Author Archives: David Thompson

What is The Weekend Assignment? The purpose of this blog series is to create a casual and fun learning environment where we all can explore a topic/theme each weekend and through the week. Each blog will set a new topic/theme and then share what we all learned from the previous assignment. The assignment for this … Read More …

This Weekend Assignment revolves around the theme of calendars. When was the first calendar created? Why was it created? How many types calendars are used today? These are few questions you can explore. But first let’s look at the previous assignment, food. Almost all major holidays around the world have one similar component, food. They … Read More …

The Weekend Assignment is back, and the theme this weekend is food holidays. What holidays in the world revolve around food? Is the food being celebrated, or is the food being used to celebrate something else? What is the history of food holidays? These are a few questions you could explore. Before we start salivating … Read More …

Are we close to a world where we will have self aware Artificial Intelligence? What are the minimum requirements for something to be labeled AI? What do you think about when you hear the term AI? Explore this topic in this week’s Weekend Assignment. You could even use your virtual assistant to help you explore. … Read More …

This Weekend Assignment revolves round the theme of projects. Going about cleaning your house on the weekend is a project. Organizing your sock drawer is a project. Sending a satellite into space is a project. What truly defines a project? How large can projects get? What was one of the first major projects to changed … Read More …

This Weekend Assignment revolves around the theme of Community. What defines a community? How do they form? Why do they form? What kind of communities do animals form and how does it help them survive and flourish? These are few questions you could explore and even bring to your own communities. But let’s first explore … Read More …

The Weekend Assignment is to learn something new about footnotes. Do you read the footnotes when you are prompted or do you wait until the end of the page to see what they say? Or do you ignore1 the footnotes all together? But before you explore the footnotes let’s see what was learned about last … Read More …

This Weekend Assignment revolves around the theme of Cities. Take a stroll through your city/town and learn something new. Before you go on your weekend hike let’s take out the map and explore the previous Weekend Assignment. Maps have long been created and used to navigate the world around us, but the earliest known map … Read More …

Let’s explore last week’s theme of Math. The word Mathematics comes from the Greek μάθημα (máthēma), which in ancient Greek means “that which is learnt”. The basics of math, counting, can be traced to prehistoric peoples, but more complex math did not appear until 3000 BC with the Babylonians and the Ancient Egyptians. The most … Read More …

What did we learn from last weekend’s assignment on travel? Let us begin at the beginning with the migration of Homo Sapiens (that’s us) from Africa through to Eurasia around 70,000 years ago. By 40,000 years BCE humanity expanded to Australia, Asia and Europe. After that, around 20,000 to 15,000 years ago, humanity migrated to … Read More …

Let’s explore what was learned from the last Weekend Assignment’s theme, communication. Around 196 BC a congress of priests gathered in Memphis, Egypt to inscribe a stele (stone slab) with the decree of their new king, Ptolemy V. This Memphis decree was later unearthed by the French Expeditionary army, led by Napoleon Bonaparte, in 1799. … Read More …

What is the first thing you think of when you hear App? Last weekend the assignment was to learn something new about Apps. Here is what I learned. The first thing I think about when I hear App is a mobile application, but application software is any ‘computer program designed to perform a group of … Read More …