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Ten Amazing Facts About Starfish!

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We’re so excited about our Literacy for Anywhere project that we’re going to share a few of the great facts and creative commons pictures that we find as we go! Want to see facts and pictures like these turned into educational books for children everywhere? Support our campaign on IndieGoGo!

 

1. There are over 2,000 kinds of starfish and they can be found in every ocean in the world.

 

Starfish

 

2. Starfish always have at least 5 symmetrical legs but can have as many as 40.

 

Pycnopodia helianthoides starfish

 

3. Baby starfish are really cute!

 

Juvenile sea star

 

4. Starfish have eyes at the end of each arm, which can be a lot.

 

Starfish on Pebbles - Crossaster papposus

 

5. Starfish have feet that they can use to walk on land…

 

Starfish

 

6. and also move food to their mouths.

 

Starfish macro

 

7. Starfish love eating clams and shellfish, and pry them open with their arms so they can drop their stomachs inside and eat them alive!

 

Mussel Muscle

 

8. Starfish come in a lot of different colors which helps them hide and sometimes even scare away prey.

 

Purple and Orange Starfish on the Beach

 

9. Many starfish have tough armor, and sometimes spikes, to ward of predators.

 

Starfish

Starfish Troopers 2

 

10. Still, some manage to look like beautiful flowers of the sea.

 

Sea Star and Sea Fan

Creative Commons Love: Brian Suda, Brian Gatwicke, Bruno Vellutini, Keith Roper, Wildcat Dunny, Damien Du Toit, Steve Jurvetson, Mark Walz, Laszlo Ilyes, and NOAA’s National Ocean Service on Flickr.com

Literacy for Anywhere

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We’ve got a new program in the works! A full, professionally developed, series of leveled readers for primary students that can be downloaded, translated, and printed, for free!

Check out our video above, and donate to, like, and share the campaign!

 

Open Educational Resource Nonprofit Launched in Myanmar

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Myanmar - Classroom

A new nonprofit project titled New Education Highway (NEH) works to provide free and accessible education for students in “remote and rural communities.” The organization, launched in Myanmar earlier this year, connects with existing local organizations to establish free education centers that utilize the aid of electronics–i.e., tablets, laptop computers–with pre-loaded resources to offer educational tools once considered unaffordable and unobtainable to far-reaching communities.

Uniquely, access to most of NEH’s resources do not require internet connection. Additionally, NEH aims to customize their electronic interface and learning spaces to accommodate the particular nature of each local community it reaches.

The NEH completely relies on open educational resources (OER) to supply its curriculum content.  The resources, created and contributed by NEH and its partners, are available under Creative Commons licenses. Its pre-loaded materials includes resources on a wide variety of content: comprehensive K-12 curriculum, standardized test preparation, vocational skills, health/HIV education, sanitation, critical thinking, community development, foreign language training, and environmental and agricultural science.

The NEH project may be a significant part of the solution to Myanmar’s cry for greater development in their education sector. Currently, Myanmar universities are networking with prestigious education experts and officials to learn how to further develop their education system.  Burmese officials are continuing to call for greater investments in all their schools.

Creative Commons Love: worak on Flickr.com