Pi

Typing "pi" onto the Google search box leads to this simplified value of Pi = 3.14159265.

In high school we used 3.1416, but your school may be different. Find out more about pi by going to these sites:

• Wikipedia: Pi
• The Math Forum at Drexel: About Pi
• The University of Utah: Pi to 10,000 digits

Mga panghalip (Pronouns)

Pronouns such as "he", "she" and "it" replace nouns in sentences. Panghalip is the Tagalog/Filipino term for it.

More on them here:

• Wikibooks: Panghalip
• filipinosubject.blogspot.com: Panghalip
• germanlipa.de: Pangngalan at Panghalip

These resources are in Filipino and require a more-than-basic understanding of the language.

Practicing English

Much of what we learn in Philippine high schools is already in English... but that doesn't mean we don't need to practice anymore. Practicing helps build our vocabulary, and can be done a few minutes a day if you have a computer or a portable music player like an iPod.

• English as a Second Language podcast
• Better @ English: 2-minute English - http://www.betteratenglish.com/category/listening/2-minute-english/

Mga pandiwa (verbs)

I'm trying to find more online resources for very specific aspects of Filipino grammar. Try these if you need help with verbs:

• Tagalog Wikibooks: Pandiwa
• filipinosubject.blogspot.com: Pandiwa (verb)

These resources are in Filipino and require a more-than-basic understanding of the language.

Studying the periodic table of elements

In case you lost your own copy of the periodic table...

• Webelements.com - Online periodic table
• Chemicool.com - Another online periodic table
• Wikipedia: Periodic Table of Elements
• Dayah.com: Dynamic Periodic Table of Elements - Mouse over an element to see more about it, or highlight elements one group at a time

Noli Me Tangere guides

Because my first post on Noli just pointed to the free full text, here are links to some of the study guides online for it:

• Viloria.com: Buod ng Noli Me Tangere (Chapter Summaries in Tagalog)
• Webmanila.com: TOC Noli Me Tangere Chapter Summaries and Notes (in English, but incomplete as of this posting)
• Knowledgerush.com: Noli Me Tangere
• Wikipilipinas: Noli Me Tangere

As always, these resources are just a guide. Let them help you form your own analysis of the text -- learning how to do that is more important. :)

Quadratic equations

A polynomial equation to the second degree. As it happens, I don't encounter this anymore in my line of work, but many high school students have to deal with this on a daily basis. Hope these links help...

• Quadratic Equation on Wikipedia
• Youtube: Solving Quadratic Equations (in under 4 minutes!)
• Purplemath: The Quadratic Formula Explained
• Purplemath: Solving Quadratic Equations by Factoring
  

More Homework Help: Skoool.ph

Intel and the Department of Education have launched www.skoool.ph, a site that provides interactive math and science lessons for students and teachers.

You can browse it according to year level or subject. It requires that you have Javascript installed, which shouldn't be a problem if you watch Youtube on that computer anyway.

HOWEVER, some feedback for the people behind skoool.ph, based on my "surface scan" of the site:

1. Please get rid of the "concept paper" language! And with bad grammar too. For example:

The learner shall developed the following competencies:

The site is online now; talk to your audience directly, instead of referring to them in the third person. Right now it looks like a site targeted to your donor rather than the Pinoy student. And do a grammar check!!!

2. The math lesson I tried out was too UK-centric. Is there an effort to localize this? Not to dumb down the content, but only because it's not generally in a Pinoy high school student's experience to pay "2.50" for a sandwich and eat "bonbons."

Frog anatomy

The dissection of frogs is still happening in high schools all over the country, apparently. Poor frogs!

Here are some links so you can study their anatomy without actually poking through their guts.

• Youtube: 3d visualization of frog anatomy (see the related videos too)
• Kent School District: Frog Anatomy
• About.com: Male Frog Internal Anatomy (icky photo)

Home Economics: Cross-stitching

My worst subject was Home Economics. I don't know how this is being taught today, but when I was in my co-ed high school (in the '90s) they at least didn't have "boy" and "girl" subjects. Everyone, regardless of gender, had to learn how to sew clothes, cook dinner, and wire series and parallel circuits.

We also had to learn how to cross-stitch. I don't know, maybe high school kids in the Philippines don't have to do this anymore, but just in case...

• Wikihow: How to Cross Stitch
• Yarn Tree: Learn How to Cross Stitch in 5 Minutes
• Free Cross Stitch Patterns