This learn node provides arctic exploration history, especially of the heroic age from the 1840s through early 1900s. The learn node is in the form of a Google knol that is the work of Professor Russell Potter of Rhode Island College. Topics include Norsemen, early explorers Martin Frobisher, Henry Hudson, John Ross, William Edward Parry, and John Franklin, for whom a search when he did not return from an encampment with relics and graves. Descriptions of the explorations that followed in later years feature Elisha Kent Kane, Charles Francis Hall, Adolphus Washington Freely, Roald Amundsen, and the Robert Peary adventurers.
This fascinating Google knol can be called a learn node because it provides links to excellent related nodes that are webpages in the open internet. The knol thus forms a small cluster in which a great deal can be learned about arctic explanation and from which further internet exploration of the subject can be launched.
This learn node is centered in the 2008 discovery at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute of how the dolphin kicks with huge power — something that has been a mystery called Gray’s Paradox. Six nodes emerge from the open internet in this animation, providing connected places to learn about dolphins and their power kick.
This image includes a synapse drawing from the Sanger Institute. I have inverted the colors in the drawing because they are striking, and have added a learn node drawing for comparison. The Sanger team studying “Genes to Cognition” observes on the page where the drawing is placed:
The synapse the junction between nerve cells is the most important component of the nervous system. It not only transmits electrical information between neurons, but also is responsible for converting the electrical signals into biochemical changes of long term memory.
Without being “spooky” about assuming what is true for the brain is true for the Net – it is fair to say that it is worth a careful look to see what can be done with Net nodes to improved the quality of learning online. In this blog, I will continue to attempt to create learn nodes that apply network laws, search engine optimization techniques, and a few things we learn from synapses. Educators and experts who use what they know about a subject to create and strengthen Net nodes are doing something very important.
The illustration below shows a learn node, which you can use as an educator to make webpages more findable. The top little circles illustrate links out to content nodes related to the subject of the large circle. Bottom left, experts connect to the node affirming its quality - giving it juice. Bottom right, a student connects to the node to learn the subject of its content.
