Inventor, Innovator, Genius -- Steve Jobs' Legacy

From Teaching Kids the News:

Steve Jobs changed forever the way the world views, and interacts with, technology. Jobs died October 5, at the age of 56, from cancer.

Jobs helped to invent and market many products including the Macintosh computer, the iPhone, the iPod and the iPad. Along with Steve Wozniak, he founded computer company Apple.

It may be difficult for young people, who may have never known computers and phones before Steve Jobs changed them, to understand the massive impact he made.

A 1984 video of Jobs unveiling a brand-new product called the Macintosh computer, gives some idea. To us today, the technology seems horribly outdated, clunky and… can you believe it? the images on the tiny computer screen aren’t even in colour!

But listen to the audience in the video as Jobs walks over to a small bag and takes the computer out. It has a handle! It’s small enough to carry! It has graphics, not just text! The audience gasps, cheers and claps because no one has ever seen anything like it.

Jobs and rival Bill Gates of Microsoft

Until the Macintosh, computers were enormous and in order to use them you usually had to have extensive training. Very powerful computers, for instance, in large companies, were mounted in special computer rooms. Computer technicians would walk up and down the aisles of blinking lights and wires, flipping switches and fiddling with dials.

With the Macintosh computer, Jobs put extensive computing power into the hands of the everyday person.

Jobs created much more than the Macintosh. He created technology from the viewpoint of the user. The iPhone cell phone, for instance, houses as much computing power as the original computers NASA used to send humans to the moon — and yet it fits in the palm of the hand and is simple to use.

Because of his original way of looking at things, his willingness to experiment and the way he brought new ideas to his products, Jobs is seen as a type of Leonardo DaVinci or Thomas Edison – a genius inventor in terms of technology and design.

“His life changed our life,” technology guru Xeni Jardin told reporter Rachel Maddow. “His vision of technology changed the world.”

In 2005 Jobs told the graduating class of Stanford University that “death is very likely the single best invention of life. It’s life’s change-agent. It clears out the old to make way for the new.” Then he looked at the young graduates in front of him and reminded them that, “Right now, the ‘new’ is you.”

Jobs is survived by his wife and four children.

Getting It All Done

From Scholastic News:

Scott Jolibois (jolly-bwah), 11, of The Woodlands, Texas, had to build and paint a Styrofoam sculpture for a history project. It was due in two days, and he had not yet begun it. In addition, he had five pages of homework to complete that night. And if that was not enough, he had two hours of football practice. Scott felt overwhelmed.

“When I have to do lots of homework and I have practice on the same day, sometimes I get stressed out,” Scott says. “I have to do five things at one time.”

Scott’s situation is common. According to recent studies, kids today have much less free time than kids did 20 years ago. They have more homework and are more involved in scheduled activities, such as sports, music classes, and dance.

Tight schedules, more homework, and numerous extracurricular activities make it more important than ever that kids learn to manage their time, experts say.

“Fifth- and sixth-graders’ lives are often very busy,” says Michele Goodstein, a teacher and author who has written a lot about time-management skills for kids. “Having good time-management skills helps kids stay on track.”

Plan, Plan, Plan
Scott eventually got everything done, but it meant staying up too late and feeling very tired when he arrived at school. Scott says he now knows that he should have started his history project days earlier to give himself enough time to do everything he needed and still get enough rest.

“If I don’t go to bed earlier and get a good night’s sleep, I might be tired and not able to focus well when I go to school,” Scott says.

Goodstein says keeping track of time is essential. She suggests getting a calendar book to write down all the dates and times when homework is due and activities scheduled. Another easy way to manage time, says Goodstein, is to keep a “to-do” list of everything you need to do each day and the time that a task is due or that an activity begins. Check the list every day to make sure that you give yourself enough time to finish each task.

Learn to Prioritize
Making to-do lists is a strong first step toward better time management. The next step is prioritizing, or deciding which things on the lists are most important. Sometimes, this will require making tough choices.

“If students don’t understand what things are more important, they can’t manage their time,” Goodstein says. “Sometimes you have to postpone the fun things to make sure you get what you need to do done.”

Shakeira (sha-keer-ah) Canty, 11, of Albany, New York, learned this first-hand. She used to be overwhelmed by a jam-packed schedule of activities that were poorly prioritized. Shakeira was on the soccer, baseball, and basketball teams. She also took archery and played saxophone in her school band. All of these activities were in addition to her getting homework done and doing things with her family and friends.

Shakeira’s mom told her she had to cut out some of her activities. Shakeira needed to prioritize. After determining which of her activities were most important, Shakeira cut out some of the others. Shakeira still has a busy schedule. She has band practice and archery during the week, and plays flag football on weekends. Now, however, she has learned to prioritize. And each night, she makes a checklist of her activities and makes sure to get everything prepared in advance. When she completes a task, she checks it off her list. Before using the list, Shakeira says she was often late and had a hard time keeping track of all the things she had to complete or bring to school.

“I have learned that I have to be prepared for what I have to do,” Shakeira says.

Global Population: 7 Billion

From Scholastic News:

Shanghai, China—the world’s most populated city.

The world’s population recently reached an important milestone: 7 billion people. The global head count hit that massive number this week, according to the United Nations (U.N.).

Over the past century, the number of people on the planet hasn’t just grown—it has exploded. In 1804, the global population was 1 billion. It took 123 years for it to grow by another billion. But the leap from 6 billion to 7 billion took just 12 years.

GLOBAL GROWTH
So where do all these people live? Nearly 4 out of every 10 people on the planet live in either China or India. With more than 312 million people, the U.S. ranks third behind those two countries.

Better nutrition and advances in medicine are big factors in the population growth. People today are healthier and living longer than those in past generations. Also, the number of babies being born in some areas has soared. In the time it takes to read this sentence, about 25 babies will have been born worldwide.

MAJOR CHALLENGES
Experts warn that a bigger population presents serious challenges. The rising number of people puts a strain on Earth’s limited natural resources. Developing countries in Africa and Asia have seen the greatest population boom in recent years. Most people in those nations are poor and lack food and clean water. Those countries currently don’t have enough schools. There also aren’t enough jobs to go around.

World leaders are working on ways to address these issues and improve basic living conditions. The world’s population growth is expected to slow down, but just slightly. The U.N. estimates that the number of people in the world may reach 8 billion in 2025.