Any Questions - Latest Topics RSS

Reproductive technology

Fri, 18 May 2012 10:59:23 GMT

What ethical issues surround the developments of modern birth technologies such as IVF and egg/sperm donation?

Level: Secondary

A lot of people have very strong opinions about modern birth technology, or reproductive technology; some believe that it is awful and others believe it is great. Because of these beliefs, there is a lot of biased information on the internet. You have to remember that a lot of what you might find is someone's opinion. The interesting thing about ethics is that there is never a right answer or a wrong one!

We think it is a good idea to make sure we have a clear definition of 'ethics' before we start so we tried using Google as a dictionary. Type define: ethics (with the colon) into Google to search for all the meanings on the web that define your word.

HOT TIP: Reading a few different definitions will help your understanding of the topic. If you don’t understand, keep looking for one that uses language at your level.

One of our favourite websites for ethical issues is called Opposing Viewpoints in Context. It is one of the EPIC Databases and to get to it you will need a password from your school librarian first. Or, you can log on to AnyQuestions.co.nz between 1 and 6pm Monday to Friday, and one of the librarians can help you online.

Some EPIC databases may also be available through your public library.

This website is really good because it explores both sides of the argument and will look at all the ethical issues involved. You can find articles by using keywords such as 'reproductive technology', 'egg donation', 'sperm donation' or 'IVF'. Remember 'IVF' is also called 'in vitro fertilisation' and on some American sites you might need to search for it with the American spelling 'fertilization'.

To find out about reproductive technology in New Zealand we went to Te Ara Encyclopedia of New Zealand, which is a great website for social and cultural issues. From the homepage, choose Social Connections, then Sexuality and Reproduction. You can find information about New Zealand fertility clinics in the story Infertility and Childlessness. Click on 'read the full story' for more information.

HOT TIP: We chose this site because it's from a government organisation. You can tell this by their web address – they have either .org or .govt in their address. They’re also a New Zealand site, so relevant for us.

For facts about how IVF works we like Medline Plus. This website is by the United States National Institute of Health so you can trust the information. This doesn't explore the ethical issues involved but it does explain the science clearly, and we think it is important to understand.

IVF.net has a list of ethical questions on their website which should give you lots of ideas to start you thinking.

A lot of people who oppose reproductive technology do so because of religious beliefs, so to find out their side of the story we started with a Google search for "religious ethics reproductive technology" and "religious ethics IVF". There are a lot of hits!

You can read a lot of different opinions from different people by changing your keywords around and looking at different forums. "IVF Catholic views" or "Christian ethics reproductive technology" or even just "IVF ethics" will get you lots of results. We found an article against IVF from Catholic Culture which explains why some Catholics disagree with reproductive technology.

Another view we found came from Religious Tolerance.

HOT TIP: Check out the 'About Us' section of a website to find out more about the people or organisations writing these articles. This will help you understand their viewpoints. For example by looking at the Statement of Beliefs, which we found on the About Us section on the Religious Tolerance website we discovered that this group is made up of people belonging to lots of different religions, and there is lots of other information there about who they are and what they believe.

HOT TIP: Search through Google Scholar for academic articles, peer-reviewed essays, books, theses, abstracts and more. This will give you a good idea of what essays other people have written on the topic.

Māori and Dolphins

Wed, 09 May 2012 10:44:14 GMT

What is the cultural significance and value of dolphins and in particular Hector dolphins to Māori ?

Level: Intermediate/ Secondary

A good place to start for any general information on New Zealand and Māori is to go to Te Ara the Encyclopaedia of New Zealand. Use the search words dolphin Maori and you will get a lot of returns. The trick is to decide which results are worth looking at. The first results are taken from the stories Dolphins and Taniwha and these have some good information. Also Maori and the sea in the story Marine conservation. This section explains how Māori used resources from the sea including dolphins for food but also the tikanga they used.

There is nothing specifically about Hector dolphins except for their Māori names on Te Ara so go to Google and use the key words Hector dolphin Maori. The second site to come up is called Treasures of the Sea a site by World Wild Life Fund -New Zealand. Each chapter has a section on significance to Māori.

HOT TIP: When you are searching in a site and it is a long page with lots of writing and you can't find the word or sentence you are looking for, use the CTrl F keys and type in a word you are looking for. The word will then turn up highlighted on the page!

Whina Cooper me te Hikoi Whenua

Thu, 10 May 2012 14:40:58 GMT

Kei hea ētehi kōrero mō Whina Cooper me te hikoi whenua? He aha te waiata i waiatatia e ia i a ia i arahi i te hikoi whenua?

Taumata: Kura waenganui/Kura Tuarua

I whānau mai a Kahurangi Whina Cooper, nō Te Rarawa, i te tau 1895, i te rohe o Hokianga. Kua tino rongonui ia mō tana mahi arahi i te hikoi whenua i te tau 1975 mai Te Hāpua ki te Paremata i Te Whanganui-a- tara. Ko te wāhi pai ki te rapu mōhiohio i roto i te reo Māori ko Te Ara. Pātoto ngā kupu Whina Cooper i te pouaka rapu. Nā, i te taha maui ka kitea ngā haurongo. Pāwhiria i tēnā, ka kite i te haurongo o Whina kua tuhia e tētahi kaituhi rongonui, ko Micheal King.

He maha hoki ngā kōrero mōna i roto i te reo Pakeha i runga i Te Ara. Pāwhirihia i te patene “English”. Ko tētehi hononga pai ko te r otarota i tuhia e Hone Tuwhare mō Kahurangi Whina Cooper. Ka taea te rongo i tona wairua, i tona kaha i a ia i hikoi ki te Paremata.

Mena ka tuhi koe i a 1975 land march hei kupu rapu ka putu ētehi kōrero anō mō ngā āhuatanga tōrangapu me te āhuatanga porihanga Māori i taua wā.

Ko tētahi pae tukutuku pai hoki mō ngā tāngata ko New Zealand History Online. He maha ngā kōrero i reira mōna. He haurongo poto hoki i roto i te reo Maori.

He haurongo poto hoki i te reo Pakeha i runga i a Monumental Stories. He pae tukutuku tēnei e pā ana ki ngā Wāhine o Aotearoa.

Ko te wāhi pai mō te rapu i ngā waiata i waitahia e Kahurangi Whina Cooper i waenganui i te hikoi i runga i NZONSCREEN. I reira te kiriata" Te Matakite o Aotearoa", he pakipūmeka o te hikoi.

Tirohia te tāurunga mō Whina Cooper i te reo Pakeha.

Bloody Sunday and the 1905 Revolution

Thu, 03 May 2012 15:57:18 GMT

How did Bloody Sunday cause the 1905 Revolution?

Level: Secondary

The term Bloody Sunday has been used to refer to a number of historical events. A search of Google using the keywords Bloody Sunday found results for Bloody Sundays in 1972, 1920 amd 1905. We chose the Wikipedia article on the 1905 revolution as a good starting point to help answer your question. Through this article you can link directly to another Wikipedia article on the Revolution of 1905.

HOT TIP: Wikipedia has great coverage of many topics, including Bloody Sunday and the 1905 Revolution. But you need to be aware that this information is contributed by lots of different people. If you are using this site, it always pays to check the information against that on other sites or in books from the library.

If you expand your Google search to include the keywords “Bloody Sunday” 1905 Revolution this will help to just get results about the 1905 revolution. Of the list of results retrieved, the article from Encyclopedia Britannica looks to be helpful. Using another search engine may provide different search results: visit Polymeta and repeat your search. A useful article looks to be one from the iconic photos website.

HOT TIP: When searching Google, if you put speech marks” ” or ‘ ‘ around your search term, Google will search for it as a phrase. Very handy if you’re looking for something in particular and you know the words will be in that order.

A helpful website when looking for historical information is the History Channel’s History.com website. Perform a search using the keywords “Bloody Sunday” 1905 and browse the results for relevant articles. The first two results of your search should help as they link to articles on Bloody Sunday and the 1905 Revolution that followed.

For more information you could try the Epic Databases, with a specific focus on the History in Context and the Discovering Collection databases.

HOT TIP: To get to the EPIC databases you will need a password from your school librarian first. Or, you can log on to AnyQuestions.co.nz between 1 and 6pm Monday to Friday, and one of the librarians can help you online. Some EPIC databases may also be available through your public library.

You can view our Many Answers entry on Bloody Sunday (Derry, Ireland) for more information about the shootings in Ireland.

Fantails (Piwakawaka)

Fri, 20 Apr 2012 15:59:58 GMT

Where can I find information about the fantail and its predators?

LEVEL: Primary/Intermediate

A great place to start with this question is the Department of Conservation's (DOC's) website. DOC are concerned with protecting our native birds so have a lot of information about the threats to them. Type fantail into the Search box at the top right of the website. Click on the link Fantail/pīwakawaka: New Zealand native land birds. On this page you'll see that there is a tab called Threats. Click on this to find out what preys on the fantail.

Another cool site you could check out is the Kiwi Conservation Club website. As you did with the DOC website above, type fantail into the Search box then click on the first link.

Te Ara is a great site for information about anything to do with New Zealand, including native birds. Type fantail into the search box. Your first result should be a page on Fantails and Silvereyes in the story Small Forest Birds. There is also some information about the tīwaiwaka (another name for the fantail) as a bird associated with death in Maori culture.

HOT TIP: We chose these sites because they’re either from a government organisation (Ministry or Council) OR a reputable organisation. You can tell this by their web address – they have either .org or .govt in their address. They’re also New Zealand sites, so relevant for us.

HOT TIP: there is more information about native birds of New Zealand on ManyAnswers - just type 'native birds' into the search box.

New Zealand Banknotes and Currency

Wed, 28 Mar 2012 17:23:43 GMT

New Zealand banknotes and currency (current and historical)

Level: Intermediate

The Reserve Bank of New Zealand has an excellent site. This website looks at both the materials that are used in the notes and why, and if you click on the paragraph that is listed at the bottom called the Currency and History of New Zealand then you get an excellent brief description of their history in New Zealand as well.

For a website that gives an excellent gallery of images there is a website called World Banknotes, and if you scroll down to the Currency Gallery: New Zealand you can click on any of the notes to get a picture of the face and reverse of the note. The New Zealand A to Z website gives a description of the images pictured on the notes and why those images were chosen to represent the country's currency.

The New Zealand Encyclopedia Te Ara has some historical information about coins and banknotes in various stories. Try using each of these terms as a search term. You will find them mentioned in stories like the Kiwi. Don't forget to click on the 'images and media' tab when you select a Te Ara story to look at. We like the historical picture of the Kiwi on the 1940 10 shilling note, and the pictures of old banknotes.

Another great site is DigitalNZ, which allows you to search across more than 20 million digital items to discover New Zealand treasures. Try using the keywords "New Zealand bank notes" and compare this to "New Zealand banknotes". You should get lots more results for the first search.

HOT TIP: We chose these lat two sites because they’re either from a government organisation (Ministry or Council) OR a reputable organisation. You can tell this by their web address – they have either .org or .govt in their address. They’re also New Zealand sites, so relevant for us. (DigitialNZ has .org in its address, but you will see down the bottom of the homepage that is part of newzealand.govt.nz.)

Pukeko

Tue, 03 Apr 2012 11:46:27 GMT

Pukeko

Level: Primary / Intermediate

Pukeko is a Māori name for a fascinating New Zealand bird sometimes known as a Swamp Hen. The Pukeko is a bird and a member of the Rail Family. There are some excellent sites to find all sorts of information about the Pukeko:

Department of Conservation is a good place to start. From their home page, use the search box and type in the word Pukeko. Click on the first link that comes up called: Pukeko: Wetland bird. It gives you a short overview and links to other pages such as Facts about Pukeko and Threats to Pukeko.

Te Ara: the Encyclopedia of New Zealand is also very worthwhile having a look at. From their home page, use the search box and type in the word Pukeko. Click on the first link that comes up called: Pukeko and Australian coots. This takes you to part of a story on Wetland birds which includes the Pukeko and other New Zealand birds that live in a similar habitat.

Another good site to look at is New Zealand Birds. Once again, from their home page, use the search box and type in the word Pukeko. Click on the first link that comes up called: New Zealand Birds / Birds / Gallery / Pukeko, Porphyrio porphyrio. This sends you to a page with a large amount of text on it. There are facts, history, diet, habitat and general info on the Pukeko.

HOT TIP: Check out some of our other pages on ManyAnswers on New Zealand birds: Penguins, Kiwi and Takahe.

Ash and Lahar

Fri, 13 Apr 2012 09:56:19 GMT

What is the difference between ash and lahar?

LEVEL: Primary/Intermediate.

Ash and lahar are both the products of a volcanic eruption. To be able to understand the difference between ash and lahar we first of all need to understand what ash and lahar are. For a simple definition of ash and lahar we like the dictionary on Factmonster. Simply type each of your keywords, ash and lahar, and do a search for each of their meanings.

HOT TIP: Not sure what a word means? Try using Google as a dictionary. The trick is to type the word define: (with the colon) in front of the word you want to define, then click Search. E.g. If you wanted to define the word lahar, your search would be define: lahar. This searches for all the meanings on the web that define your word.

If you want more information on what ash and lahar are a good site we recommend is GNS Science. This is the site of a New Zealand organisation dedicated to researching the Earth's natural resources and processes. Using their search box at the top of the screen use your keywords, ash and lahar, and look at the information that comes up. Another place to look is in their Volcanic Hazards section where there is some useful information on volcanic dangers including ash and lahar.

Te Ara: the New Zealand Encyclopedia is a great place to look for New Zealand focused information. They have an entire section of the website about volcanoes and volcanic eruptions. Choose Earth, Sea and Sky then Natural Hazards and Disasters then Volcanoes.

If you want to see how scientists monitor New Zealand's volcanoes a good place to look is GeoNet. To check on the Volcanoes section choose Volcano from the top tab list.

HOT TIP: Check the Volcano pages on ManyAnswers, here you find a lot more general information on volcanoes.

Albert Einstein

Fri, 30 Mar 2012 14:48:01 GMT

Who was Albert Einstein?

Level: Intermediate

Albert Einstein was one of the world's greatest scientists.

A good place to start is Encyclopedia of World Biographies. You can search for Einstein by using the search box provided. We like this site because it has biographies of many different people and is easy to understand.

The EPIC Databases are an excellent source of information and this includes several good articles on Albert Einstein. We recommend Encyclopedia Britannica because it is searchable at several different age levels. Simply use Albert Einstein as your keywords to bring up some excellent information.

HOT TIP: To get to the EPIC databases you will need a password from your school librarian first. Or, you can log on to AnyQuestions.co.nz between 1 and 6 pm Monday to Friday, and one of the librarians can help you online.

Some EPIC databases may also be available through your public library.

HOT TIP: Another good site to check is Wikipedia which has great coverage of many topics, including Albert Einstein. But you need to be aware that this information is contributed by lots of different people. If you are using this site, it always pays to check the information against that on other sites or in books from the library.

Biographical information about Albert Einstein is also available on numerous sites.

Including the word "biography" in your search will help you to narrow your search.

Albert Einstein was a Nobel Prize winner and the official website of the Nobel Prize provides excellent information about him and many other scientists. You can use your keywords Albert Einstein in the search box on the site to find all the articles about him.

Animal rights and animal testing

Thu, 29 Mar 2012 15:45:15 GMT

Where can I find information about animal rights and animal testing for a debate?

Level: Intermediate/Secondary

We think that when you are doing a debate it is a good idea to start off by finding facts about both sides of the issue.

The EPIC Databases are an excellent place to start. Try searching for 'animal testing' 'animal rights' and 'animal welfare' on Encyclopedia Britannica Schools Edition (select Middle School for Intermediate Level). Another good EPIC resource to try is Opposing Viewpoints in Context. This is an excellent resource to use when working on a debate or a speech.

HOT TIP: To get to the EPIC databases you will need a password from your school librarian first. Or, you can log on to AnyQuestions.co.nz between 1 and 6pm Monday to Friday, and one of the librarians can help you online.

Some EPIC databases may also be available through your public library.

To find out what rights animals have in New Zealand have a look at the Biosecurity New Zealand website. Under the section Popular Links you can find Animal Welfare. Once you are on the Animal Welfare page you will see on the left hand side a link to Animals in Research, which looks at research on laboratory animals (like rats) and farm animals.

HOT TIP: We chose this site because it's from a government organisation (Ministry or Council). You can tell this by the web address – they have .govt in their address. It's also a New Zealand site, so relevant for us.

We found this article from Time magazine: How Much Does Animal Testing Tell Us?

It is also useful to look at organisations dedicated to animal rights and animal welfare, because these will provide information to argue for animal rights.

Starting with a Google search for "animal rights" and "animal testing" we found the following sites.

HOT TIP: When searching Google, if you put speech marks ” ” or ‘ ‘ around your search term, Google will search for it as a phrase. Very handy if you’re looking for something in particular and you know the words will be in that order.

SAFE: Save Animals From Exploitation. This organisation looks at the ethics and treatment of animals in New Zealand. You can read about SAFE's Campaigns against issues such as Factory Farming, Cruelty to Pigs, and Animal Testing.

WSPA: World Society for the Protection of Animals. This is an international organisation dedicated to the protection of animals.

Animal Freedom Aotearoa is another New Zealand based organisation against animal testing. To find their page on Animal Testing, hover your mouse over Issues, then click on Animal Testing when it appears in the dropdown menu.

New Zealand Anti-Vivisection Society explains what vivisection is and why testing on animals might not help humans. Look under Vivisection Info.

PETA: People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals has a page about Animals Used for Experimentation, including frequently asked questions like 'does animal testing save human lives?'

HOT TIP: Looking at news articles will be a good way to keep your debate up to date.

A great place to find information on current events and news from around the world is the BBC website.

Click on the ‘news’ tab from the homepage.

Type your search into the ‘search BBC news’ box at the top right of the page.

You can also search for news on Google. Enter your search words into Google and then click on the hyperlink to News at the top of the page. They will be ranked with the most recent news stories at the top.

HOT TIP: ManyAnswers has an entry on Debating Skills which will be useful when organising your debate.