A 2-D map is a great guide here on Earth—and virtually worthless for finding your way around in outer space. Take a 3-D look at mapping our solar system and universe. This Moveable Museum article, available as a printable PDF file, looks at how astronomers use data to create 3-D models of the universe. Explore these concepts further using the recommended resources mentioned in this reading selection.

The Center's Annotated List of Suggested Visual Arts currently contains 16 works of art which we have annotated to show how they might be used to teach the rule of law. After each entry you will find a link or links to the image and other useful information to use with your classes. (Please note that some of these links may have expiration limits unknown to us that will require teachers to conduct their own search for the image.) In some cases we have suggested pairings of works based on common rule of law-related themes. We also encourage you to use the REED-LO Scaffolding Approach to Art (http://www.ruleoflaw-vba.org/uploads/1/5/7/7/15777460/rol_project_site_-_reedlo_1.pdf) and the REED-LO Matrix templates (https://www.thecenterforruleoflaw.org/uploads/1/5/7/7/15777460/reed-lo_matrix.pdf) to create your own lesson plans for these works. If you create your own lesson plans and wish to share them with us, we will add them to the site with full attribution to you as developer of the plan.

This reference list has more than 20 recommended astronomy books for older students and adults. For each title, the publisher and publication date is included, along with author name. The list is divided into three subcategories: General Astronomy and Astrophysics, Light and Telescopes, and Digital Imaging and the 3-D Universe.

"Away, Rio" was a capstan or windlass chantey, used for taking in the anchor. It was often the first song sung on an outward-bound voyage, and was popular on both British and American ships. This performance is part of the Library of Congress’s online collection, California Gold: Northern California Folk Music from the Thirties.

“Black is the Color” is one of our most well-known songs of love. This performance by Betty Smith, who accompanies herself on a psaltery, is from Folk-Legacy’s Songs Traditionally Sung in North Carolina.

“Bury Me Not on the Lone Prairie” is one of the best known cowboy songs from the West. This performance by Sloan Matthews was recorded in Texas by John A. Lomax and is part of the Library of Congress’s Archive of American Folk Song.

While the heyday of the canals lasted only a few decades, they transformed the American economy by connecting the areas west of the Appalachian Mountains to eastern population centers and Atlantic ports. Concentrated largely north of the Mason-Dixon line, they shaped American regionalism too by linking the northeast and northwest together into a region that increasingly came to see itself as the "North."

“Can’t You Line It?” is a work song created by African American men who built railroads across the South (many in prison work gangs). Such songs provided the rhythm for a group to move together in the critical work of aligning the railroad track. This 1935 performance by A.B. Hicks was recorded in Florida by Alan Lomax, Zora Neale Hurston and Mary Elizabeth Barnicle. It forms part of the Library of Congress’s Archive of American Folk Song.

“Come By Here,” predecessor of the better known “Kumbaya,” forms part of the Library of Congress’s Archive of American Folk Song. This performance by Ethel Best and a group of prisoners at State Farm in Raiford, Florida was recorded in 1939 by John A. Lomax.

This online article is from the Museum's Science Explorations, a collaboration between AMNH and Scholastic designed to promote science literacy. Written for students in grades 6-10, this article from Science World magazine has an interview with AMNH astrophysicist Mike Shara, in which he explains what space objects are and what happens when they collide. There are Web links that offer further opportunities for learning about space objects and their collisions.

This online article is from the Museum's Science Explorations, a collaboration between AMNH and Scholastic designed to promote science literacy. Written for students in grades 6-10, this article from Science World magazine has an interview with AMNH paleontologist Niles Eldredge, in which he explains how the eye-opening sights Charles Darwin encountered during his five-year voyage on the HMS Beagle inspired his thinking about the diversity of life on Earth. There are Web links that offer further opportunities for learning about Darwin and his years after the voyage.

For most of human history, recording a star meant describing it with words or drawing a picture. The 19th-century invention of photography changed that—only to be revolutionized by digital imaging. This Moveable Museum article, available as a six-page printable PDF file, takes a look at the technology of digital imaging. It discusses how digital images are pictures stored as numbers and explains how computer manipulation can enhance images and reduce distortion. Some suggested resources are provided for further research.

“The Dogie Song” was sung by cowboys about a “dogie”—a calf that has lost its mother before it was weaned—similar to the situation of young men who ran off to become cowboys. This performance is by Edmund Seymour, who reportedly learned it in 1882 in Wyoming. Recorded by Tony Kraber in 1941, it forms part of the Library of Congress’s Archive of American Folk Song.

“Dos y Dos Son Cuatro” is a popular Spanish singing game. In this variant, singers count to treinta y dos (32) by 2s, then 8s. Performed by Isabella Salazar in Texas in 1939 and recorded by John A. and Ruby T. Lomax, it forms part of the Library of Congress’s Archive of American Folk Song.

“Down by the Riverside” records a group of inmates hoeing in rhythm in a field in 1966 in Texas. Part of the film Afro-American Work Songs in American Prisons produced by Pete and Toshi Seager with Bruce Jackson, this song became well known as a protest song during the Vietnam War.

“El Alba” is a Spanish hymn that was sung at dawn to welcome the day. This performance by Rubén Cobos was recorded in Albuquerque, New Mexico in 1963. It forms part of the John Donald Robb Collection at the Center for Southwest Research at the University of New Mexico.

The most democratic body in the federal government, hundreds of representatives for the House are elected every other year. This site maps elections from before the Civil War until today showing changing patterns across regions and between urban and rural areas.