Learning Network: A quiz to bring current events into the classroom

March 18, 2026

Good morning! A study on elephant whiskers. A writing prompt about objects with sentimental value. A quiz about current events. Below, we offer links to those resources and much more. — The Learning Network

A quiz to bring current events into the classroom

Looking for an engaging way to bring current events into your classroom on a regular basis? Try our Weekly News Quiz for Students. Here are three questions from this week’s quiz:

What does the graph above, about public support for United States military interventions in the first days of international conflicts, show?

The basketball world was shocked when Bam Adebayo, best known for his defensive skills, did what in a game last week?

March 14 was Pi Day, the annual celebration of the mathematical constant denoted by the Greek letter π. Which of the following represents pi rounded to eleven decimal places?

The answer choices for that last question are: 3.13159265359, 3.14159265359 and 4.14159265359. See how well you do on the quiz!

Recent Times reporting about schools

A man in a suit, stands with his back to the podium, looking at high school students who hold signs that say “Club America.”

Republican governors are promoting Turning Point USA in high schools. Here, Gov. Jim Pillen of Nebraska speaking with students. Nikos Frazier/Omaha World-Herald, via Associated Press

Turning Point USA, the right-wing campus group, is partnering with Arkansas and Indiana, the latest of several states to have similar arrangements.
Professors nationwide are self-censoring and altering their teaching and research because of perceived pressure from the Trump administration, fearing retribution.
The Trump administration’s National Endowment for the Humanities awarded $2 million to a small, unaccredited Queens art school, signaling a push for traditionalist arts.
While college applications have surged, this doesn’t mean more students are enrolling. Instead, it’s largely because students apply to more schools.

More teaching resources from The Learning Network

A photo grid shows, clockwise from top left, the metal frame from a Champagne cork, a dime, blue-and-purple gloves, an empty bottle of Shalimar perfume, a business card with Chinese characters and a squeezed and folded-up tube of metal polish.

Writing Prompts: Recently we asked students what objects have sentimental value for them; if pets have made their lives better; and whether parents should be held responsible for school shootings.
Data Literacy: How much does it cost to save a life? Have students notice and wonder about this graph.
Argument Writing: In our Open Letters Contest, we invite students to write public-facing letters about issues that matter to them. The contest runs until April 8.
Vocabulary Words: Can your students use cultivate, malevolent or epitome in a sentence?

Science Practice: A study on elephant whiskers

A close-up view of a nostrils of an elephant on the end of its trunk, with tiny whiskers visible on its edges.

Elephants lack the necessary muscles to whisk with the roughly 1,000 whiskers on their trunks. Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems/A. Posada and Heidelberg Zoo

Find a stiff paintbrush or makeup brush with bristles at the base that are stiff, and tips that are soft. Now close your eyes and use the brush to tap against walls, desks or railings. Can you tell if you hit the object with the rigid part of the brush or the soft tip? Even though your eyes are closed, do the bristles on the brush help you “see?” If so, how?

Now read an article about a recent study on elephant whiskers, and see how this activity might connect to the study.

Before you go, see what teens are saying about personal trainers for kids.

Adam Amengual for The New York Times

Are personal trainers an investment in a child’s future or a fast track to burnout? We asked teenagers to tell us what they think. Here are two of their responses:

I am an athlete, and I got my first personal trainer at 5 years old. I am super thankful for that because I’ve always felt like I was always ahead of everyone. So if a child wants to become a pro, then let them have a trainer. — Jaydon, Montclair High School, CA

When I was still in elementary school, my parents signed me up for a personal trainer for soccer that I went to every week. At the time, I just played park district soccer with all my friends on a laid back team and I loved it. However, working with a personal trainer every week slowly took the fun out of it and it became more of a physically demanding competition that I started to dread going to. — Nina, Glenbard West

We’d love your feedback on this newsletter. Please email thoughts and suggestions to LNfeedback@nytimes.com. More next week.

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