a herd was released in the Maashorst Nature Reserve in North Brabant. Zoos in 30 countries also have quite a few bison involved in captive-breeding programs.


title: European bison

text: Representations of the European bison from different ages, across millennia of human society's existence, can be found throughout Eurasia in the form of drawings and rock carvings; one of the oldest and most famous instances of the latter can be found in the Cave of Altamira, present-day Spain, where cave art featuring the wisent from the Upper Paleolithic was discovered. The bison has also been represented in a wide range of art in human history, such as sculptures, paintings, photographs, glass art, and more. Sculptures of the wisent constructed in the 19th and 20th centuries continue to stand in a number of European cities; arguably the most notable of these are the designed by Mihály Zichy and the two bison sculptures in Kiel sculpted by August Gaul in 1910–1913. However, a number of other monuments to the animal also exist, such as those in Hajnówka and Pszczyna or at the Kyiv Zoo entrance. Mikołaj Hussowczyk, a poet writing in Latin about the Grand Duchy of Lithuania during the early 16th century, described the bison in a historically significant fictional work from 1523.


title: European bison

text: The European bison is considered one of the national animals of Poland and Belarus. Due to this and the fact that half of the worldwide European bison population can be found spread across these two countries, the wisent is still featured prominently in the heraldry of these neighbouring states (especially in the overlapping region of Eastern Poland and Western Belarus). Examples in Poland include the coats of arms of: the counties of Hajnówka and Zambrów, the towns Sokółka and Żywiec, the villages Białowieża and Narewka, as well as the coats of arms of the Pomian and Wieniawa families. Examples in Belarus include the Grodno and Brest voblasts, the town of Svislach, and others. The European bison can also be found on the coats of arms of places in neighbouring countries: Perloja in southern Lithuania, Lypovets in west-central Ukraine, and Zubří in east Czechia – as well as further outside the region, such as Kortezubi in the Basque Country, and Jabel in Germany.


title: European bison

text: A flavoured vodka called Żubrówka (), originating as a recipe of the szlachta of the Kingdom of Poland in the 14th century, has since 1928 been industrially produced as a brand in Poland. In the decades that followed, it became known as the "world's best known Polish vodka" and sparked the creation of a number of copy brands inspired by the original in Belarus, Russia, Germany, as well as other brands in Poland. The original Polish brand is known for placing a decorative blade of bison grass from the Białowieża Forest in each bottle of their product; both the plant's name in Polish and the vodka are named after "żubr", the Polish name for the European bison. The bison also appears commercially as a symbol of a number of other Polish brands, such as the popular beer brand Żubr and on the logo of Poland's second largest bank, Bank Pekao S.A.


title: Holes (novel)

text: Holes is a 1998 young adult novel written by Louis Sachar and first published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux. The book centers on Stanley Yelnats, who is sent to Camp Green Lake, a correctional boot camp in a desert in Texas, after being falsely accused of theft. The plot explores the history of the area and how the actions of several characters in the past have affected Stanley's life in the present. These interconnecting stories touch on themes such as racism, homelessness, illiteracy, and arranged marriage.


title: Holes (novel)

text: The book was both a critical and commercial success. Much of the praise for the book has centered around its complex plot, interesting characters, and representation of people of color and incarcerated youth. It won the 1998 US National Book Award for Young People's Literature and the 1999 Newbery Medal for the year's "most distinguished contribution to American literature for children". In 2012 it was ranked number six among all-time children's novels in a survey published by "School Library Journal".


title: Holes (novel)

text: "Holes" was adapted by Walt Disney Pictures as a feature film of the same name released in 2003. The film received generally positive reviews from critics, grossing $71 million, and was released in conjunction with the book companion "Stanley Yelnats's Survival Guide to Camp Green Lake". A spinoff sequel to "Holes" entitled "Small Steps" was published in 2006 and centers on one of the secondary characters in the novel, Theodore "Armpit" Johnson.


title: Holes (novel)

text: Stanley Yelnats IV is wrongfully convicted of theft and as a consequence is sent to Camp Green Lake, a juvenile corrections facility. The novel presents Stanley's story together with two other linked stories.


title: Holes (novel)

text: Elya Yelnats is 14 years old and lives in Latvia. He is in love with Myra Menke, the most beautiful girl in the village. Myra's father has decided that she should marry when she turns fifteen in two months. Fifty-seven year-old Igor Barkov offers his fattest pig to Myra's father in exchange for her hand. Elya asks his friend Madame Zeroni, an old Egyptian fortune teller with a missing foot, for help. Madame Zeroni advises Elya to go to America like her son, but when she sees his sorrow, she pities Elya and gives him a runt piglet. She tells him to carry it to the top of the mountain every day and sing a special song while it drinks from a stream that runs uphill. If he does this, his pig will be fatter than any of Igor's. Madame Zeroni says that in return, Elya must then carry her up the mountain and sing to her while she drinks from the stream. She warns him that if he does not, his family will be cursed.


title: Holes (novel)

text: Elya follows Madame Zeroni's directions until the last day, when he takes a bath instead of carrying the pig up the hill. His pig and Igor's weigh exactly the same, so Myra's father lets her decide who to marry. When Myra is unable to choose, Elya realizes Madame Zeroni was right about Myra. He tells her to keep his pig and, forgetting his promise to Madame Zeroni, leaves for America. He marries the kind and intelligent Sarah Miller but is continually beset by bad luck. The song that he sang to the pig becomes a lullaby passed down by his family.


title: Holes (novel)

text: In the year 1888, Green Lake is a flourishing Texas lakeside village. Katherine Barlow, a European-American local schoolteacher famous for her spiced peaches, falls in love with Sam, an African-American onion farmer. She rejects the advances of Charles Walker, the richest man in town, who is nicknamed Trout because his feet smell like dead fish. After Katherine and Sam are seen kissing, Walker raises a mob to burn down the schoolhouse. Katherine goes to the sheriff for help; but refuses to help her and instead demands a kiss. Katherine and Sam attempt to escape across the lake in Sam's rowboat, but Walker intercepts them with his motorboat. Sam is shot dead and his boat wrecked, while Katherine is "rescued" against her wishes. From that day on, no rain falls upon Green Lake.


title: Holes (novel)

text: Three days later, Katherine shoots and kills the sheriff. She becomes the outlaw "Kissin' Kate Barlow", so named because she leaves a red lipstick kiss on the cheeks of the men she kills. She robs Stanley Yelnats, son of Elya Yelnats, and leaves him stranded in the desert. Seventeen days later, he is rescued by hunters, but he is delirious and can only explain his survival by saying he "found refuge on God's thumb." After twenty years, Katherine retires to the ruins of Green Lake, now a hot and lifeless wasteland. She is found by Trout Walker and his wife Linda Miller, one of Katherine's former fourth-grade students. They are destitute, since Walker's fortune dried up with the lake. They demand that Katherine dig up her hidden loot. She refuses, telling them that they and their children and grandchildren could dig holes for the next hundred years without finding it. They try to force Katherine to lead them to the loot, but she is bitten by a yellow-spotted lizard, after she purposefully let it bite her. She dies laughing at the two, the venom taking its effect on her.


title: Holes (novel)

text: Stanley Yelnats IV's family is cursed. The family jokingly blames Stanley's "no-good-dirty-rotten-pig-stealing-great-great-grandfather", Elya Yelnats, for their constant misfortunes. Stanley, who is in middle school, is convicted of stealing a pair of athletic shoes that baseball player Clyde "Sweet Feet" Livingston had donated to a charity auction for the homeless. Stanley is sent to Camp Green Lake, a juvenile corrections facility.


title: Holes (novel)

text: Prisoners at Camp Green Lake are required to "build character" by digging one cylindrical hole five feet wide and five feet deep every day. The Warden allows campers a day off if they find anything "interesting." The leader of Stanley's group, a boy nicknamed X-Ray, tells Stanley to give him anything interesting he finds. Late one day, Stanley finds an empty lipstick tube with "KB" engraved. He gives it to X-Ray, who pretends to find it the next morning. For the next week and a half, the Warden has the boys excavate the area of X-Ray's supposed discovery. Stanley concludes that she is searching for something.


title: Holes (novel)

text: Stanley learns that another prisoner, Zero, is illiterate. Zero volunteers to dig part of Stanley's hole each day if Stanley teaches him to read. When one of the counselors, Mr. Pendanski, says that Zero is too stupid to learn to read, Zero smashes Mr. Pendanski's face with his shovel and flees into the desert. When Zero does not return, the Warden assumes he has died. To avoid an investigation, she orders Mr. Pendanski to destroy Zero's records.


title: Holes (novel)

text: Stanley goes into the desert to save Zero. He finds Zero hiding under the wreck of a rowboat. Zero has survived on what he calls "sploosh," a peachy nectar stored in old jars he found under the rowboat. Stanley and Zero drink the last of the sploosh. Zero refuses to return to camp, so they head for a nearby mountain, Big Thumb, that looks like a thumbs up sign. As they ascend the mountain, Zero collapses. Stanley carries Zero up the hill. He finds water, gives it to Zero, and sings his family lullaby.


title: Holes (novel)

text: Stanley and Zero live on Big Thumb for a week, eating wild onions from Sam's old onion fields. Zero, whose real name is Hector Zeroni, reveals that he stole Clyde Livingston's shoes. He was homeless and needed new shoes. When he realized everyone was making a commotion about the missing shoes, he discarded them by putting them on the roof of a moving car, and they accidentally landed on Stanley.


title: Holes (novel)

text: The boys secretly return to Camp Green Lake, and overnight, they dig where Stanley found the lipstick tube. They find a suitcase but are caught by the Warden. The Warden and the counselors stand watch over the boys all night, but they do not approach because the boys are in a nest of highly venomous yellow-spotted lizards. Stanley and Zero, however, are safe from the lizards because they smell like onions (which the lizards are known to avoid). When the sun rises, Stanley's lawyer Ms. Morengo and the state Attorney General arrive; Stanley's conviction has been overturned. The Warden claims that the suitcase was stolen from her, but the suitcase has "Stanley Yelnats" written on it. Stanley refuses to leave without Hector, so Ms. Morengo asks to see Hector's file. When Hector's records can't be found, Ms. Morengo demands that he be released, too. As they drive away, rain falls on Camp Green Lake.


title: Holes (novel)

text: The Attorney General closes Camp Green Lake. The Warden, whose real name is Ms. Walker, is forced to sell the land.


title: Holes (novel)

text: Hector is revealed to be Madame Zeroni's great-great-great-grandson. The day after Stanley carried Hector up the mountain, Stanley's father invented a product that eliminated foot odor. It smells like peaches, and the boys name it "Sploosh." The suitcase, which had belonged to Stanley's great-grandfather, contains financial instruments worth nearly two million dollars. Stanley and Hector split the money, and Hector hires private investigators to find his mother. A year and a half later, the Yelnats house hosts a Super Bowl party celebrating Clyde Livingston's endorsement of Sploosh. Hector's mother softly sings to him a second verse to the Yelnats' family lullaby.


title: Holes (novel)

text: Camp Green Lake is located on a dried-up lake in the US state of Texas. The name is a false description, as the area is a parched, barren desert. The only weather is the scorching sun. No rain has fallen since the day Sam was murdered. The only plants mentioned are two oak trees in front of the Warden's cabin; the book notes that "the Warden owns the shade." The abandoned town of Green Lake is located by the side of the lakebed. Camp Green Lake is a correctional boot camp, where "campers" spend most of their time digging holes. The majority of the book alternates between the present day story of Stanley Yelnats, the story of Elya Yelnats in Latvia (mid-1800s) and the story of Katherine Barlow in the town of Green Lake (about a generation later). Later chapters focus less on the past stories and more on the present.


title: Holes (novel)

text: The themes typical of a folk or fairy tale are present throughout the novel, notable in both Stanley and Elya's narratives. Elya must go on an adventure to win his love's approval and prove his own worth and he is eventually placed under a witch's curse. Stanley's bad luck is blamed on the curse left on his great-great-grandfather and the Yelnats family easily believes in the power of this curse. Both Stanley and Elya are similar to fairy tale characters and are morally good, heroic protagonists who must overcome the challenges predestined for them. Both story lines are accompanied by a magic that is seen in the mountain stream, Madame Zeroni's song, and the healing power of the onions. Each of these elements in "Holes" mirror elements frequently found in fairy tales.


title: Holes (novel)

text: Throughout the novel, names act as a theme that allows the characters to disassociate their lives at Camp Green Lake from their lives back in the real world. Names also demonstrate irony—Camp Green Lake is not actually a camp, it's located in a desert, and there is no lake. The "campers" all label themselves differently and identify with names such as Armpit and X-Ray and the guards are referred to as counselors. One of the counselors, Mr. Pendanski, is referred to by the boys as "Mom", representing the absent parents at Camp Green Lake. Only the woman in charge is referred to in a prison-like way and is called "Warden". The different names allow the boys to bond and form a team based in their hatred for their work and the counselors. Many of the characters also have names that connect them to their family history, like the passing down of "Stanley Yelnats" and Zero's last name of Zeroni, and remind them how the actions of their ancestors affect their modern-day lives. Stanley is the fourth "Stanley Yelnats" in his family, a name that is passed down due to its palindromic nature and adds to the connection to family history.


title: Holes (novel)

text: Labor is seen throughout the novel as the children are forced to dig holes while at Camp Green Lake. This theme is unusual in children's literature as many authors portray children as carefree and without responsibility. If they do engage in work, it is synonymous with play. Critic Maria Nikolajeva contends that "Holes" is set apart through the not just manual, but forced labor Stanley and the other campers do daily. This is first referenced at the beginning of the book when the purpose of the camp is stated: "If you take a bad boy and make him dig a hole every day in the hot sun, it will turn him into a good boy".


title: Holes (novel)

text: Over two decades after its original publication, "Holes" continues to be well received by critics and was ranked number 6 among all-time children's novels by "School Library Journal" in 2012.


title: Holes (novel)

text: Betsy Hearne of "The New York Times" applauded the novel's integration of mystery and humor that manages to keep "Holes" light and fresh, and she characterizes it as a "family read-aloud." Roger Sutton of "The Horn Book Magazine" called Sachar's declarative style effective, and argues that it helped make the novel more poignant. Sutton appreciated the positive ending and the suspense that leads the reader to it.


title: Holes (novel)

text: In 2003, Walt Disney Pictures released a film version of "Holes", which was directed by Andrew Davis and written by Louis Sachar.


title: Holes (novel)

text: Two companion novels have followed "Holes": "Stanley Yelnats' Survival Guide to Camp Green Lake" (2003) and "Small Steps" (2006).


title: Holes (novel)

text: As Louis Sachar states: "Should you ever find yourself at Camp Green Lake—or somewhere similar—this is the guide for you." Written from Stanley's point of view, the book offers advice on everything from scorpions, rattlesnakes, yellow-spotted lizards, etc.


title: Holes (novel)

text: In this sequel to "Holes", former camper Armpit is now 17 and struggling with the challenges facing an African American teenager with a criminal history. A new friendship with Ginny, who has cerebral palsy, a reunion with former friend X-Ray, a ticket-scalping scheme, a beautiful pop singer, and a frame-up all test Armpit's resolve to "Just take small steps and keep moving forward".


title: Kathleen Robertson

text: Kathleen Robertson (born July 8, 1973) is a Canadian actress, producer, writer and showrunner. She is best known for her roles as Kitty O' Neill in the Starz, Golden Globe winning series Boss, Hildy Mulligan in TNT's Murder in the First, Tina Edison in the Canadian sitcom "Maniac Mansion" (1990–1993) and as Clare Arnold in the Fox teen drama series "Beverly Hills, 90210" (1994–1997). Robertson also starred in a number of films, and from 2011 to 2012 played the role of Kitty O'Neill in the Starz political drama series "Boss". From 2014 to 2016, Robertson starred as homicide detective Hildy Mulligan in the TNT series "Murder in the First". In 2019, she played a main character in the series "Northern Rescue".


title: Kathleen Robertson

text: Robertson was born in Hamilton, Ontario and attended Sherwood Secondary School and Hillfield Strathallan College, a local private school. She started taking acting classes when she was ten and had roles in local theatre productions. Her first television appearances were in "The Campbells", "My Secret Identity" and "E.N.G."


title: Kathleen Robertson

text: From 1990 to 1993, Robertson starred as Tina Edison, the eldest of three children of Dr. Fred Edison (Joe Flaherty), on the Canadian sitcom "Maniac Mansion". This role earned her two nominations for Young Artist Awards. She appeared in several small films and television shows, and did not debut on the big screen until her small role in the 1992 thriller film "Blown Away", opposite Corey Haim and Nicole Eggert. She also made her American debut in the 1992 made-for-television movie, "Quiet Killer", co-starring Kate Jackson.


title: Kathleen Robertson

text: In 1994, Robertson was cast in the series regular role of Clare Arnold in the Fox teen drama "Beverly Hills, 90210". She starred in the show from 1994 to 1997, during seasons four to seven. In 1997, her ex-boyfriend, director Gregg Araki cast her as Lucifer, one of a group of bored, alienated, and very horny Los Angeles teens in the black comedy drama film "Nowhere". She later had a role in his other film, called "Splendor" (1999). Robertson also has appeared in several films during her career. She appeared opposite Luke Wilson in romantic comedy "Dog Park" (1998), in Sally Field's directed comedy-drama "Beautiful" (2000), and the parody movie "Scary Movie 2" (2001). She later had more serious roles with the 2002 acclaimed independent drama film "XX/XY", opposite Mark Ruffalo. In the same year, Robertson played the role of Evelyn Dick, a Canadian convicted murderer, whose trial remains the most sensationalized event in Canadian criminal history, in the made-for-television movie, "". Robertson was nominated for a Gemini Award for her performance in the film.


title: Kathleen Robertson

text: In 2002, Robertson starred as one of the leads in the short-lived Fox legal drama series "Girls Club" created by David E. Kelley. She later appeared in a number of independent films, and had guest-starring roles on "", "Medium", "", and "Rookie Blue". In 2006, she appeared in "Hollywoodland" opposite Adrien Brody. From 2006 to 2007, she Executive Produced and had the leading role in the IFC comedy series, "The Business". In 2007, she starred in the EMMY winning Syfy miniseries "Tin Man" as the primary antagonist of the story.


title: Kathleen Robertson

text: In 2011, she was cast as Kitty O'Neill, Tom Kane's personal aide alongside Kelsey Grammer in the Starz original drama series "Boss". The series was cancelled after two seasons in late 2012. Robertson also starred in a number of made-for-television movies in recent years, primarily for Lifetime network, including "Last Exit" (2006), and "Time of Death" (2013). In 2013, Robertson portrayed the wife of hockey legend Gordie Howe in the made-for-television movie, "Mr. Hockey: The Gordie Howe Story". The biopic first aired in late April on CBC, and then made its US debut the first week in May. Robertson won a Best Actress Leo Award for her role in the film.


title: Kathleen Robertson

text: In 2013, Robertson was cast as the lead in the TNT detective drama series "Murder in the First" co-created by Steven Bochco which debuted on June 9, 2014. She plays the role of Hildy Mulligan, a homicide detective and single mother. In the same year she starred in the thriller film "The Vatican Tapes" that was released on February 27, 2015, and was cast in recurring role as Jodi Morgan for the second season of A&E drama series "Bates Motel". In 2015, Robertson had the leading role alongside Eric Dane in the four-hour miniseries "The Fixer".


title: Kathleen Robertson

text: In 2018, Robertson was cast in the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation and Netflix co-production drama series "Northern Rescue". It was released on Netflix and CBC GEM on March 1, 2019. In 2021, Robertson had a pivotal role in the final season of "The Expanse" as the right hand of Marcos Inaros.


title: Kathleen Robertson

text: In 2010s, Robertson added producing and screenwriting to her resume. In 2015, Robertson completed the Writers Guild’s Showrunners Training Program, where she was mentored by former WGA West president John Wells. In 2017 she began adapting "The Possibilities", Kaui Hart Hemmings’ follow up novel to "The Descendants" about a grieving Colorado mother whose son was killed in a skiing avalanche and then starts a friendship with a mysterious young girl. She is writing a feature drama film based on Chris Cleave’s novel, "Little Bee" starring Julia Roberts. In 2017, she began developing "Swimming with Sharks", a series based on the 1994 Hollywood satire film. The series was set to debut in 2020 on the former Quibi platform. The series was later picked up by The Roku Channel and premiered at South by Southwest in March 2022. She also created comedy-drama pilot "Your Time Is Up" for Lifetime with Christina Applegate attached to star.


title: Kathleen Robertson

text: As of 2022, Robertson is writing a film for Paramount and Akiva Goldsman for director Johannes Roberts. She also sold a new series to CBC called APRES SKI. She also sold a show to Lionsgate with Academy Award nominated doc filmmaker Joe Berlinger attached to direct.


title: Kathleen Robertson

text: Robertson has been married to film producer Chris Cowles since 2004. They run a production company together called DEBUT CONTENT and have several films and television series in various stages of development. She gave birth to her first child, a son named William Robertson Cowles, on July 9, 2008, at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles. In October 2016, Robertson gave birth to her second son, Bennett.


title: Naked mole-rat

text: The naked mole-rat (Heterocephalus glaber), also known as the sand puppy, is a burrowing rodent native to the Horn of Africa and parts of Kenya, notably in Somali regions. It is closely related to the blesmols and is the only species in the genus Heterocephalus.


title: Naked mole-rat

text: The naked mole-rat exhibits a highly unusual set of physiological and behavioral traits that allow it to thrive in a harsh underground environment; most notably its being the only mammalian thermoconformer with an almost entirely ectothermic (cold-blooded) form of body temperature regulation, as well as exhibiting a complex social structure split between reproductive and non-reproductive castes, making it and the closely-related Damaraland mole-rat ("Fukomys damarensis") the only widely recognized examples of eusociality (the highest classification of sociality) in mammals. The naked mole-rat lacks pain sensitivity in its skin, and has very low metabolic and respiratory rates. It is also remarkable for its longevity and its resistance to cancer and oxygen deprivation.


title: Naked mole-rat

text: While formerly considered to belong to the same family as other African mole-rats, Bathyergidae, more recent investigation places it in a separate family, Heterocephalidae.


title: Naked mole-rat

text: Typical individuals are long and weigh . Queens are larger and may weigh well over , the largest reaching . They are well adapted to their underground existence. Their eyes are quite small, and their visual acuity is poor. Their legs are thin and short; however, they are highly adept at moving underground and can move backward as fast as they can move forward. Their large, protruding teeth are used to dig and their lips are sealed just behind the teeth, preventing soil from filling their mouths while digging. About a quarter of their musculature is used in the closing of their jaws while they dig. They have little hair (hence the common name) and wrinkled pink or yellowish skin. They lack an insulating layer in the skin.


title: Naked mole-rat

text: The naked mole-rat is well adapted to the limited availability of oxygen within the tunnels of its typical habitat. It has underdeveloped lungs and its hemoglobin has a high affinity for oxygen, increasing the efficiency of oxygen uptake. It has a very low respiration and metabolic rate for an animal of its size, about 70% that of a mouse, thus using oxygen minimally. In response to long periods of hunger, its metabolic rate can be reduced by up to 25 percent.


title: Naked mole-rat

text: The naked mole-rat survives for at least 5 hours in air that contains only 5% oxygen; it does not show any significant signs of distress and continues normal activity. It can live in an atmosphere of 80% and 20% oxygen. In zero-oxygen atmosphere, it can survive 18 minutes apparently without suffering any harm (but none survived a test of 30 minutes). During the anoxic period it loses consciousness, its heart rate drops from about 200 to 50 beats per minute, and breathing stops apart from sporadic breathing attempts. When deprived of oxygen, the animal uses fructose in its anaerobic glycolysis, producing lactic acid. This pathway is not inhibited by acidosis as happens with glycolysis of glucose. As of 2017, it was not known how the naked mole-rat survives acidosis without tissue damage.


title: Naked mole-rat

text: The naked mole-rat does not regulate its body temperature in typical mammalian fashion. They are thermoconformers rather than thermoregulators in that, unlike other mammals, body temperature tracks ambient temperatures. However, it has also been claimed that "the Naked Mole-Rat has a distinct temperature and activity rhythm that is not coupled to environmental conditions." The relationship between oxygen consumption and ambient temperature switches from a typical poikilothermic pattern to a homeothermic mode when temperature is at 29 °C or higher. At lower temperatures, naked mole-rats can use behavioral thermoregulation. For example, cold naked mole-rats huddle together or seek shallow parts of the burrows that are warmed by the sun. Conversely, when they get too hot, naked mole-rats retreat to the deeper, cooler parts of the burrows.


title: Naked mole-rat

text: The skin of naked mole-rats lacks neurotransmitters in their cutaneous sensory fibers. As a result, the naked mole-rats feel no pain when they are exposed to acid or capsaicin. When they are injected with substance P, a type of neurotransmitter, the pain signaling works as it does in other mammals but only with capsaicin and not with acids. This is proposed to be an adaptation to the animal living in high levels of carbon dioxide due to poorly ventilated living spaces which would cause acid to build up in their body tissues.


title: Naked mole-rat

text: Naked mole-rats' substance P deficiency has also been tied to their lack of the histamine-induced itching and scratching behavior typical of rodents.


title: Naked mole-rat

text: Naked mole-rats have a high resistance to tumours, although it is likely that they are not entirely immune to related disorders. A potential mechanism that averts cancer is an "over-crowding" gene, p16, which prevents cell division once individual cells come into contact (known as "contact inhibition"). The cells of most mammals, including naked mole-rats, undergo contact inhibition via the gene p27 which prevents cellular reproduction at a much higher cell density than p16 does. The combination of p16 and p27 in naked mole-rat cells is a double barrier to uncontrolled cell proliferation, one of the hallmarks of cancer.


title: Naked mole-rat

text: In 2013, scientists reported that the reason naked mole-rats do not get cancer can be attributed to an "extremely high-molecular-mass hyaluronan" (HMW-HA) (a natural sugary substance), which is over "five times larger" than that in cancer-prone humans and cancer-susceptible laboratory animals. The scientific report was published a month later as the cover story of the journal "Nature". A few months later, the same University of Rochester research team announced that naked mole-rats have ribosomes that produce extremely error-free proteins. Because of both of these discoveries, the journal "Science" named the naked mole-rat "Vertebrate of the Year" for 2013.


title: Naked mole-rat

text: In 2016, a report was published that recorded the first ever discovered malignancies in two naked mole-rats, in two individuals. However, both naked mole-rats were captive-born at zoos, and hence lived in an environment with 21% atmospheric oxygen compared to their natural 2–9%, which may have promoted tumorigenesis.


title: Naked mole-rat

text: The Golan Heights blind mole-rat ("Spalax golani") and the Judean Mountains blind mole-rat ("Spalax judaei") are also resistant to cancer, but by a different mechanism.


title: Naked mole-rat

text: The naked mole-rat is also of interest because it is extraordinarily long-lived for a rodent of its size (up to 32 years) and holds the record for the longest-living rodent. The mortality rate of the species does not increase with age, and thus does not conform to that of most mammals (as frequently defined by the Gompertz-Makeham law of mortality). Naked mole-rats are highly resistant to cancer and maintain healthy vascular function longer in their lifespan than shorter-living rats.


title: Naked mole-rat

text: The reason for their longevity is debated, but is thought to be related to their ability to substantially reduce their metabolism in response to adverse conditions, and so prevent aging-induced damage from oxidative stress. This has been referred to as "living their life in pulses". Their longevity has also been attributed to "protein stability". Because of their extraordinary longevity, an international effort was put into place to sequence the genome of the naked mole-rat. A draft genome was made available in 2011 with an improved version released in 2014. Its somatic number is 2n = 60. Further transcriptome sequencing revealed genes related to mitochondria and oxidation reduction processes to have high expression levels in the naked mole-rat when compared to mice, which may contribute to their longevity.


title: Naked mole-rat

text: The DNA repair transcriptomes of the liver of humans, naked mole-rats and mice were compared. The maximum lifespans of humans, naked mole-rats, and mice are respectively c. 120, 30 and 3 years. The longer-lived species, humans and naked mole-rats, expressed DNA repair genes, including core genes in several DNA repair pathways, at a higher level than did mice. In addition, several DNA repair pathways in humans and naked mole-rats were up-regulated compared with mice. These findings suggest that increased DNA repair facilitates greater longevity, and also are consistent with the DNA damage theory of aging.


title: Naked mole-rat

text: Reproducing females become the dominant female, usually by founding new colonies, fighting for the dominant position, or taking over once the reproducing female dies. These reproducing females tend to have longer bodies than that of their non-reproducing counterparts of the same skull width. The measurements of females before they became reproductive and after show significant increases in body size. It is believed that this trait does not occur due to pre-existing morphological differences but to the actual attainment of the dominant female position. As with the reproductive females, the reproductive males also appear to be bigger in size than their non-reproducing counterparts but not as much so as in the case of the females. These males also have visible outlines of the testes through the skin of their abdomens. Unlike the females, there are usually multiple reproducing males.


title: Naked mole-rat

text: The naked mole-rat's subterranean habitat imposes constraints on its circadian rhythm. Living in constant darkness, most individuals possess a free-running activity pattern and are active both day and night, sleeping for short periods of time several times in between.


title: Naked mole-rat

text: The naked mole-rat is native to the drier parts of the tropical grasslands of East Africa, predominantly southern Ethiopia, Kenya, and Somalia.


title: Naked mole-rat

text: Clusters averaging 75 to 80 individuals live together in complex systems of burrows in arid African deserts. The tunnel systems built by naked mole-rats can stretch up to three to five kilometres (2–3 mi) in cumulative length.


title: Naked mole-rat

text: The naked mole-rat is the first mammal discovered to exhibit eusociality. The Damaraland mole-rat ("Cryptomys damarensis") is the only other eusocial mammal currently known.


title: Naked mole-rat

text: This eusocial structure of naked mole-rats is similar to that found in ants, termites, and some bees and wasps. Only one female (the queen) and one to three males reproduce, while the rest of the members of the colony function as workers. The queen and breeding males are able to breed at one year of age. Workers are sterile, with the smaller focusing on gathering food and maintaining the nest, while larger workers are more reactive in case of attack. The non-reproducing females appear to be reproductively suppressed, meaning the ovaries do not fully mature, and do not have the same levels of certain hormones as the reproducing females. On the other hand, there is little difference of hormone concentration between reproducing and non-reproducing males. In experiments where the reproductive female was removed or died, one of the non-reproducing females would take over and become sexually active. Non-reproducing members of the colony are involved in cooperative care of the pups produced by the reproducing female. This occurs through the workers keeping the pups from straying, foraging for food, grooming, contributing to extension of tunnels, and keeping them warm.


title: Naked mole-rat

text: The relationships between the queen and the breeding males may last for many years; other females are temporarily sterile. Queens live from 13 to 18 years, and are extremely hostile to other females behaving like queens, or producing hormones for becoming queens. When the queen dies, another female takes her place, sometimes after a violent struggle with her competitors. Once established, the new queen's body expands the space between the vertebrae in her backbone to become longer and ready to bear pups.


title: Naked mole-rat

text: Gestation is about 70 days. A litter typically ranges from three to twelve pups, but may be as large as twenty-eight. The average litter size is eleven. In the wild, naked mole-rats usually breed once a year, if the litter survives. In captivity, they breed all year long and can produce a litter every 80 days. The young are born blind and weigh about . The queen nurses them for the first month; after which the other members of the colony feed them fecal pap until they are old enough to eat solid food.


title: Naked mole-rat

text: Smaller workers focus on acquiring food and maintaining tunnels, while the larger workers are more reactive in case of attacks. As in certain bee species, the workers are divided along a continuum of different worker-caste behaviors instead of discrete groups. Some function primarily as tunnellers, expanding the large network of tunnels within the burrow system, and some primarily as soldiers, protecting the group from outside predators. There are two main types of worker, the "frequent workers" who frequently perform tasks such as foraging and nest building and "infrequent workers" that show role overlap with the "frequent workers" but perform at a much slower rate. Workers are sterile when there is no new reproductive role to fill.


title: Naked mole-rat

text: Inbreeding is a common phenomenon among naked mole-rats within a colony. Prolonged inbreeding is usually associated with lower fitness. However, the discovery of a disperser role has revealed an outbreeding mechanism in addition to inbreeding avoidance. Dispersers are morphologically, physiologically as well as behaviorally distinct from colony members and actively seek to leave their burrow when an escape opportunity presents itself. These individuals are equipped with generous fat reserves for their journey. Though they possess high levels of luteinizing hormone, dispersers are only interested in mating with individuals from foreign colonies rather than their own colony's queen. They also show little interest in working cooperatively with colony members in their natal burrow. Hence, the disperser morph is well-prepared to promote the exchange of individuals as well as genetic material between two otherwise separate colonies.


title: Naked mole-rat

text: Reproductively active female naked mole rats tend to associate with unfamiliar males (usually non-kin), whereas reproductively inactive females do not discriminate. The preference of reproductively active females for unfamiliar males is interpreted as an adaptation for inbreeding avoidance. Inbreeding is avoided because it ordinarily leads to the expression of recessive deleterious alleles.


title: Naked mole-rat

text: Naked mole-rats feed primarily on very large tubers (weighing as much as a thousand times the body weight of a typical mole-rat) that they find deep underground through their mining operations. A single tuber can provide a colony with a long-term source of food—lasting for months, or even years, as they eat the inside but leave the outside, allowing the tuber to regenerate. Symbiotic bacteria in their intestines ferment the fibres, allowing otherwise indigestible cellulose to be turned into volatile fatty acids.


title: Naked mole-rat

text: Naked mole-rats sometimes also eat their own feces. This may be part of their eusocial behavior and a means of sharing hormones from the queen.


title: Naked mole-rat

text: Naked mole rats are primarily preyed upon by snakes—especially the Rufous beaked snake and Kenyan sand boa—as well as various raptors. They are at their most vulnerable when constructing mounds and ejecting soil to the surface.


title: Naked mole-rat

text: Naked mole-rats are not threatened. They are widespread and numerous in the drier regions of East Africa.


title: Naked mole-rat

text: A naked mole-rat living at the Lincoln Children's Zoo was the first animal to be photographed for the National Geographic project, "The Photo Ark", which has the goal of photographing all species living in zoos and wildlife sanctuaries around the globe in order to inspire action to save wildlife.


title: Educational technology

text: Educational technology (commonly abbreviated as edutech, or edtech) is the combined use of computer hardware, software, and educational theory and practice to facilitate learning. When referred to with its abbreviation, edtech, it often refers to the industry of companies that create educational technology.


title: Educational technology

text: In addition to the practical educational experience, educational technology is based on theoretical knowledge from various disciplines such as communication, education, psychology, sociology, artificial intelligence, and computer science. It encompasses several domains including learning theory, computer-based training, online learning, and m-learning where mobile technologies are used.


title: Educational technology

text: The Association for Educational Communications and Technology (AECT) has defined educational technology as "the study and ethical practice of facilitating learning and improving performance by creating, using and managing appropriate technological processes and resources". It denotes instructional technology as "the theory and practice of design, development, utilization, management, and evaluation of processes and resources for learning". As such, educational technology refers to all valid and reliable applied education sciences, such as equipment, as well as processes and procedures that are derived from scientific research, and in a given context may refer to theoretical, algorithmic or heuristic processes: it does not necessarily imply physical technology. Educational technology is the process of integrating technology into education in a positive manner that promotes a more diverse learning environment and a way for students to learn how to use technology as well as their common assignments.


title: Educational technology

text: Accordingly, there are several discrete aspects to describing the intellectual and technical development of educational technology:


title: Educational technology

text: Educational technology is an inclusive term for both the material tools and processes, and the theoretical foundations for supporting learning and teaching. Educational technology is not restricted to high technology but is anything that enhances classroom learning in the utilization of blended, face-to-face, or online learning.


title: Educational technology

text: An educational technologist is someone who is trained in the field of educational technology. Educational technologists try to analyze, design, develop, implement, and evaluate processes and tools to enhance learning. While the term "educational technologist" is used primarily in the United States, "learning technologist" is synonymous term used in the UK as well as Canada.


title: Educational technology

text: Modern electronic educational technology is an important part of society today. Educational technology encompasses e-learning, instructional technology, information and communication technology (ICT) in education, edtech, learning technology, multimedia learning, technology-enhanced learning (TEL), computer-based instruction (CBI), computer managed instruction, computer-based training (CBT), computer-assisted instruction or computer-aided instruction (CAI), internet-based training (IBT), flexible learning, web-based training (WBT), online education, digital educational collaboration, distributed learning, computer-mediated communication, cyber-learning, and multi-modal instruction, virtual education, personal learning environments, networked learning, virtual learning environments (VLE) (which are also called learning platforms), m-learning, ubiquitous learning and digital education.


title: Educational technology

text: Each of these numerous terms has had its advocates, who point up potential distinctive features. However, many terms and concepts in educational technology have been defined nebulously; for example, Fiedler's review of the literature found a complete lack of agreement about the components of a personal learning environment. Moreover, Moore saw these terminologies as emphasizing particular features such as digitization approaches, components, or delivery methods rather than being fundamentally dissimilar in concept or principle. For example, m-learning "emphasizes" mobility, which allows for altered timing, location, accessibility, and context of learning; nevertheless, its purpose and conceptual "principles" are those of educational technology.


title: Educational technology

text: In practice, as technology has advanced, the particular "narrowly defined" terminological aspect that was initially emphasized by name has blended into the general field of educational technology. Initially, "virtual learning" as narrowly defined in a semantic sense implied entering an environmental simulation within a virtual world, for example in treating posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). In practice, a "virtual education course" refers to any instructional course in which all, or at least a significant portion, is delivered by the Internet. "Virtual" is used in that broader way to describe a course that is not taught in a classroom face-to-face but through a substitute mode that can conceptually be associated "virtually" with classroom teaching, which means that people do not have to go to the physical classroom to learn. Accordingly, virtual education refers to a form of distance learning in which course content is delivered by various methods such as course management applications, multimedia resources, and videoconferencing. Virtual education and simulated learning opportunities, such as games or dissections, offer opportunities for students to connect classroom content to authentic situations.


title: Educational technology

text: Educational content, pervasively embedded in objects, is all around the learner, who may not even be conscious of the learning process.<ref name="Teaching English as a Second/Foreign Language in a Ubiquitous Learning Environment: A Guide for ESL/EFL Instructors"></ref> The combination of adaptive learning, using an individualized interface and materials, which accommodate to an individual, who thus receives personally differentiated instruction, with ubiquitous access to digital resources and learning opportunities in a range of places and at various times, has been termed smart learning. Smart learning is a component of the smart city concept.


title: Educational technology

text: Helping people and children learn in ways that are easier, faster, more accurate, or less expensive can be traced back to the emergence of very early tools, such as paintings on cave walls. Various types of abacus have been used. Writing slates and blackboards have been used for at least a millennium. From their introduction, books and pamphlets have held a prominent role in education. From the early twentieth century, duplicating machines such as the mimeograph and Gestetner stencil devices were used to produce short copy runs (typically 10–50 copies) for classroom or home use. The use of media for instructional purposes is generally traced back to the first decade of the 20th century with the introduction of educational films (the 1900s) and Sidney Pressey's mechanical teaching machines (1920s). The first all multiple choice, large-scale assessment was the Army Alpha, used to assess the intelligence and, more specifically, the aptitudes of World War I military recruits. Further large-scale use of technologies was employed in training soldiers during and after WWII using films and other mediated materials, such as overhead projectors. The concept of hypertext is traced to the description of memex by Vannevar Bush in 1945.


title: Educational technology

text: Slide projectors were widely used during the 1950s in educational institutional settings. Cuisenaire rods were devised in the 1920s and saw widespread use from the late 1950s.


title: Educational technology

text: In the mid-1960s, Stanford University psychology professors, Patrick Suppes and Richard C. Atkinson, experimented with using computers to teach arithmetic and spelling via Teletypes to elementary school students in the Palo Alto Unified School District in California. Stanford's Education Program for Gifted Youth is descended from those early experiments.


title: Educational technology

text: Online education originated from the University of Illinois in 1960. Although the internet would not be created for another decade, students were able to access class information with linked computer terminals. Online learning emerged in 1982 when the Western Behavioral Sciences Institute in La Jolla, California, opened its School of Management and Strategic Studies. The school employed computer conferencing through the New Jersey Institute of Technology's Electronic Information Exchange System (EIES) to deliver a distance education program to business executives. Starting in 1985, Connected Education offered the first totally online master's degree in media studies, through The New School in New York City, also via the EIES computer conferencing system. Subsequent courses were offered in 1986 by the Electronic University Network for DOS and Commodore 64 computers. In 2002, MIT began providing online classes free of charge. , approximately 5.5 million students were taking at least one class online. Currently, one out of three college students takes at least one online course while in college. At DeVry University, out of all students that are earning a bachelor's degree, 80% earn two-thirds of their requirements online. Also, in 2014, 2.85 million students out of 5.8 million students that took courses online, took all of their courses online. From this information, it can be concluded that the number of students taking classes online is on a steady increase.


title: Educational technology

text: The recent article, "Shift happens: online education as a new paradigm in learning", Linda Harasim covers an overview of the history of online education as well as a framework for understanding the type of need it addresses, the concept of distance learning has already been invented for many centuries. The value of online education is not found in its ability to have established a method for distance learning, but rather in its power to make this type of learning process more efficient by providing a medium in which the instructor and their students can virtually interact with one another in real-time. The topic of online education started primarily in the late 1900s when institutions and businesses started to make products to assist students' learning. These groups desired a need to further develop educational services across the globe, primarily to developing countries. In 1960, the University of Illinois created a system of linked computer terminals, known as the Intranet, to give students access to recorded lectures and course materials that they could watch or use in their free time. This type of concept, called PLATO (programmed logic for automatic teaching operations), was rapidly introduced throughout the globe. Many institutions adopted this similar technique while the internet was in its developmental phase.


title: Educational technology

text: In 1971, Ivan Illich published a hugely influential book, "Deschooling Society", in which he envisioned "learning webs" as a model for people to network the learning they needed. The 1970s and 1980s saw notable contributions in computer-based learning by Murray Turoff and Starr Roxanne Hiltz at the New Jersey Institute of Technology as well as developments at the University of Guelph in Canada. In the UK, the Council for Educational Technology supported the use of educational technology, in particular administering the government's National Development Programme in Computer Aided Learning (1973–1977) and the Microelectronics Education Programme (1980–1986).


title: Educational technology

text: By the mid-1980s, accessing course content became possible at many college libraries. In computer-based training (CBT) or computer-based learning (CBL), the learning interaction was between the student and computer drills or micro-world simulations.


title: Educational technology

text: Digitized communication and networking in education started in the mid-1980s. Educational institutions began to take advantage of the new medium by offering distance learning courses using computer networking for information. Early e-learning systems, based on computer-based learning/training often replicated autocratic teaching styles whereby the role of the e-learning system was assumed to be for transferring knowledge, as opposed to systems developed later based on computer-supported collaborative learning (CSCL), which encouraged the shared development of knowledge.


title: Educational technology

text: Videoconferencing was an important forerunner to the educational technologies known today. This work was especially popular with museum education. Even in recent years, videoconferencing has risen in popularity to reach over 20,000 students across the United States and Canada in 2008–2009. Disadvantages of this form of educational technology are readily apparent: image and sound quality are often grainy or pixelated; videoconferencing requires setting up a type of mini-television studio within the museum for broadcast, space becomes an issue, and specialized equipment is required for both the provider and the participant.


title: Educational technology

text: The Open University in Britain and the University of British Columbia (where Web CT, now incorporated into Blackboard Inc., was first developed) began a revolution of using the Internet to deliver learning, making heavy use of web-based training, online distance learning, and online discussion between students. Practitioners such as Harasim (1995) put heavy emphasis on the use of learning networks.


title: Educational technology

text: With the advent of World Wide Web in the 1990s, teachers embarked on the method of using emerging technologies to employ multi-object oriented sites, which are text-based online virtual reality systems, to create course websites along with simple sets of instructions for their students.


title: Educational technology

text: By 1994, the first online high school had been founded. In 1997, Graziadei described criteria for evaluating products and developing technology-based courses that include being portable, replicable, scalable, affordable, and having a high probability of long-term cost-effectiveness.


title: Educational technology

text: Improved Internet functionality enabled new schemes of communication with multimedia or webcams. The National Center for Education Statistics estimates the number of K 12 students enrolled in online distance learning programs increased by 65% from 2002 to 2005, with greater flexibility, ease of communication between teacher and student, and quick lecture and assignment feedback.


title: Educational technology

text: According to a 2008 study conducted by the U.S Department of Education, during the 2006–2007 academic year about 66% of postsecondary public and private schools participating in student financial aid programs offered some distance learning courses; records show 77% of enrollment in for-credit courses with an online component. In 2008, the Council of Europe passed a statement endorsing e-learning's potential to drive equality and education improvements across the EU.


title: Educational technology

text: Computer-mediated communication (CMC) is between learners and instructors, mediated by the computer. In contrast, CBT/CBL usually means individualized (self-study) learning, while CMC involves educator/tutor facilitation and requires the scalarization of flexible learning activities. In addition, modern ICT provides education with tools for sustaining learning communities and associated knowledge management tasks.


title: Educational technology

text: Students growing up in this digital age have extensive exposure to a variety of media. Major high-tech companies have funded schools to provide them with the ability to teach their students through technology.


title: Educational technology

text: 2015 was the first year that private nonprofit organizations enrolled more online students than for-profits, although public universities still enrolled the highest number of online students. In the fall of 2015, more than 6 million students enrolled in at least one online course.


title: Educational technology

text: In 2020, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, many schools across the world were forced to close, which left more and more grade-school students participating in online learning, and university-level students enrolling in online courses to enforce distance learning. Organizations such as Unesco have enlisted educational technology solutions to help schools facilitate distance education. The pandemic's extended lockdowns and focus on distance learning has attracted record-breaking amounts of venture capital to the ed-tech sector. In 2020, in the United States alone, ed-tech startups raised $1.78 billion in venture capital spanning 265 deals, compared to $1.32 billion in 2019.


title: Educational technology

text: Various pedagogical perspectives or learning theories may be considered in designing and interacting with educational technology. E-learning theory examines these approaches. These theoretical perspectives are grouped into three main theoretical schools or philosophical frameworks: behaviorism, cognitivism, and constructivism.


title: Educational technology

text: This theoretical framework was developed in the early 20th century based on animal learning experiments by Ivan Pavlov, Edward Thorndike, Edward C. Tolman, Clark L. Hull, and B.F. Skinner. Many psychologists used these results to develop theories of human learning, but modern educators generally see behaviorism as one aspect of a holistic synthesis. Teaching in behaviorism has been linked to training, emphasizing animal learning experiments. Since behaviorism consists of the view of teaching people how to do something with rewards and punishments, it is related to training people.


title: Educational technology

text: B.F. Skinner wrote extensively on improvements in teaching based on his functional analysis of verbal behavior and wrote "The Technology of Teaching", an attempt to dispel the myths underlying contemporary education as well as promote his system he called programmed instruction. Ogden Lindsley developed a learning system, named Celeration, which was based on behavior analysis but substantially differed from Keller's and Skinner's models.


title: Educational technology

text: Cognitive science underwent significant change in the 1960s and 1970s to the point that some described the period as a "cognitive revolution", particularly in reaction to behaviorism. While retaining the empirical framework of behaviorism, cognitive psychology theories look beyond behavior to explain brain-based learning by considering how human memory works to promote learning. It refers to learning as "all processes by which the sensory input is transformed, reduced, elaborated, stored, recovered, and used" by the human mind. The Atkinson-Shiffrin memory model and Baddeley's working memory model were established as theoretical frameworks. Computer science and information technology have had a major influence on cognitive science theory. The cognitive concepts of working memory (formerly known as short-term memory) and long-term memory have been facilitated by research and technology from the field of computer science. Another major influence on the field of cognitive science is Noam Chomsky. Today researchers are concentrating on topics like cognitive load, information processing, and media psychology. These theoretical perspectives influence instructional design.


title: Educational technology

text: There are two separate schools of cognitivism, and these are the cognitivist and social cognitivist. The former focuses on the understanding of the thinking or cognitive processes of an individual while the latter includes social processes as influences in learning besides cognition. These two schools, however, share the view that learning is more than a behavioral change but is rather a mental process used by the learner.


title: Educational technology

text: Educational psychologists distinguish between several types of constructivism: individual (or psychological) constructivism, such as Piaget's theory of cognitive development, and social constructivism. This form of constructivism has a primary focus on how learners construct their own meaning from new information, as they interact with reality and with other learners who bring different perspectives. Constructivist learning environments require students to use their prior knowledge and experiences to formulate new, related, and/or adaptive concepts in learning (Termos, 2012). Under this framework, the role of the teacher becomes that of a facilitator, providing guidance so that learners can construct their own knowledge. Constructivist educators must make sure that the prior learning experiences are appropriate and related to the concepts being taught. Jonassen (1997) suggests "well-structured" learning environments are useful for novice learners and that "ill-structured" environments are only useful for more advanced learners. Educators utilizing a constructivist perspective may emphasize an active learning environment that may incorporate learner-centered problem-based learning, project-based learning, and inquiry-based learning, ideally involving real-world scenarios, in which students are actively engaged in critical thinking activities. An illustrative discussion and example can be found in the 1980s deployment of constructivist cognitive learning in computer literacy, which involved programming as an instrument of learning. "LOGO", a programming language, embodied an attempt to integrate Piagetian ideas with computers and technology. Initially there were broad, hopeful claims, including "perhaps the most controversial claim" that it would "improve general problem-solving skills" across disciplines. However, "LOGO" programming skills did not consistently yield cognitive benefits. It was "not as concrete" as advocates claimed, it privileged "one form of reasoning over all others", and it was difficult to apply the thinking activity to non-"LOGO"-based activities. By the late 1980s, "LOGO" and other similar programming languages had lost their novelty and dominance and were gradually de-emphasized amid criticisms.


title: Educational technology

text: The extent to which e-learning assists or replaces other learning and teaching approaches is variable, ranging on a continuum from none to fully online distance learning. A variety of descriptive terms have been employed (somewhat inconsistently) to categorize the extent to which technology is used. For example, "hybrid learning" or "blended learning" may refer to classroom aids and laptops, or may refer to approaches in which traditional classroom time is reduced but not eliminated, and is replaced with some online learning. "Distributed learning" may describe either the e-learning component of a hybrid approach, or fully online distance learning environments.


title: Educational technology

text: E-learning may either be synchronous or asynchronous. Synchronous learning occurs in real-time, with all participants interacting at the same time. In contrast, asynchronous learning is self-paced and allows participants to engage in the exchange of ideas or information without the dependency on other participants' involvement at the same time.


title: Educational technology

text: Synchronous learning refers to exchanging ideas and information with one or more participants during the same period. Examples are face-to-face discussion, online real-time live teacher instruction and feedback, Skype conversations, and chat rooms or virtual classrooms where everyone is online and working collaboratively at the same time. Since students are working collaboratively, synchronized learning helps students become more open-minded because they have to actively listen and learn from their peers. Synchronized learning fosters online awareness and improves many students' writing skills.


title: Educational technology

text: Asynchronous learning may use technologies such as learning management systems, email, blogs, wikis, and discussion boards, as well as web-supported textbooks, hypertext documents, audio video courses, and social networking using web 2.0. At the professional educational level, training may include virtual operating rooms. Asynchronous learning is beneficial for students who have health problems or who have childcare responsibilities. They have the opportunity to complete their work in a low-stress environment and within a more flexible time frame. In "asynchronous" online courses, students are allowed the freedom to complete work at their own pace. Being non-traditional students, they can manage their daily life and school and still have the social aspect. Asynchronous collaborations allow the student to reach out for help when needed and provide helpful guidance, depending on how long it takes them to complete the assignment. Many tools used for these courses are but are not limited to: videos, class discussions, and group projects. Through online courses, students can earn their diplomas faster, or repeat failed courses without being in a class with younger students. Students have access to various enrichment courses in online learning, still participate in college courses, internships, sports, or work, and still graduate with their classes.


title: Educational technology

text: Computer-based training (CBT) refers to self-paced learning activities delivered on a computer or handheld devices such as a tablet or smartphone. CBT initially delivered content via CD-ROM, and typically presented content linearly, much like reading an online book or manual. For this reason, CBT is often used to teach static processes, such as using software or completing mathematical equations. Computer-based training is conceptually similar to web-based training (WBT), which is delivered via Internet using a web browser.


title: Educational technology

text: Assessing learning in a CBT is often by assessments that can be easily scored by a computer such as multiple-choice questions, drag-and-drop, radio button, simulation, or other interactive means. Assessments are easily scored and recorded via online software, providing immediate end-user feedback and completion status. Users are often able to print completion records in the form of certificates.


title: Educational technology

text: CBTs provide learning stimulus beyond traditional learning methodology from textbook, manual, or classroom-based instruction. CBTs can be a good alternative to printed learning materials since rich media, including videos or animations, can be embedded to enhance learning.


title: Educational technology

text: However, CBTs pose some learning challenges. Typically, the creation of effective CBTs requires enormous resources. The software for developing CBTs is often more complex than a subject matter expert or teacher is able to use. The lack of human interaction can limit both the type of content that can be presented and the type of assessment that can be performed and may need supplementation with online discussion or other interactive elements.


title: Educational technology

text: Computer-supported collaborative learning (CSCL) uses instructional methods designed to encourage or require students to work together on learning tasks, allowing social learning. CSCL is similar in concept to the terminology, "e-learning 2.0" and "networked collaborative learning" (NCL). With Web 2.0 advances, sharing information between multiple people in a network has become much easier and use has increased. One of the main reasons for its usage states that it is "a breeding ground for creative and engaging educational endeavors." Learning takes place through conversations about content and grounded interaction about problems and actions. This collaborative learning differs from instruction in which the instructor is the principal source of knowledge and skills. The neologism "e-learning 1.0" refers to direct instruction used in early computer-based learning and training systems (CBL). In contrast to that linear delivery of content, often directly from the instructor's material, CSCL uses social software such as blogs, social media, wikis, podcasts, cloud-based document portals, and discussion groups and virtual worlds. This phenomenon has been referred to as Long Tail Learning. Advocates of social learning claim that one of the best ways to learn something is to teach it to others. Social networks have been used to foster online learning communities around subjects as diverse as test preparation and language education. Mobile-assisted language learning (MALL) is the use of handheld computers or cell phones to assist in language learning.


title: Educational technology

text: Collaborative apps allow students and teachers to interact while studying. Apps are designed after games, which provide a fun way to revise. When the experience is enjoyable, the students become more engaged. Games also usually come with a sense of progression, which can help keep students motivated and consistent while trying to improve.


title: Educational technology

text: Classroom 2.0 refers to online multi-user virtual environments (MUVEs) that connect schools across geographical frontiers. Known as "eTwinning", computer-supported collaborative learning (CSCL) allows learners in one school to communicate with learners in another that they would not get to know otherwise, enhancing educational outcomes and cultural integration.


title: Educational technology

text: Further, many researchers distinguish between collaborative and cooperative approaches to group learning. For example, Roschelle and Teasley (1995) argue that "cooperation is accomplished by the division of labor among participants, as an activity where each person is responsible for a portion of the problem solving", in contrast with collaboration that involves the "mutual engagement of participants in a coordinated effort to solve the problem together."


title: Educational technology

text: Social technology, and social media specifically, provides avenues for student learning that would not be available otherwise. For example, it provides ordinary students a chance to exist in the same room as, and share a dialogue with researchers, politicians, and activists. This is because it vaporizes the geographical barriers that would otherwise separate people. Simplified, social media gives students a reach that provides them with opportunities and conversations that allow them to grow as communicators.


title: Educational technology

text: Social technologies like Twitter can provide students with an archive of free data that goes back multiple decades. Many classrooms and educators are already taking advantage of this free resource—for example, researchers and educators at the University of Central Florida in 2011 used Tweets posted relating to emergencies like Hurricane Irene as data points, in order to teach their students how to code data. Social media technologies also allow instructors the ability to show students how professional networks facilitate work on a technical level.


title: Educational technology

text: This is an instructional strategy in which computer-assisted teaching is integrated with classroom instruction. Students are given basic essential instruction, such as lectures, before class instead of during class. Instructional content is delivered outside of the classroom, often online. The out-of-class delivery includes streaming video, reading materials, online chats, and other resources. This frees up classroom time for teachers to more actively engage with learners.Some research shows that flipped classroom can enhance students' studying efficiency because it can deliver rich educational resources to students at any time and any place.


title: Educational technology

text: Numerous types of physical technology are currently used: digital cameras, video cameras, interactive whiteboard tools, document cameras, electronic media, and LCD projectors. Combinations of these techniques include blogs, collaborative software, ePortfolios, and virtual classrooms.


title: Educational technology

text: The current design of this type of application includes the evaluation through tools of cognitive analysis that allow to identify of which elements optimize the use of these platforms.


title: Educational technology

text: Video technology has included VHS tapes and DVDs, as well as on-demand and synchronous methods with digital video via server or web-based options such as streamed video and webcams. Videotelephony can connect with speakers and other experts. Interactive digital video games are being used at K-12 and higher education institutions.


title: Educational technology

text: Radio offers a synchronous educational vehicle while streaming audio over the internet with webcasts and podcasts can be asynchronous. Classroom microphones, often wireless, can enable learners and educators to interact more clearly.


title: Educational technology

text: Screencasting allows users to share their screens directly from their browser and make the video available online so that other viewers can stream the video directly. The presenter thus has the ability to show their ideas and flow of thoughts rather than simply explain them as simple text content. In combination with audio and video, the educator can mimic the one-on-one experience of the classroom. Learners have the ability to pause and rewind, to review at their own pace, something a classroom cannot always offer.


title: Educational technology

text: Webcams and webcasting have enabled the creation of virtual classrooms and virtual learning environment. Webcams are also being used to counter plagiarism and other forms of academic dishonesty that might occur in an e-learning environment.


title: Educational technology

text: Collaborative learning is a group-based learning approach in which learners are mutually engaged in a coordinated fashion to achieve a learning goal or complete a learning task. With recent developments in smartphone technology, the processing powers and storage capabilities of modern mobiles allow for advanced development and the use of apps. Many app developers and education experts have been exploring smartphone and tablet apps as a medium for collaborative learning.


title: Educational technology

text: Computers and tablets enable learners and educators to access websites as well as applications. Many mobile devices support m-learning.


title: Educational technology

text: Mobile devices such as clickers and smartphones can be used for interactive audience response feedback. Mobile learning can provide performance support for checking the time, setting reminders, retrieving worksheets, and instruction manuals.


title: Educational technology

text: Such devices as iPads are used for helping disabled (visually impaired or with multiple disabilities) children in communication development as well as in improving physiological activity, according to the stimulation Practice Report.


title: Educational technology

text: Computers in the classroom have been shown to increase rates of engagement and interest when computers and smart devices are utilized educationally in classrooms.


title: Educational technology

text: Group webpages, blogs, wikis, and Twitter allow learners and educators to post thoughts, ideas, and comments on a website in an interactive learning environment. Social networking sites are virtual communities for people interested in a particular subject to communicate by voice, chat, instant message, video conference, or blogs. The National School Boards Association found that 96% of students with online access have used social networking technologies and more than 50% talk online about schoolwork. Social networking encourages collaboration and engagement and can be a motivational tool for self-efficacy amongst students.


title: Educational technology

text: There are three types of whiteboards. The initial whiteboards, analogous to blackboards, date from the late 1950s. The term whiteboard is also used metaphorically to refer to virtual whiteboards in which computer software applications simulate whiteboards by allowing writing or drawing. This is a common feature of groupware for virtual meetings, collaboration, and instant messaging. Interactive whiteboards allow learners and instructors to write on the touch screen. The screen markup can be on either a blank whiteboard or any computer screen content. Depending on permission settings, this visual learning can be interactive and participatory, including writing and manipulating images on the interactive whiteboard.


title: Educational technology

text: A virtual learning environment (VLE), also known as a learning platform, simulates a virtual classroom or meetings by simultaneously mixing several communication technologies. Web conferencing software enables students and instructors to communicate with each other via webcam, microphone, and real-time chatting in a group setting. Participants can raise their hands, answer polls, or take tests. Students can whiteboard and screencast when given rights by the instructor, who sets permission levels for text notes, microphone rights, and mouse control.


title: Educational technology

text: A virtual classroom provides an opportunity for students to receive direct instruction from a qualified teacher in an interactive environment. Learners can have direct and immediate access to their instructor for instant feedback and direction. The virtual classroom provides a structured schedule of classes, which can be helpful for students who may find the freedom of asynchronous learning to be overwhelming. Besides, the virtual classroom provides a social learning environment that replicates the traditional "brick and mortar" classroom. Most virtual classroom applications provide a recording feature. Each class is recorded and stored on a server, which allows for instant playback of any class over the course of the school year. This can be extremely useful for students to retrieve missed material or review concepts for an upcoming exam. Parents and auditors have the conceptual ability to monitor any classroom to ensure that they are satisfied with the education the learner is receiving.


title: Educational technology

text: In higher education especially, a virtual learning environment (VLE) is sometimes combined with a management information system (MIS) to create a managed learning environment, in which all aspects of a course are handled through a consistent user interface throughout the institution. Physical universities and newer online-only colleges offer to select academic degrees and certificate programs via the Internet. Some programs require students to attend some campus classes or orientations, but many are delivered completely online. Several universities offer online student support services, such as online advising and registration, e-counseling, online textbook purchases, student governments, and student newspapers.


title: Educational technology

text: Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, many schools have been forced to move online. As of April 2020, an estimated 90% of high-income countries are offering online learning, with only 25% of low-income countries offering the same.


title: Educational technology

text: Augmented reality (AR) provides students and teachers with the opportunity to create layers of digital information, including both virtual worlds and real-world elements, to interact in real-time.


title: Educational technology

text: AR technology plays an important role in the future of the classroom where human / AI co-orchestration takes place seamlessly. Students would switch between individual and collaborative learning dynamically, based on their own learning pace, while teachers, with the help of AR, monitor the classroom and provide necessary interventions in cases where computer systems are not yet designed to handle. In this vision, the technology's role is to enhance, rather than replace, human teachers' capabilities.


title: Educational technology

text: A learning management system (LMS) is software used for delivering, tracking, and managing training and education. It tracks data about attendance, time on task, and student progress. Educators can post announcements, grade assignments, check on course activities, and participate in class discussions. Students can submit their work, read and respond to discussion questions, and take quizzes. An LMS may allow teachers, administrators, and students, and permitted additional parties (such as parents, if appropriate) to track various metrics. LMSs range from systems for managing training/educational records to software for distributing courses over the Internet and offering features for online collaboration. The creation and maintenance of comprehensive learning content require substantial initial and ongoing investments in human labor. Effective translation into other languages and cultural contexts requires even more investment by knowledgeable personnel.


title: Educational technology

text: Internet-based learning management systems include Canvas, Blackboard Inc. and Moodle. These types of LMS allow educators to run a learning system partially or fully online, asynchronously or synchronously. Learning Management Systems also offers a non-linear presentation of content and curricular goals, giving students the choice of pace and order of information learned. Blackboard can be used for K-12 education, Higher Education, Business, and Government collaboration. Moodle is a free-to-download Open Source Course Management System that provides blended learning opportunities as well as platforms for distance learning courses.


title: Educational technology

text: A learning content management system (LCMS) is software for author content (courses, reusable content objects). An LCMS may be solely dedicated to producing and publishing content that is hosted on an LMS, or it can host the content itself. The Aviation Industry Computer-Based Training Committee (AICC) specification provides support for content that is hosted separately from the LMS.


title: Educational technology

text: Computer-aided assessment (e-assessment) ranges from automated multiple-choice tests to more sophisticated systems. With some systems, feedback can be geared towards a student's specific mistakes, or the computer can navigate the student through a series of questions adapting to what the student appears to have learned or not learned. Formative assessment sifts out the incorrect answers, and these questions are then explained by the teacher. The learner then practices with slight variations of the sifted-out questions. The process is completed by summative assessment using a new set of questions that only cover the topics previously taught.


title: Educational technology

text: A training management system or training resource management system is software designed to optimize instructor-led training management. Similar to an enterprise resource planning (ERP), it is a back office tool that aims at streamlining every aspect of the training process: planning (training plan and budget forecasting), logistics (scheduling and resource management), financials (cost tracking, profitability), reporting, and sales for-profit training providers. A training management system can be used to schedule instructors, venues, and equipment through graphical agendas, optimize resource utilization, create a training plan and track remaining budgets, generate reports and share data between different teams.


title: Educational technology

text: While training management systems focus on managing instructor-led training, they can complete an LMS. In this situation, an LMS will manage e-learning delivery and assessment, while a training management system will manage ILT and back-office budget planning, logistics, and reporting.


title: Educational technology

text: Content and design architecture issues include pedagogy and learning object re-use. One approach looks at five aspects:


title: Educational technology

text: Pedagogical elements are defined as structures or units of educational material. They are the educational content that is to be delivered. These units are independent of format, meaning that although the unit may be delivered in various ways, the pedagogical structures themselves are not the textbook, web page, video conference, Podcast, lesson, assignment, multiple-choice question, quiz, discussion group or a case study, all of which are possible methods of delivery.


title: Educational technology

text: Much effort has been put into the technical reuse of electronically based teaching materials and, in particular, creating or re-using learning objects. These are self-contained units that are properly tagged with keywords, or other metadata, and often stored in an XML file format. Creating a course requires putting together a sequence of learning objects. There are both proprietary and open, non-commercial and commercial, peer-reviewed repositories of learning objects such as the Merlot repository. Sharable Content Object Reference Model (SCORM) is a collection of standards and specifications that applies to certain web-based e-learning. Other specifications, such as Schools Interoperability Framework, allow for the transporting of learning objects, or for categorizing metadata (LOM).


title: Educational technology

text: As artificial intelligence (AI) becomes more prominent in this age of big data, it has also been widely adopted in K-12 classrooms. One prominent class of AI-enhanced educational technology is intelligent tutoring systems (ITSs), designed to provide immediate and personalized feedback to students. The incentive to develop ITS comes from educational studies showing that individual tutoring is much more effective than group teaching, in addition to the need for promoting learning on a larger scale. Over the years, a combination of cognitive science theories and data-driven techniques have greatly enhanced the capabilities of ITS, allowing it to model a wide range of students' characteristics, such as knowledge, affect, off-task behavior and wheel spinning. There is ample evidence that ITSs are highly effective in helping students learn. ITSs can be used to keep students in the zone of proximal development (ZPD): the space wherein students may learn with guidance. Such systems can guide students through tasks slightly above their ability level.


title: Educational technology

text: Recent works have also focused on developing AI-enhanced learning tools that support human teachers in coordinating classroom activities. The teacher can support students in a way that AI cannot, but is unable to process the large amount of real-time data analytics provided by the computer system. On the other hand, AI can share the workload and recommend the best course of action (e.g., by pointing out which students require the most help), but can only operate in the pre-specified domain and cannot handle tasks such as providing emotional support or remedial lessons to students in need. However, existing systems were designed under the assumption that students progress at the same pace. Understanding how to support teachers in a realistic, highly differentiated, self-paced classroom, remains an open research problem.


title: Educational technology

text: Various forms of electronic media can be a feature of preschool life. Although parents report a positive experience, the impact of such use has not been systematically assessed.


title: Educational technology

text: The age when a given child might start using a particular technology such as a cellphone or computer might depend on matching a technological resource to the recipient's developmental capabilities, such as the age-anticipated stages labeled by Swiss psychologist, Jean Piaget. Parameters, such as age-appropriateness, coherence with sought-after values, and concurrent entertainment and educational aspects, have been suggested for choosing media.


title: Educational technology

text: At the preschool level, technology can be introduced in several ways. At the most basic is the use of computers, tablets, and audio and video resources in classrooms. Additionally, there are many resources available for parents and educators to introduce technology to young children or to use technology to augment lessons and enhance learning. Some options that are age-appropriate are video- or audio-recording of their creations, introducing them to the use of the internet through browsing age-appropriate websites, providing assistive technology to allow disabled children to participate with the rest of their peers, educational apps, electronic books, and educational videos. There are many free and paid educational website and apps that are directly targeting the educational needs of preschool children. These include Starfall, ABC mouse, PBS Kids Video, Teach me, and Montessori crosswords. Educational technology in the form of electronic books [109] offer preschool children the option to store and retrieve several books on one device, thus bringing together the traditional action of reading along with the use of educational technology. Educational technology is also thought to improve hand-eye coordination, language skills, visual attention, and motivation to complete educational tasks, and allows children to experience things they otherwise would not. There are several keys to making the most educational use of introducing technology at the preschool level: technology must be used appropriately, should allow access to learning opportunities, should include the interaction of parents and other adults with the preschool children, and should be developmentally appropriate. Allowing access to learning opportunities especially for allowing disabled children to have access to learning opportunities, giving bilingual children the opportunity to communicate and learn in more than one language, bringing in more information about STEM subjects, and bringing in images of diversity that may be lacking in the child's immediate environment.


title: Educational technology

text: Coding is also becoming part of the early learning curriculum and preschool-aged children can benefit from experiences that teach coding skills even in a screen-free way. There are activities and games that teach hands-on coding skills that prepare students for the coding concepts they will encounter and use in the future.


title: Educational technology

text: E-learning is utilized by public K–12 schools in the United States as well as private schools. Some e-learning environments take place in a traditional classroom; others allow students to attend classes from home or other locations. There are several states that are utilizing virtual school platforms for e-learning across the country which continue to increase. Virtual school enables students to log into synchronous learning or asynchronous learning courses anywhere there is an internet connection.


title: Educational technology

text: E-learning is increasingly being utilized by students who may not want to go to traditional brick-and-mortar schools due to severe allergies or other medical issues, fear of school violence and school bullying, and students whose parents would like to homeschool but do not feel qualified. Online schools create a haven for students to receive a quality education while almost completely avoiding these common problems. Online charter schools also often are not limited by location, income level, or class size in the way brick and mortar charter schools are.


title: Educational technology

text: E-learning also has been rising as a supplement to the traditional classroom. Students with special talents or interests outside of the available curricula use e-learning to advance their skills or exceed grade restrictions. Some online institutions connect students with instructors via web conference technology to form a digital classroom.


title: Educational technology

text: National private schools are also available online. These provide the benefits of e-learning to students in states where charter online schools are not available. They also may allow students greater flexibility and exemption from state testing. Some of these schools are available at the high school level and offer college prep courses to students.


title: Educational technology

text: Virtual education in K-12 schooling often refers to virtual schools, and in higher education to virtual universities. Virtual schools are "cybercharter schools" with innovative administrative models and course delivery technology.


title: Educational technology

text: Education technology also seems to be an interesting method of engaging gifted youths that are under-stimulated in their current educational program. This can be achieved with after-school programs or even technologically-integrated curricula, for example: Virtual reality integrated courses (VRIC) can be developed for any course in order to give them such stimulation. 3D printing integrated courses (3dPIC) can also give youths the stimulation they need in their educational journey. Université de Montréal's Projet SEUR in collaboration with Collège Mont-Royal and La Variable are heavily developing this field.


title: Educational technology

text: Online college course enrollment has seen a 29% increase in enrollment with nearly one-third of all college students, or an estimated 6.7 million students are currently enrolled in online classes. In 2009, 44% of post-secondary students in the USA were taking some or all of their courses online, which was projected to rise to 81% by 2014.


title: Educational technology

text: Although a large proportion of for-profit higher education institutions now offer online classes, only about half of private, non-profit schools do so. Private institutions may become more involved with online presentations as the costs decrease. Properly trained staff must also be hired to work with students online. These staff members need to understand the content area, and also be highly trained in the use of the computer and Internet. Online education is rapidly increasing, and online doctoral programs have even developed at leading research universities.