In which John Green teaches you about the Vereenigde Oostindische Compagnie, doing business as the VOC, also known as the Dutch East India Company. In the 16th and 17th centuries, the Dutch managed to dominate world trade, and they did all through the pioneering use of corporations and finance. Well, they did also use some traditional methods like violently enforced monopolies, unfair trade agreements, and plain old warfare. You'll learn how the Dutch invented stuff like joint stock corporations, maritime insurance, and futures trading. Basically, how the Dutch East India Company crashed the US economy in 2008. I'm kidding. Or am I?

Capt. Charles Moore of the Algalita Marine Research Foundation first discovered the Great Pacific Garbage Patch -- an endless floating waste of plastic trash. Now he's drawing attention to the growing, choking problem of plastic debris in our seas. A quiz, thought provoking question, and links for further study are provided to create a lesson around the 7-minute video. Educators may use the platform to easily "Flip" or create their own lesson for use with their students of any age or level.

Students create and use pinhole cameras to understand how artists use and manipulate light to capture images in photographs. They shoot and develop photographs made with pinhole cameras. They compare and contrast a nineteenth-century image, photographs taken with a pinhole camera, and pictures created with a digital camera or camera phone.

Students create pinhole cameras to understand that light travels in a straight path. They describe the lines and shapes in a nineteenth-century photograph of a building and then use their pinhole cameras to trace the architecture of their school building.

Students create pinhole cameras to learn how artists manipulate light to make photographs. They describe and analyze a nineteenth-century photograph and use their cameras to capture the architecture of their school or other buildings.

Students will examine the sculpture "Rearing Horse" by Adriaen de Vries. They will then draw and sculpt animals from life, trying to capture motion frozen in a moment.

In the exploration of ways to use solar energy, students investigate the thermal energy storage capacities of different test materials to determine which to use in passive solar building design.

This art history video discussion examines Caravaggio's "Calling of St. Matthew," oil on canvas, c. 1599-1600 (Contarelli Chapel, San Luigi dei Francesi, Rome).

This art history video discussion examines Caravaggio's "Crucifixion of St. Peter", oil on canvas, 1601 (Santa Maria del Popolo, Rome).

This art history video discussion examines Caravaggio's "Death of the Virgin," 1605-06, Oil on canvas, 12 feet, 10 inches x 8 feet (369 x 245 cm) (Musee du Louvre, Paris). Painted for the altar of a family chapel in the church of Santa Maria della Scala del Trastevere, Rome.

This art history video discussion looks at Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio's "Narcissus at the Source", oil on canvas, 1597-99 (Palazzo Barbarini).

This art history video discussion examines Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio's "The Supper at Emmaus", 1601, oil on canvas (National Gallery, London).

The task requires the student to use logarithms to solve an exponential equation in the realistic context of carbon dating, important in archaeology and geology, among other places. Students should be guided to recognize the use of the natural logarithm when the exponential function has the given base of e, as in this problem. Note that the purpose of this task is algebraic in nature -- closely related tasks exist which approach similar problems from numerical or graphical stances.

In the task "Carbon 14 Dating'' the amount of Carbon 14 in a preserved plant is studied as time passes after the plant has died. In practice, however, scientists wish to determine when the plant died and, as this task shows, this is not possible with a simple measurement of the amount of Carbon 14 remaining in the preserved plant. The equation for the amount of Carbon 14 remaining in the preserved plant is in many ways simpler here, using 12 as a base.

This problem introduces the method used by scientists to date certain organic material. It is based not on the amount of the Carbon 14 isotope remaining in the sample but rather on the ratio of Carbon 14 to Carbon 12. This ratio decreases, hypothetically, at a constant exponential rate as soon as the organic material has ceased to absorb Carbon 14, that is, as soon as it dies. This problem is intended for instructional purposes only. It provides an interesting and important example of mathematical modeling with an exponential function.

This exploratory task requires the student to use a property of exponential functions in order to estimate how much Carbon 14 remains in a preserved plant after different amounts of time.

This Earth Observatory site contains detailed information on the carbon cycle of the Earth. It provides an explanation of the role of carbon in the geologic carbon cycle followed by a discussion of carbon in the life process, including photosynthesis and respiration. Carbon sinks on land and in the ocean are covered next, followed by the human role in the cycle. Lastly, the activity of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, (NASA), and that of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, (NOAA) in the exploration of the connection of the carbon cycle to weather and climate is covered.

This online lab exercise focuses on the processes involved in the Carbon cycle and the influences of human activity on those processes- especially as they relate to Earth's weather and climate. The fourth in a 10-part lab series on weather and climate, this lab exercise is designed for first and second year college geoscience students (majors and non-majors) as well as pre-service STEM teachers.

Students are introduced to the concept of energy cycles by learning about the carbon cycle. They will learn how carbon atoms travel through the geological (ancient) carbon cycle and the biological/physical carbon cycle. Students will consider how human activities have disturbed the carbon cycle by emitting carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. They will discuss how engineers and scientists are working to reduce carbon dioxide emissions. Lastly, students will consider how they can help the world through simple energy conservation measures.