Adobe

Water is needed for development, production and consumption, yet we are overusing and polluting an unsubstitutable resource and system.

Eight safe and just boundaries for five domains (climate, biosphere, water, nutrients and aerosols) have been identified beyond which there is significant harm to humans and nature and the risk of crossing tipping points increases. Humans have already crossed the safe and just Earth System Boundaries for water.

To date, seven of the eight boundaries have been crossed, and although the aerosol boundary has not been crossed at the global level, it has been crossed at city level in many parts of the world.

For water, the safe and just boundaries specify that surface water flows should not fluctuate more than 20 per cent relative to the natural flow on a monthly basis; while groundwater withdrawal should not be more than the recharge rate. Both of these boundaries have been crossed.

These thresholds have been crossed even though the minimum needs of the world’s poorest to access water and sanitation services have not been met. Addressing these needs will put an even greater pressure on already-strained water systems.

AI’s potential

Technological optimists argue that artificial intelligence (AI) holds the potential to solve the world’s water problems. Supporters of AI argue that it can help achieve both the environmental and social Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), for example by designing systems to address shortages of teachers and doctors, increase crop yields and manage our energy needs.

In the past decade, research into this area has grown exponentially, with potential applications including increasing water efficiency and monitoring in agriculture, water security and enhancing wastewater treatment.

AI-powered biosensors can more accurately detect toxic chemicals in drinking water than current quality monitoring practices.

The potential for AI to change the water used in agriculture is evident through the building of smart machines, robots and sensors that optimize farming systems.

For example, smart irrigation automates irrigation through the collection and analysis of data to optimize water usage by improving efficiency and detecting leakage.

A smart irrigation system for green oak lettuce in Chiang Mai, Thailand. (Shutterstock)

As international development scholars who study the relationship between water, the environment and global inequality, we are curious about whether AI can actually make a difference or whether it exacerbates existing challenges. Although there is peer-reviewed literature on the use of AI for managing water and the SDGs, there are no peer-reviewed papers on the direct and indirect implications of AI on water use.

AI and water use

Initial research shows that AI has a significant water footprint. It uses water both for cooling the servers that power its computations and for producing the energy it consumes. As AI becomes more integrated into our societies, its water footprint will inevitably grow.

The growth of ChatGPT and similar AI models has been hailed as “the new Google.” But while a single Google search requires half a millilitre of water in energy, ChatGPT consumes 500 millilitres of water for every five to 50 prompts.

AI uses and pollutes water through related hardware production. Producing the AI hardware involves resource-intensive mining for rare materials such as silicon, germanium, gallium, boron and phosphorous. Extracting these minerals has a significant impact on the environment and contributes to water pollution.

Semiconductors and microchips require large volumes of water in the manufacturing stage. Other hardware, such as for various sensors, also have an associated water footprint.

Data centres provide the physical infrastructure for training and running AI, and their energy consumption could double by 2026. Technology firms using water to run and cool these data centres potentially require water withdrawals of 4.2 to 6.6 billion cubic metres by 2027.

Microsoft data centers located in Noord-Holland, The Netherlands. (Shutterstock)

By comparison, Google’s data centres used over 21 billion litres of potable water in 2022, an increase of 20 per cent on its 2021 usage.

Training an AI at the computing level of a human brain for one year can cost 126,000 litres of water. Each year the computing power needed to train AI increases tenfold, requiring more resources.

Water use of big tech companies’ data centres is grossly underestimated — for example, the water consumption at Microsoft’s Dutch data centre was four times their initial plans. Demand for water for cooling will only increase because of rising average temperatures due to climate change.

Conflicting needs

The technology sector’s water demand is so high that communities are protesting against it as it threatens their livelihoods. Google’s data centre in drought-prone The Dalles, Ore. is sparking concern as it uses a quarter of the city’s water.

Taiwan, responsible for 90 per cent of the world’s advanced semiconductor chip production, has resorted to cloud seeding, water desalination, interbasin water transfers and halting irrigation for 180,000 hectares to address its water needs.

Locating data centres

As water becomes increasingly expensive and scarce in relation to demand, companies are now strategically placing their data centres in the developing world — even in dry sub-Saharan Africa, data centre investments are increasing.

Google’s planned data centre in Uruguay, which recently suffered its worst drought in 74 years, would require 7.6 million litres per day, sparking widespread protest.

What emerges is a familiar picture of geographic inequality, as developing countries find themselves caught in a dilemma between the economic benefits offered by international investment and the strain this places on local water resources availability.

We believe there is sufficient evidence for concern that the rapid uptake of AI risks exacerbating the water crises rather than help addressing them. As yet, there are no systematic studies on the AI industry and its water consumption. Technology companies have been tightlipped about the water footprint of their new products.

The broader question is: Will the social and environmental contributions of AI be overshadowed by its huge water footprint?

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

ABOUT THE AUTHORS

Joyeeta Gupta is a full professor of environment and development in the global south at the University of Amsterdam and IHE Delft Institute for Water Education.

Hilmer Bosch is a postdoctoral Researcher with the Global Commission on the Economics of Water at the University of Amsterdam

Luc van Vliet is a researcher for the Global Commission on the Economics of Water (GCEW).

Shutterstock

We are transitioning from a world of passive technology to a world full of active learning experiences.

There is a wealth of opportunity for students to become creators of content, as opposed to simply consumers of content by using just a desktop, a laptop, or a powerful handheld device. The AR/VR industry continues to grow in its use and adoption in the way we work, socialize, learn, and entertain ourselves. Many AR/VR experiences pre-pandemic rested largely on the work of developers releasing apps, or one-off experiences that provide a limited glimpse into the learning potential.

Advances in these technologies are accelerating at a rapid pace, and remote learning has only hastened that process; open source developments in web technologies are now enabling any user to create their own virtual worlds and share those experiences with others. We have the opportunity to introduce these development platforms to students.

We’ve asked Anthony White, an educator in the remote island Kodiak, Alaska to share more about how he has built virtual worlds and experiences with his students.

How did you become involved with/interested in AR/VR technology?

As an educational technologist, I have helped teachers integrate technology into their practice, and have tested a wide assortment of effective tools for my own teaching purposes. But while I recognize that video technology can serve as a powerful medium for teaching and learning, I always felt like something was missing; I would teach on one side of the screen, while students passively received the signal on the other side. Even though I used computers in the classroom, many of the experiences were supplemental to a more traditional method of instruction. Despite working as an educational technologist, I had never before worked with 3D media and design.

Then the pandemic hit. While we learned to navigate this new reality, I embarked on a search for something that would truly capture my students’ interest, keep them engaged, and help enable a collaborative learning environment. In March of 2020 I discovered Hubs by Mozilla, a VR chat room designed for every device and browser. Hubs is an open source project that explores how communication in mixed reality can come to life.

Painting in VR with OpenBrush

I knew this was the tool that would allow me and my students to take learning to the next level in the Digital Age, from scrolling for information to actually interacting with information. Dr. Keith Chan, anthropology instructor at San Diego community colleges, created an immersive learning environment that perfectly demonstrates this shift from searching to interacting with information.

How have you implemented Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality in your classroom?

We are in new territory in education, especially for secondary schools. My students have created a wide variety of immersive experiences, such as augmented reality experiences using the Reality Composer app for OS/iOS. My students have also created immersive VR experiences with A-Frame, a web framework for building virtual reality experiences. With this language and a brief primer on the structure of HTML, students can easily make WebVR with HTML and Entity-Components.

Students using FrameVR as a digital escape room

I also teach a course that focuses on workforce & internship readiness, helping prepare students for life after high school. For one project I helped students utilize Mozilla Hubs to act as avatars in a scenario where they could practice conflict resolution strategies in a safe and virtual environment. The results were astounding as some students chose to use Oculus Virtual Reality headsets to embody their persona. To see more of the amazing work our students are completing, check out this collection of students projects.

What has been the most challenging part of integrating AR/VR in your classroom?

The most challenging part in all of this is the fact that I am learning right along with the students. Though I would consider myself fairly adept at utilizing technology for teaching and learning, my knowledge in the syntax and structure of many of the languages that are the foundation of these experiences is lacking. I think it’s important that students know I do not have all the answers, but Github, YouTube videos, and documentation websites do. We learn, create novel representations of learning, and shape the future of education together.

Student testing out their AR creation

What’s next for your school and AR/VR implementation?

Next year I am very excited to offer a year-long course for Kodiak High School students titled “Interactive Media” in a new classroom called the “Innovative Media Lab.” Students will have access to a wide variety of new technologies and programs that will allow them to create virtual experiences spanning a variety of purposes. We will be helping to prepare students for a future that is deeply immersed in technology and interactivity.

In the fall we will also be hosting an international hackathon that provides a space for teachers and students to create immersive learning experiences that will be linked on a website called the Eduverse. The Eduverse is an amelioration of the metaverse, a collective virtual shared space, but specific to education. Any and all learners will be able to freely access these learning experiences as well as learn how to make their own and contribute to a growing collection of innovative educational technology.

Printing custom 3D game assets

What advice do you have for other educators who might be interested in AR/VR technology for their classrooms?

We are at the brink of something extremely exciting and new in Education Technology (EdTech), and to be honest there isn’t a whole lot out there (yet) in regards to student-generated augmented and virtual reality experiences. However, the tools exist and are in a constant state of development, many of which are open source and free to use. Take the time to learn with the students, allow for mistakes, celebrate the achievements and share them with the world.

A-Frame is a great entry point for many educators and students interested in building immersive environments. WebVR platforms such as FrameVR and Hubs by Mozilla are fantastic entry points for any learner and allow you to quickly create unique (and free) experiences. If you teach computer science classes, introduce your students to frameworks such as three.js or babylon.js. For instructors of game development, Unity and the Unreal Engine house a wealth of tutorials on how to create VR experiences.

Sites such as BrioVR and tools such as Reality Composer for Apple OS/iOS open up a world of creative possibilities to create augmented reality experiences (keep a keen eye out on Apple as something big is coming down the road that will most likely shape the way we view and utilize AR/VR). At this critical juncture in how we use technology, it is crucial we are providing students with the tools they need to be successful in the post-digital era. Let’s build the Eduverse together!

Using Hubs to manage conflict resolution

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Anthony White is an educator of over 9 years currently teaching in Kodiak, Alaska. He is an artist at heart and always leans towards the creative expression of learning. Anthony is passionate about theatre, graphic design, traditional media, music, game design, and 3D modeling, especially when all facets of art intersect with computers and technology.

Endless Network

Across the United States, 15 million students lack access to the technology and devices they need to participate in online distance learning.

As educators continue to develop online and hybrid learning models in response to the pandemic and our reliance on virtual and remote technology continues to grow, solving the digital divide crisis has become more urgent than ever. This gap in access and resources is causing many students, especially those in low-income households, to fall behind.

So, what can we do?

To tackle these issues, Endless Network has launched #KeepAllKidsLearning, an initiative that connects families without internet access to offline learning resources, and encourages content creators and organizations to make their educational content available as a free download.

TED-Ed has joined educational content creators like the Khan Academy, Blockly, Wikipedia, and others in contributing to the Endless Key, a USB Drive created by the Endless OS Foundation that acts as an offline, portable content library. The USB is preloaded with over 100 engaging apps, games, and educational content— a library at the fingertips of those without Internet. You can learn more about the Endless Key here.

Endless Key

How you can get involved

Learn how content creators, educational distribution companies, and EdTech platforms can contribute free and downloadable content in order to #KeepAllKidsLearning.

If your students or family struggle with internet connectivity, explore Common Sense Media’s Wide Open School initiative, which helps families and educators find trusted, high-quality resources to enrich and support distance learning for free. Or check out Learning Equality, which focuses on creating tools to make it possible to explore the world of digital learning without internet connectivity and works to expand the reach of content creators by adapting their materials for use offline via open-source software.

Relying on online tools and the internet is the new normal in education, and we must work to close the digital divide to ensure digital equity among all learners. What will you do to #KeepAllKidsLearning this year?

Kozmonot Animation Studio

Curious about coding? Want to build your programming skills? Or perhaps you just love a good problem-solving challenge?

We’re thrilled to announce our new 10-episode series: Think Like A Coder. The series, in partnership with YouTube Learning Playlists, will challenge viewers with programming puzzles as the main characters— a girl and her robot companion— attempt to save a world that has been plunged into turmoil.

Check out the series here:

In our digital age, coding has become a basic literacy skill which gives us a deeper understanding of the technology we use everyday. Beyond being a much sought-after skill on the job market, coding helps foster creativity, reinforces math skills and develops our problem-solving abilities.

But it can be hard to know where to begin. Learning to code is like learning a language and getting started can seem like a daunting task.  Luckily, if you have the right resources, the hardest part is just taking the first step. We’ve got you covered.

Think Like A Coder is joining the long list of free online resources for the code-curious. Here’s a list of some of our favorite learn-to-code resources:

1. code.org has great resources for students and teachers. It teaches students the basics of programming through a free series of guided exercises and includes an extensive curriculum mapped to K-12 curriculum standards.

2. If you’re looking for programming challenges, check out the Advent of Code, which is run by Eric Wastl, who consulted extensively on Think Like a Coder and inspired quite a few of the puzzles. The Advent of Code is a yearly event that takes place in December and involves 25 coding challenges linked together by an overarching plot. It’s also available throughout the rest of the year, and the challenges it features are a great way to stretch your coding and problem-solving skills once you have basic proficiency with a programming language.

3. FreeCodeCamp has thousands of coding lessons and programming challenges, and you can even get certified for a few different skills.

 4. University of Michigan’s Python for Everybody Specialization on Coursera is a beginner-level intro to software development using python that focuses on interacting with data.

 5. Microsoft has a 44 video series called Python for Beginners. In their words, “Even though we won’t cover everything there is to know about Python in the course, we want to make sure we give you the foundation on programming in Python, starting from common everyday code and scenarios. At the end of the course, you’ll be able to go and learn on your own, for example with docs, tutorials, or books.”

6. If you’re trying to decide what programming language to learn, a flowchart like this one may be a helpful starting point.

7. Girls Who Code: Learn to Code and Change the World by Reshma Saujani, founder of Girls Who Code, is an excellent introduction for programmers just getting started.

8. For more experienced programmers, Cracking the Coding Interview is a great resource for problem solving with a variety of different techniques, as well as preparing for coding interviews (as the title suggests). Some of the puzzles featured in Think Like a Coder were inspired by this book.

Subscribe to our YouTube channel so you don’t miss an episode!

Justin Tran

You don’t need to go to a national park to help your kids fall in love with nature; a walk around the block can be enough.

Technology also doesn’t have to be the enemy. Instead, use it as a tool to enhance their awe, says science communicator Scott Sampson. Growing up, Sampson— paleontologist and CEO of Science World in Vancouver, Canada— went on annual camping trips to the Rocky Mountains with his family.

However, “this was not where I fell in love with nature,” he recalls in a TEDxLangleyED talk. “That happened close to home — looking for rocks in the backyard, playing kick-the-can in the neighborhood, bushwhacking in the local forest. I still remember my mother kicking me outside on a Saturday and telling me to come back in when the street lights came on. I’m pretty sure I remember hearing the door lock behind me as I walked away.”

Even though he knows it’s not possible for today’s children to have that freedom, he encourages parents to help kids fall in love with nature just like he did: through direct experience. He recommends three steps that we — along with the children in our lives — can take to connect with nature.

Step #1: Notice

We don’t need to invest in outdoor equipment or an expensive vacation to get started, says Sampson, author of How to Raise A Wild Child. We just need to notice what’s around us, even if we live in a city. “Too often these days, we walk right past amazing natural events,” he says. “It could be a butterfly on a branch, a hawk hunting silently overhead, it could be a beautiful evening sky. Whatever the clouds are doing at any given moment, you can rest assured that they will never be exactly the same ever again. It turns out just taking a kid for a walk around the block… can be a powerful experience.”

E.O. Wilson first stumbled upon the complex society of ants as a child when he saw them emerging near a sidewalk in Pensacola, Florida, and he went on to become the world’s foremost expert in that insect and an eminent Harvard University biologist. When Sampson himself was a kid, his mother brought him to a nearby pond because she’d heard it had tadpoles. When they got there, he saw nothing. Then, he says, “I stepped into the water and I could see these little things move away, and I realized there was thousands of tadpoles in the water.” His mother urged him to stand in the pond up to his chest.

“Kids value what we value. And if you don’t value the natural world, it’s highly unlikely the kids will.”

Sampson says, “Now I promise you this is not something that most mothers would condone today. But it was a life-changing experience for me. In that pond surrounded by thousands of tadpoles, I had this experience of oneness with the pond, like there was no difference between the pond and me, and that experience has stuck with me my whole life.”

We can start by developing our own simple habit — and one that could open up our perspectives. Sampson suggests, “When you step outside the door in the morning, pause for 10 seconds.” Ask yourself questions like, “What does the air feel like? How many different kinds of birds can I hear? What are the clouds doing?” Most important, he says, “Do these with kids, because here’s the deal: Kids value what we value. And if you don’t value the natural world and show that you care about it, it’s highly unlikely the kids will.”

Step #2: Engage

We need to allow kids to interact with the natural world so they can learn from it. For little kids, a stick and a puddle — or their feet and a puddle — are enough. As they get older, “it’s great to find activities that allow them to demonstrate increasing competence — things like fishing or skiing or hiking,” Sampson says. “Too often these days, when it comes to engaging in nature, we hear the word ‘no’ from parents. ‘No, don’t throw that rock,’ ‘No, put down that stick,’ ‘No, get out of that tree.’ By preventing them from engaging in risky play, we are preventing them from learning how to navigate risk, a skill they will desperately need as teenagers and the rest of their lives. The bigger risk is not letting them engage in this kind of play.”

So rather than being a helicopter parent, “think about being a hummingbird parent,” suggests Sampson. “Sit on the periphery. Zoom in only when necessary, which isn’t very often, and zoom back out again. And as kids get older, increase the distance between you and them to give them greater independence.”

Another way to stoke kids’ interest in the outdoors: tell them about your own encounters — the time you saw an eclipse, went apple-picking, clamming or crabbing, collected daddy long-legs spiders, or grew an avocado tree after making guacamole. Then, provide them with opportunities to start collecting their own stories. Sampson says, “Parents are often nervous about taking kids in nature because they know that those kids are going to ask questions and they’re afraid they’re not gonna know the answers. But here’s the secret: you do not need to know any answers. Questions are far more powerful.”

“If people don’t spend any time outside, why are they going to care about these places let alone live sustainably?”

For example, Sampson and his daughter Jade, then 7, went on a hike one day. (He cautions: “Never go on a ‘hike’ with kids; it doesn’t end well.” Instead, he advises, call it an “adventure”.) He recalls, “We were a few minutes in, and we saw one of my favorite birds, a great blue heron. Jade saw it, turned to me and said, “Daddy, what’s that bird?” And it took every ounce of my biologist training not to give her not only the common name of the bird but the scientific name, its diet, and the habitat that it lives in. But on this particular day … I said, ‘I don’t know. What do you think it is?’ And she said, ‘I think it’s a heron.’ And I said, ‘Well, what do you think it’s doing?’ She said, ‘I think it’s hunting.’ I said, ‘What do you think it’s hunting for?’ She looks up at me and said ‘Rodents.’”

Sampson told Jade they should wait and see what happened. He says, “It was almost as if it was on cue. Within two minutes, this amazing, large bird did that slow-motion, Zen-like bow until it got close to the ground” — and it emerged with a mole in its beak. After they got home, Jade looked in a nature guide and found out the bird’s exact name. Sampson says, “She still remembers it to this day, and she’s 16 years old. Let’s rewind the tape. What if when she had said, ‘Daddy, what’s that bird?’, I said, ‘Hey, that’s a great blue heron,’ and we kept right on walking? [It would have been a] missed opportunity.”

But no uncommon or photogenic animals are necessary to launch an exploration. You can do the same with the pigeons, starlings or squirrels you see on the sidewalk; the flies, bees and mosquitoes that infiltrate your home; or the crickets, cicadas and fireflies that you hear chirping, buzzing and blinking. Ask kids: What do they eat? Where do they sleep? What are their most important abilities? Which animals are their enemies?

Step #3: Wonder

When it comes to the natural world, love and wonder should go hand in hand — if we want our children to connect with it, they need to have the chance to be captivated by it. He says, “You can give them amazing experiences like harvesting and eating plants that they themselves planted and nurtured.” Growing plants that are native to your area can insects and birds to your yard, windowsill or balcony, giving children a lesson in some of the different creatures that make up an ecosystem.

And, adds Sampson, “I am not arguing that we have a back-to-nature movement where we abandon technology. I am not saying we need to take our smartphones and toss them off the nearest bridge, although I admit I am tempted to do that on a weekly basis.”

“Get outside, take your kids there, and let them connect deeply.”

Instead, you can use technology — in the form of science apps and nature apps and science websites and nature websites — as a tool to inform children’s awe. The iNaturalist app allows you to, he says, “take a picture of any plant or any animal, upload it, get some suggestions as to what it might be, and get experts to help you identify it. That data is then used by scientists to monitor changing environmental conditions, so a screen can literally turn a child into a scientist.” There are also a huge amount of cams set up in the world’s wild places that can give kids a real-time look at a variety of habitats and the creatures that live in them.

What’s more, cultivating a relationship with the natural world goes beyond enhancing your child’s immediate wellbeing. It’s crucial for their future — and our planet’s. As Sampson points out: “If people don’t spend any time outside, why are they going to care about these places let alone live sustainably and take care of them?” He says, “Get outside, take your kids there, and let them connect deeply. It is one of the greatest gifts you can ever give them, and I promise you will have a lot of fun along the way.”

Watch his TEDxLangleyED talk here:

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Daryl Chen is the Ideas Editor at TED.

This post was originally published on TED Ideas. It’s part of the “How to Be a Better Human” series, each of which contains a piece of helpful advice from someone in the TED community; browse through all the posts here.

Ranging in age from 17 to 25, they are challenging their country’s gender norms by learning engineering and coding, and setting their sights on infinity and beyond.

In Bishkek, the capital of Kyrgyzstan, a dedicated group at the Kyrgyz Space Program is intently focused on building their nation’s first-ever satellite and prepping it for a 2019 mission. The surprise: the team consists of roughly a dozen young women between the ages of 17 and 25 — and Kyrgyz Space Program is the name they’ve given themselves.

Kyrgyzstan is a sparsely populated country in the mountains of Central Asia whose economy is based on agriculture and mining; more than 30 percent of people here live below the poverty line. And it’s not one of the 72 countries with an official space agency.

And yet, in March 2018, journalist Bektour Iskender (a TED Fellow) colaunched a free course to teach girls and young women how to build a satellite. “Women in our country are physically and spiritually strong. All we need is to believe in ourselves and get external support,” says Kyzzhibek, a 23-year-old on the team. “The mission of this program is not just about learning how to make and launch a satellite. It’s just as important to be a role model for girls afraid to explore and discover their talents.”

So … why did a news reporter start a space program? The story starts back in 2007, when Iskender cofounded a project he called Kloop. An independent, Bishkek-based journalism school, Kloop gives young people ages 14 to 25 the tools and chops to produce high-quality reporting, with an emphasis on politics, human rights, culture, music and sports. It encourages peer-to-peer learning by enlisting older students to teach the younger ones. And it changed education and journalism in Kyrgyzstan forever.

Kloop’s stories took aim at corrupt politicians, exposing serious abuses such as election-related bribes and fraud. Soon, the upstart reporters began scooping traditional press outlets. Today Kloop is recognized as one of the top five news sources within the country, surpassing even BBC Kyrgyz Service.

Then, in 2016, Iskender began thinking about a new frontier for Kloop: space. He met Alex MacDonald, another TED Fellow and a program executive for NASA’s Emerging Space initiative, which encourages and enables nascent space programs around the world. MacDonald told him about small, relatively inexpensive satellites that people who aren’t aerospace engineers can build and use. “I’ve been a fan of space exploration since I was a kid, so when Alex told me that you could build a launchable satellite for $150,000, I joked, ‘I’d love to send one to space!’” recalls Iskender. “But Alex started to convince me that Kloop should start its own program.”

It seemed like a stretch: what was the connection between a youth-led media company and space technology? The answer: computer programming. Coding courses were already part of the Kloop curriculum. “We work with open government data in our investigations, extracting data related to corrupt officials, and so on. For that, you need coders, which are expensive. So we decided to grow our own,” says Iskender.

Their data journalism courses were successful, so Kloop decided to add robotics instruction, to teach student journalists to operate drones for aerial reporting. That was when Iskender noticed a huge gender gap. “Despite an open call for the course, of the 50 people who showed up for it, only two were female,” he says. “It was reflective of a problem in Kyrgyz society: girls are brought up with an attitude that technology is not for them.”

This gender imbalance was a problem. “Kloop is known in our country as the most feminist-friendly, LGBT-friendly media outlet — maybe in the whole of Central Asia,” he says. “We have the largest number of female camera operators, for example, and our sports editor is an 18-year-old girl. We also have a brilliant video engineer who is also a young woman.”

In response, Iskender and Kloop cofounder Rinat Tuhvatshin considered setting up a girls-only robotics course in 2017. Then, they thought, Why not integrate satellite building into the course? Iskender says, “A satellite-building school for girls only — what a strong message it would be for our patriarchal society, to have Kyrgyzstan’s first satellite built by a group of young women!”

Kloop put out a call for women and girls with some coding experience to join the class. About 50 young women turned up, and now, a dedicated group of a dozen meet twice a week at Kloop’s office, where they’re led by two alumni of Kloop’s programming course. They’ve spent the first part of the class learning engineering basics, including how to solder and work with Arduino hardware. They’re also receiving instruction in coding (if they’re not already proficient) and 3D printing.

What are they building? A CubeSat. CubeSats are microsatellites typically used to conduct scientific research in low Earth orbit. Each cube is 10x10x10 cm, and can be customized to take all sorts of different measurements, shoot photos or even host a tiny science experiment. CubeSats are cheap to build, and they’re cheap to put into orbit too; because they’re so small, they can squeeze into the payload of someone else’s spacecraft. “We don’t have to build a rocket, fortunately,” says Iskender. “That would be too expensive and complicated for us at this stage.”

For their first satellite, the team has pretty humble goals; they want to launch a working device that is able to send and receive signals. However, they’ve recently gotten funding — the program is supported by Patreon donations, and Kloop is also seeking private grants — for a second satellite, which will be more complicated. The group is looking into several experiments, including one that would prove whether it’s feasible to use space junk as rocket fuel. “They’re exploring the idea of directing the sun’s rays toward orbiting garbage to vaporize it and use the energy to propel the CubeSat,” says Iskender. “They’re also considering using it to take satellite imagery of the Tibetan plateau, one of the least photographed places in the world from space.”

“We’d like to involve girls in more areas mainly occupied by boys, not only space exploration,” Iskender says. But he worries that Kloop’s gender-busting efforts may have limited impact in Kyrgystan, a nation where young women are still kidnapped and wed against their will. “How do we change this?” he asks. “You can publish stories, and we do, but that’s not enough. Having Kyrgyzstan’s first space program be launched by young women — it destroys all the norms beautifully.”

Just ask Kyrgyz Space Program member 21-year-old Aiganysh. “At first I thought this idea was crazy; now I clearly see that it’s brilliant,” she says. “This experience has definitely changed my mindset. It’s made me believe that with passion, anything is possible.”

All images courtesy of Kloop.

If you’d like to support the Kyrgyz Space Program, visit its Patreon page.

Watch Bektour Iskender’s TED talk here:

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Karen Frances Eng is a contributing writer to TED.com, dedicated to covering the feats of the wondrous TED Fellows. Her launchpad is located in Cambridge, UK. This piece was adapted for TED-Ed from this Ideas article.

Raúl Soria

We’re distracted like never before — and our phones are probably the biggest culprit. But there is a way you can live with one and still get things done. Productivity expert Chris Bailey shares what worked for him.

When your mind is even slightly resisting a task, it will look for novel things to focus on. And it doesn’t need to look far — only as far as your phone.

Our smartphones provide an endless stream of bite-sized, delicious information for our brains to consume. It’s easy to get hooked, even to feel addicted. And most of us would prefer not to feel this way. So last year, I started to hack my relationship with my phone, looking for small behavior changes I could make so that I would begin using my phone with intention, not automatically.

Here are 7 strategies I found useful to prevent phones from taking over our time and attention:

Strategy #1: Use airplane mode, even when you’re not in the air.

Airplane mode isn’t just for travel. Use it when you’re working on an important task or having coffee with someone you value. It makes a bigger difference than simply putting your phone in your pocket; when you do that, you’re still aware of the buzzing, vibrating notifications and distractions piling up and waiting for you. Airplane mode eliminates the possibility that notifications will disrupt your work or conversation.

Strategy #2: Do a phone swap.

While you should tuck your phone away while you’re with family or friends, there are times when you need to have it handy. On these occasions, try swapping phones with the people you’re hanging out with. This way, if you have to look something up, make a call, or send yourself a reminder, you’ll have a device to do it with — but it won’t be one that will suck you into a personalized world of distraction. If there is an urgent call or message on your phone, of course, your swap-mate has to promise to tell you, and vice versa.

Strategy #3: Designate a “distractions” device.

This may sound silly, but I recently decided that my iPad would be dedicated to one sole purpose: my favorite distractions. I took my social media apps off my phone; instead, I use my iPad for these and all things distracting. Delegating those tasks to the iPad — which I leave in another room — lets me focus longer, and more deeply, at times when I do need to keep my smartphone by my side.

Strategy #4: Prune your apps.

Scroll through your phone and delete the apps on which you waste too much time and attention — social media and news apps included. This can feel refreshing, like spring cleaning for your phone. Step two: Consider getting rid of apps that duplicate functionality with apps on your other devices. For example, your email app may not be worth keeping if you also read mail on your tablet; an investment app you check compulsively might be worth nixing if you can access that information on your laptop.

Strategy #5: Create a “Mindless” folder.

So you can’t quite get rid of all your time-wasting apps — and that’s OK. Just house your most distracting apps — the ones that pull you into autopilot mode — in a “Mindless” folder on your phone or tablet. The folder’s name should serve as a reminder every time you’re about to distract yourself.

Strategy #6: Mind the gaps.

This one takes willpower, but consciously resist the urge to tap around on your phone when you’re waiting in line at the grocery store, walking to the coffee shop, or in the bathroom. Try to use these breaks to reflect and recharge. Mindlessly burning these moments on your phone isn’t worth it.

Strategy #7: Think twice before adding a new device to your life.

Harvard Business School professor Clayton Christensen has developed a useful way of assessing the tech in your life: identify what “jobs” you’re “hiring” a device to do for you. For example, you hire your phone to be an alarm clock, camera, timepiece, GPS navigator, video game console, email and messaging machine, boarding pass, music player, calendar, map and more. But as you accumulate more devices, their jobs can become redundant. Before you add one to your life, ask: What jobs am I hiring it to do that the devices I already own can’t? Thinking about electronics this way will force you to consider why you own them and, perhaps even more important, enables you to bring them into your life only with intention.

Excerpted with permission from the new book Hyperfocus: How to Be More Productive in a World of Distraction by Chris Bailey, published by Viking, an imprint of Penguin Publishing Group, a division of Penguin Random House, LLC. Copyright © 2018 by Chris Bailey.

Watch Chris Bailey’s TEDxLiverpool talk here:

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Chris Bailey is a productivity expert and the author of the bestselling book “The Productivity Project,” which detailed his year-long effort — involving dozens of experiments on himself — to discover how to become as productive as possible. He speaks to organizations and audiences around the world on productivity.

This piece was adapted for TED-Ed from this Ideas article.

Looking to mix things up in your classroom next year? There’s an app for that! We asked TED-Ed Innovative Educators to share the apps they’d like to see every educator try in 2018. Here’s what they suggest:

Swift Playgrounds “Swift Playgrounds is an excellent app that introduces students to coding,” says Anthony Johnson.
Description: Swift Playgrounds is a revolutionary app for iPad that makes learning Swift interactive and fun. It requires no coding knowledge, so it’s perfect for students just starting out. Solve puzzles to master the basics using Swift — a powerful programming language created by Apple and used by the pros to build today’s most popular apps. Then take on a series of challenges and step up to more advanced playgrounds designed by Apple and other leading developers.

Slack “Use Slack for grade level-wide asynchronous collaboration and to share learning and resources internally,” says Dylan Ferniany.
Description: Slack brings team communication and collaboration into one place so you can get more work done, whether you belong to a large enterprise or a small business. Check off your to-do list and move your projects forward by bringing the right people, conversations, tools, and information you need together. Slack is available on any device, so you can find and access your team and your work, whether you’re at your desk or on the go.

Do Ink “Green screen and technology app Do Ink is an excellent way to express and explore different themes from the curriculum through interactive technology; for example, traveling through outer space,” says Naoimh Riordan.
Description: Green Screen by Do Ink makes it easy to create incredible green screen videos and photos. Classroom-tested by kids and teachers, this app emphasizes ease-of-use and simplicity while still enabling fantastic results. With Green Screen by Do Ink, you can tell a story, explain an idea, and express yourself in truly creative and unique ways.

GooseChase “Have students show what they know in the form of scavenger hunt by using the GooseChase app. Students can be split into three teams and submit photos of videos to exhibit their knowledge,” says Rita Kitchen.
Description: GooseChase Adventures has combined the tried and true scavenger hunt with smartphone technology to create one of the most exciting activities out there. More than just a standalone app, the GooseChase platform lets you create and facilitate a customized scavenger hunt in minutes.

Evernote “Evernote is my go-to suggested app for people who like to take notes and organize them in a certain way,” says Nicholas Provenzano.
Description: Let Evernote change the way you organize your personal and professional projects. Dive in: take notes, create to-do lists, and save things you find online into Evernote. We’ll sync everything between your phone, tablet, and computer automatically.

Rory’s Story Cubes “The Story Cubes app is a great way to encourage students to think creatively and generate story ideas. I use Story Cubes to develop interesting story ideas for my role playing games, to jumpstart my own storytelling process, and as a resource for my Game Lab class,” says Timothy Couillard.
Description: 9 cubes, 54 images, over 10 million combinations and infinite stories. Shake to roll the cubes. Create a story using all 9 face-up images.

Feeling inspired? Check out 25 more apps recommended by teachers here. For more innovative education tips and tools, sign up for the TED-Ed weekly newsletter here >>

“The kids of today tap, swipe and pinch their way through the world. But unless we give them tools to build with computers, we are raising only consumers instead of creators,” says programmer Linda Liukas. That’s why parents and teachers should introduce coding as a creative act — a playful form of making that requires imagination, bravery and perseverance. Ready to teach your kids how to code? Here are 5 great places to start.

1) Hello Ruby
Hello Ruby is a whimsical website (and book!) created by Liukas to explain programming fundamentals to kids. The detailed lesson plans are appropriate for kids 5+.

2) Code.org
Code.org teaches students the basics of programming through a free series of guided exercises — and is one of several resources on this list to be recommended by the TED Technology Team. To bring coding into your classroom, check out the Hour of Code model.

3) Scratch
Created and maintained by the Lifelong Kindergarten Group at MIT’s Media Lab, Scratch is a both a programming language and an evolving community of young coders. To get started, dive into these resources.

4) Girls Who Code
Will the next generation of computer scientists include more Ada Lovelaces? Yes, if teachers and parents inspire more girls to start coding — and to embrace risk. “Most girls are taught to avoid risk and failure,” says founder Reshma Saujani. “Coding is an endless process of trial and error.” Learn more about the Girls Who Code curriculum here.

5) CS Unplugged 
Even a Waldorf school can get excited about these computer science teaching tools. “CS Unplugged has activities you can do without a computer to teach programming fundamentals,” says Liukas.

Image credit: Celeste Lai/TED-Ed

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