Comments on: Coal Mine Safety: Whose Responsibility? http://nsdl.library.cornell.edu/websites/expertvoices/connectingnews/archives/3145 The NSDL Middle School Portal 2 project is hosting this blog to encourage teachers to use current science news as teaching opportunities. The related middle level, grades 5-8 content standards of the National Science Education Standards are included as well as ideas for turning the news event into an inquiry-based lesson. Fri, 08 Mar 2013 18:01:01 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.3.3 By: mhenton http://nsdl.library.cornell.edu/websites/expertvoices/connectingnews/archives/3145#comment-2866 mhenton Tue, 07 Apr 2009 16:12:30 +0000 http://nsdl.library.cornell.edu/websites/expertvoices/connectingnews/archives/3145#comment-2866 This topic holds tremendous potential for connecting with other subjects, including language arts, writing, art, social studies. Things that come immediately to mind are the role of coal mining in the U.S. and in other parts of the world. How did the discovery of coal and development of coal mines contribute to growth of towns and then later to their decline? What about the culture of "mining towns"? Do coal mines and mining practices differ across the globe, not only in the technological aspect, but the social aspect? From an art standpoint, there is a rich history of music coming from the mining experience, both in the U.S. and abroad. The South African group, Ladysmith Black Mambazo (http://www.mambazo.com/biography.html) emerged as a social group out of the South African diamond mines. This topic holds tremendous potential for connecting with other subjects, including language arts, writing, art, social studies. Things that come immediately to mind are the role of coal mining in the U.S. and in other parts of the world. How did the discovery of coal and development of coal mines contribute to growth of towns and then later to their decline? What about the culture of “mining towns”? Do coal mines and mining practices differ across the globe, not only in the technological aspect, but the social aspect?

From an art standpoint, there is a rich history of music coming from the mining experience, both in the U.S. and abroad. The South African group, Ladysmith Black Mambazo (http://www.mambazo.com/biography.html) emerged as a social group out of the South African diamond mines.

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