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Triangle Coalition Electronic Bulletin
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This Week's Topics:
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| Regional competition began this past weekend in the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) 18th Annual National Science Bowl, as students in Maryland and Michigan kicked off this year's pursuit of coveted spots in the National Finals. During the next few months, more than 17,000 students will compete in 104 regional events, held in 41 states, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Each match will put students' knowledge to the test in science and math using a fast-paced question and answer format similar to Jeopardy. "DOE's National Science Bowl encourages our nation's students to become the next generation of innovators propelling our country and world into a prosperous and more secure future through scientific discovery," U.S. Secretary of Energy Samuel W. Bodman said. The National Science Bowl for high school students features 67 regional competitions, each one sending a winning team to the National Finals, scheduled for May 1-6, 2008, in Washington, DC. The National Science Bowl for middle school students features 39 regional competitions, with the middle school National Finals set for June 19-22, 2008 in Golden, CO. Each regional championship team will receive an all-expense-paid trip to the National Finals. The high school national championship team will win its choice of three science-related trips, which include locations in the U.S., France, and England. The middle school national champions will win a cash prize for their school and several sponsor-supplied prizes. Since DOE's National Science Bowl began in 1991, more than 130,000 students -- and their teachers -- have participated. Student teams, which consist of four students, an alternate, and a teacher/coach, practice for months before the competition. Many teams even test their knowledge against scientists at major corporations or DOE's National Laboratories, who volunteer their time to help students prepare to answer complex questions. For more information, visit http://nationalsciencebowl.energy.gov. . |
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America's students are growing up in a digital world of iPods, the Internet, instant messaging, and computer games, but often "power down" when they enter the classroom. Today, with Pearson's launch of enVisionMATH, schools can offer elementary students a program that meets them on their own turf with a curriculum that combines visual animation and next-generation technologies to engage and entertain students while providing a comprehensive foundation in math skills that will prepare them for success in the 21st century economy. In response to teachers' demands, the program is organized into 20 focused topics at each grade level using a revolutionary, easy-to-use teaching system that places all of the materials for each topic in one place. Animated topic tutorials, video topic openers, whiteboard-ready resources, eTools, and online editions help students of all learning styles and abilities access content and allow teachers to easily customize instruction. With assessment and prescriptions embedded throughout enVisionMATH, teachers can individualize instruction for students, ensuring they grasp each concept before moving on to the next lesson. For more information, visit www.envisionmath.com. . |
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| National parks enrich the lives of many in this nation. They provide access to the powerful ideas, values, and meanings associated with the remarkable cultural, natural, and recreational heritage of the United States. The National Park Service (NPS) strives to provide opportunities for all Americans to connect to their national heritage through the national parks. However, these opportunities are lacking for some - often due to a variety of social and economic factors. The Teacher to Ranger to Teacher (TRT) Program offers a solution, by linking National Park units with teachers from low income school districts. Under this program, selected teachers spend the summer working as park rangers, often living in the park. They perform various duties depending on their interests and the needs of the park, including developing and presenting interpretive programs for the general public, staffing the visitor center desk, developing curriculum-based materials for the park, or taking on special projects. Then, during the school year, these teacher-rangers bring the parks into the classroom by developing and presenting curriculum-based lesson plans that draw on their summer's experience. In April, during National Park Week, teacher-rangers wear their NPS uniforms to school, discuss their summer as a park ranger, and engage students and other teachers in activities that relate to America's national parks. For additional information about the Teacher Ranger program, click here. The site also includes many resources for educators, including "Science in Our Parks" which is a curriculum-based program for 4th through 6th grade teachers and their students. . |
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Moody's Mega Math Challenge (M3) is an Internet-based math competition for high school students that spotlights applied mathematics as a powerful problem-solving tool, as a viable and exciting profession, and as a vital contributor to advances in an increasingly technical society. The Challenge, now in its third year, has received enthusiastic feedback from students and educators in the New York City metropolitan area, and will expand in 2008 to include metropolitan Boston and Philadelphia and the surrounding areas, almost tripling the amount of eligible students. Funded by The Moody's Foundation and organized by the Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics (SIAM), the M3 Challenge will award $65,000 in scholarships in 2008. . |
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| The bright and fertile minds of middle school students across the country have cultivated their visions of what future cities must look like in order to support humankind's growing infrastructure needs. Soon they will put their concepts to the test by participating in the 16th annual National Engineers Week Future City Competition. The focus of this year's competition is nanotechnology. More than 30,000 students from 1,000 schools in 40 regions in the United States are participating in the competition. Students have developed concepts for the practical application of built-in nanotechnologies to monitor parts of a city's infrastructure. NASA's Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, CA, recently hosted the Northern California regional competition. Teams of students, with their teacher and engineer mentors, created their future city digitally using SimCity 3000 software. They then transformed their ideas into reality by sculpting a large table-top model using recycled materials costing no more than $100. Sponsored in part by the National Engineers Week Foundation, a coalition of more than 75 engineering, professional, and technical societies and some 50 corporations and government agencies, Future City is the largest and most successful education program of its kind. Regional winning teams receive an all-expense-paid trip to the Future City National Finals, hosted by Bentley Systems, Incorporated, in Washington, DC, February 18-20, 2008 during Engineers Week, February 17-23. Triangle Coalition member, NASA, plays a significant role in providing free public access to educational programs and materials to foster passion for science, technology, engineering and mathematics in today's youth. For more information about the National Engineers Week Future City Competitions across the country, visit www.futurecity.org. For more information on the NASA's education programs, visit http://education.nasa.gov. . |
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| The nation's most extensive collection of digital learning resources for geoscience education is now based at the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) in Boulder, CO. The move ensures that the Digital Library for Earth System Education (DLESE), developed with funding from the National Science Foundation (NSF), will continue to serve hundreds of thousands of K-12 educators and learners around the country. The Digital Library for Earth System Education (DLESE) is a distributed community effort involving educators, students, and scientists working together to improve the quality, quantity, and efficiency of teaching and learning about the Earth system at all levels. The DLESE has a special area that focuses on the special needs of K-12 educators and has tips for finding resources for K-12 classrooms, collections specifically designed for K-12 teachers, information on searching using National Science and Geography Standards, and services for optimizing the use of DLESE resources in K-12 environments. There is also a section on evaluation and assessment, including tools for designing and conducting evaluations of interest to DLESE educators and researchers.
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| "Wired Science," the fast-paced PBS science and technology series produced by KCET/Los Angeles in association with WIRED magazine, has announced the "Wired Science Student Video Contest." The online video competition calls for student innovators and experimenters in grades 9-12 to explore a scientific principle and create a short video. Anything science-related will qualify -- from a math formula or a chemistry equation to a law of physics. In the spirit of the show, judges are looking for creativity, originality, and humor. Students are reminded to be safe and may enlist the help of their teachers. Three cash prizes will be awarded, with first place winning $2,000. Registration for the contest closes March 15, 2008; submissions will be accepted through April 1. For complete details, please visit www.PBS.org/wiredscience. The site also offers streaming video of the entire first season; web-original content, including videos, photos, and essays; an extensive educational component for educators and students, showcasing featured teachers and students; and Correlations, a group blog composed of scientists, show hosts, and producers. . |
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TCEB Sponsors
This issue of the TCEB is made possible by grants from: To find out how your organization can sponsor the TCEB or support the Triangle Coalition in other ways, visit www.trianglecoalition.org/support.htm __________________________________________________________________________ |
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