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AI literacy for students, warming oceans, American tariff impacts and more

Hello colleagues, and welcome to Coverage, the newsletter of the Free Press Media Literacy and Learning Project! Aug. 24 was the day many of us caught the first glimpse of our classroom, and have felt the full weight of planning the year upon us. With that in mind, we’ve picked some useful stories for the start of the year, and many more below to keep it going smoothly.

As we head into another year of AI-induced uncertainty and influence on teaching and learning, consider having students reflect on the new mandatory U of W collegiate course in AI literacy for all high school students as you prepare your own classroom AI policies, practices and expectations.

Young learners will benefit from a conversation about the importance of practice and perseverance as they settle into their school routines after an active summer break. Two stories to provide examples and role models are in this week’s paper on two very different topics: bicycle racing and speed puzzling.

Bring the gift of verified independent journalism and current events to your school without even having to sign out the laptop cart! Click here to choose your 2-week block of 25 print copies of the Free Press delivered to your school every weekday morning.

Read on for this week’s stories for young learners, for debate, and for every Manitoba curriculum subject.

—Rebecca Chambers

 
 

For the youngest learners

Here are two stories about practising something in order to get better at it. Why is it important to be patient when practising something you want to get better at? What is something you would like to be better at? How could you practise?

Donna Spencer, The Canadian Press:

New Edmonton velodrome puts Olympic cycling champion Kelsey Mitchell back on track

EDMONTON – A new velodrome in her backyard drew Olympic track cycling champion Kelsey Mitchell back to the sport.

After competing for Canada in bobsled in February’s Milan Cortina Games, the 32-yea… Read More

 

Ian Bickis, The Canadian Press:

‘Absolutely stoked’: Quiet hobby gets dose of adrenalin as speed puzzling grows

WINNIPEG – The most gruelling day of competition left Kirsty Williams sweating and collapsed on the floor, clutching a can of Coke as she tried not to pass out.

She still finished the puzzle.

Wi… Read More

 

Are you worried when you have to get a needle from the doctor? Did you know some trees have to get needles to stay healthy too? One Winnipeg neighbourhood raised money so their trees could all be inoculated against disease. How do vaccines keep us healthy? How do they keep the trees healthy too?

Joyanne Pursaga:

Wolseley residents put down roots to save elms

Challenge other neighbourhoods to preserve mature trees Read More

 

See our full collection of news for young children here.

News for debate and discussion

Should raising the minimum wage be considered “common sense”?

Alex Passey:

The common abuse of ‘common sense’

If you spend any amount of time having deep conversations on sensitive subject matters, you will undoubtedly encounter patterns of thought and speech peppered into the discourse as if certain people w… Read More

 

Should property owners be allowed to use force to protect their belongings from thieves?

Zoe Pierce:

Rural residents ‘outraged’ property owner charged after shots fired during confrontation with alleged thieves: MLA

A rural Manitoba MLA says he has heard from constituents who are “shocked and outraged” that a 66-year-old man is facing charges after he fired shots at a group of people accused of stealing from his property. Read More

 

Should AI literacy be mandatory learning for students?

Maggie Macintosh:

AI literacy course mandatory at U of W Collegiate

The University of Winnipeg Collegiate is requiring new students to complete artificial intelligence 101 lessons and offering a first-of-its-kind elective for those who want to perfect their chatbot pr… Read More

 

See our full collection of topics for debate and discussion here.

News by school subject

A round-up of the latest Free Press news articles, with suggestions for use in the classroom. Click on any subject name below to access our full online archive of stories related to that subject.

APPLIED COMMERCE

How American tariffs affect small businesses closer to home:

Fakiha Baig and Ritika Dubey, The Canadian Press:

Small businesses at front lines of tariff war, as many lose sales

Since the latest U.S. tariffs rolled in this past weekend, Bernard Hellen has been fielding order cancellations for 3D miniature models — all previously bound for his American clients.

“I’ve probab… Read More

 

How a 127-year old general store has stayed vibrant thanks to business practices that keep up with the times:

Aaron Epp:

Corner store cornerstone

H.P. Tergesen & Sons General Market surpasses 127 years as family-run business in Gimli Read More

 

ARTS

Arts programming in rural Manitoba requires hard work, commitment and a love for community:

Eva Wasney:

Creative dreams

Rural councils work hard, plan big to build local arts scenes Read More

 

A Manitoba-designed piece of major public art is unveiled in Ottawa:

Nicole Buffie:

Sculpture’s designers create celebratory safe space

Winnipeg team behind national LGBT monument spent six years bringing it to fruition Read More

 

CAREER DEVELOPMENT

Two new programs allow for expanded options for careers in arboriculture and shelter care:

Maggie Macintosh:

Listening, healing, togetherness

RRC shelter support worker program grads seek to make difference in lives of province’s most vulnerable Read More

 

Nicole Buffie:

Province officially recognizes arboriculture as a trade

Arboriculture has officially been recognized as a trade in Manitoba, which industry experts say will help address the increased demand for tree experts across the province. Read More

 

The mixed blessing of workplace resilience:

Jason Alderson:

Resilience and asking too much

Employee burnout, workload pressures, and workplace well-being have become regular topics of conversation across Canada. Organizations are investing heavily in resilience training and wellness initiat… Read More

 

ENGLISH LANGUAGE ARTS

Using humour to describe factual events:

Josh Kelety, The Associated Press:

Truckload of squid spills into the street in Rhode Island, creating a smelly mess in the summer heat

A tractor-trailer rollover sent a truckload of squid spilling into a Rhode Island roadway, leaving a stench as they sat in the road for hours in the summer heat. Local authorities have dubbed it the “… Read More

 

Using different perspectives to ensure balance in writing:

Morgan Modjeski:

Residents fear mailbox crime sprees

Concrete base burned before new Canada Post community boxes installed Read More

 

FRENCH COMMUNICATION AND CULTURE

Difficult choices made in the preservation of French culture and history in Manitoba:

Hugo Beaucamp:

Préserver à bout de bras

La Maison Gabrielle-Roy s’apprête à abattre trois ormes plantés devant le musée depuis 1905. Une décision prise à contrecœur pour assurer la sécurité du bâtiment et du voisinage, mais qui illustre sur… Read More

 

Quebec is leading Canada in a discussion of the right to be cool during heatwaves:

Katrine Desautels, The Canadian Press:

Quebecers support a right to cooling during heat waves, poll finds

MONTRÉAL – A new Léger poll has found that three-quarters of Quebecers support recognizing a so-called right to coolness that would guarantee safe places during heat waves.

Overall, 74 per cent of … Read More

 

HUMAN ECOLOGY

A portrait of food insecurity in Somalia: causes, effects and personal stories:

Omar Faruk, The Associated Press:

Somalia faces another hunger crisis and the UN food agency head says it has far less funds to help

MOGADISHU, Somalia (AP) — Six million people in Somalia are facing acute food insecurity while the World Food Program has only a tenth of the resources it had in 2022 when it helped avert famine in th… Read More

 

An example and explainer of different types of post-partum psychological disorders:

Laura Ungar, The Associated Press:

What to know about postpartum psychosis, which can affect a new mom’s sense of reality

A key question in a Massachusetts murder trial is whether postpartum psychosis drove a mother to kill her three children.

On Monday, a jury heard opening statements in the trial of Lindsay Clancy, … Read More

 

INDIGENOUS EDUCATION

Indigenous entrepreneurs find a strong catalyst in Winnipeg startup Indigihub:

Aaron Epp:

Entrepreneurial spotlight finds IndigiHub

The list of accolades keeps getting longer for the Winnipeg-based founder of IndigiHub, an online resource for Indigenous entrepreneurs. Read More

 

MATH

Calculating the sharing of resources based on need:

Dorany Pineda And Wufei Yu, The Associated Press:

Federal officials announce water cuts as Colorado River supplies continue to plunge

Federal officials announced sharp water cuts for the next two years on Friday for three Western states that rely on the imperiled Colorado River.

Under the Bureau of Reclamation’s plan, California,… Read More

 

How the Canadian cattle population changes over time, and the effects at the grocery store:

Gabrielle Piché:

‘How can we grow back the herd in Canada?’

Efficiency via technology, trade uncertainty resolution among potential bounce backs from 35-year low national head count Read More

 

PHYSICAL AND HEALTH EDUCATION

Taking social media giants to court over social media safety for children and teens:

Kaitlyn Huamani, The Associated Press:

In Meta’s trial, families of social media victims see a pivotal moment for online safety

As opening statements kicked off Tuesday in a trial for Meta Platforms, advocates and parents of social media victims gathered outside the federal courthouse in Oakland, California, with a banner that… Read More

 

Changes in your skin due to sun exposure can be a serious issue, but access to assessment can be difficult. This mobile clinic is one way to get checked out:

Sheldon Birnie:

Mole Mobile on move for your dermatological needs

This weekend, the Mole Mobile will set up shop at three Winnipeg Walmart locations. The mobile clinic will have certified dermatologists on site to screen suspicious-looking moles or lesions for skin cancer. Read More

 

SCIENCE

New tech that utilizes ultra low-frequency radio waves to communicate with trapped cavers:

Darryl Greer and Bill Graveland, The Canadian Press:

Rescuers use new tech to save caver trapped vertically in Alberta’s ‘Psych Squeeze’

A caver has been rescued after being trapped underground at the Rat’s Nest Cave in Canmore, Alta., in an operation that deployed volunteer-built underground radio technology for the first time.

Sea… Read More

 

The wide-ranging current and impending effects of record-breaking ocean temperatures:

Seth Borenstein, The Associated Press:

Earth is simmering in its hottest water temps on record, and that’s bad for fish and us

The world’s oceans simmered to their hottest temperatures on record over the weekend and are likely to warm even further in the next few months, putting stress on life in the water and on land too, th… Read More

 

SOCIAL STUDIES

Education and democracy are deeply connected. Why we should vote, and why we should care:

John R. Wiens:

Educated people vote

I add my voice to Erna Buffie’s Think Tank piece “Democracy is a civic election issue” (Aug. 13) by asserting that democracy is a public education issue. Put another way, this fall’s municipal and school board elections are a test of public education — educating democratic citizens who appreciate our democratic inheritance enough to take responsibility for renewing it. Read More

 

The opposition to peaceful protest in China and the ongoing legacy of Tiananmen Square:

Kanis Leung, The Associated Press:

2 organizers of Hong Kong’s Tiananmen vigils convicted in national security case

HONG KONG (AP) — Two former organizers of Hong Kong’s annual vigils in remembrance of the 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown were convicted Friday for what the government-approved judges ruled was inciti… Read More

 

Kanis Leung, The Associated Press:

Former Hong Kong vigil organizer strives to mark Tiananmen crackdown despite convictions

HONG KONG (AP) — Tang Ngok-kwan still occasionally visits the places where Hong Kong once publicly remembered Beijing’s 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown. Though Tang’s fellow activists… Read More

 

TECHNICAL VOCATIONAL EDUCATION

Aircraft cargo hold capacity and passenger rights:

Christopher Reynolds, The Canadian Press:

WestJet ordered to scrap weight cap on power wheelchairs

Former Winnipeg MP Steven Fletcher brought case to transportation agency Read More

 

Two new restaurants add to a growing complement of options in the Exchange District:

Eva Wasney:

Nothing like ma’s cooking

New Bannatyne eatery brings feast of Asian flavours Read More

 

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