NEWS

ThinkQuest Newsletter
Maggio, 2000

Notizie Thinkquest 2000 sintesi in Italiano:
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1- Premio AZA associazione Americana degli zoo e degli acquari. E' un
premio riservato alla natura e le sue bellezze. E' un premio ulteriore per
chi partecipa gia' a TQ2000
ulteriori informazioni su:
http://www.thinkquest.org/php/aza_award.php3

2-Annunciati i vincitori di questo anno per il concorso ThinkQuest Junior ,
riservato a bambini dagli 8 agli 11 anni. tale concorso iniziato come
preparazione per TQIC (il concorso per ragazzi da 12 ai 19 anni), sta
divenendo un vero e proprio concoso. Venerdi' 19 Maggio e' avvenuta la
premiazione dei partecipanti, vedi
http://www.thinkquest.org/tqjr/2kaward/index.html . Consegnati Premi per oltre Mezzo Miliardo di lire.

Per i ragazzi delle scuole italiane c'e' una ricca biblioteca da consultare
all'indirizzo:
http://www.thinkquest.org/php/lib/winners.php3?contest_id=2&year=2000

3-Si e' discusso del premio Digital Diplomacy ( Diplomazia Digitale),
sponsorizzato dal dipartimento degli Affari Esteri Americano, nelle due chat avvenute nel sito My-thinkquest a Maggio.
Gli Ambasciatori Roy e Richard Boucher , hanno partecipato alle due chat con ragazzi e rappresentanti di tutto il mondo, (alla seconda chat ho partecipato anche io per l'Italia insieme a due studenti italiani).
Per ulteriori informazioni
http://www.thinkquest.org/php/state_dept-award.php3.
Sono poi riportati interventi di due Partner Nazionali, uno Americano della
Nord Carolina e l'altro della Korea.

4-TechNOstress ( Stress da Tecnologia ), cioe' i danni che puo' fare lo
stare troppo al computer. Si parla della regola del 20-20-20, cioe' ogni 20
minuti che sono al computer , dovrei guardar altrove per almeno 20 secondi e poi battere le palpebre per 20 venti . Questo perche' l'attenzione di quando leggo al computer, diminuisce la frequenza con cui batto le ciglia. Ci sono vari siti di riferimento ad esempio http://www.rsi.deas.harvard.edu/.

5- Thinkquest cerca un editore Internazionale , per pubblicare una E- NEWS sugli eventi che accadono nel mondo riportati dai Partners Internazionali.
scrivere a Patricia Libutti, Editor, TQ e-Newsletter
<cybrarian@thinkquest.org>,

Giuseppe Fortunati
Partner Nazionale Italia
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THINKQUEST E-NEWSLETTER Vol. 3 No. 9 May, 2000
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CONTENTS IN THIS ISSUE:

1.ANNOUNCEMENTS
---> AZA Award: New for the ThinkQuest Internet Competition
---> New! Resources Added to The Reference Desk in The TQ Library
2. FEATURE: ThinkQuest Junior Teams: Winners Announced
in May 19 Webcast

3.THINKQUEST IN THE NEWS
---> Ambassadors Roy and Boucher Answer Questions in TQ Chat Sessions
---> Focus on Partners: North Carolina and Korea

4.ELECTRONIC SCHOLAR'S NOTEBOOK: TechNOstress Relief

5. Wanted! International TQ e-News Editor

---> About Links: Remember to paste in all of the address in your browser
if the link doesn't appear to be a hot link.This often happens with
long URLs.
--------------------
1.ANNOUNCEMENTS

---> AZA Award: New for the ThinkQuest Internet Competition

A new Award, named "The Aza Award" will be presented this year to the
team whose entry best explores and reports on the natural world. The
award will be presented by Aza, the official "spokescritter" of the
American Zoo and Aquarium Association (AZA). This award has been created
to encourage students to share in Aza's mission to inspire curiosity
about and compassion for our natural world.
For further information, click on
< http://www.thinkquest.org/php/aza_award.php3 >

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---> New Resources Added to The Reference Desk
The ThinkQuest Library of Entries added a Reference Desk to address
specific questions for visitors.
< http://www.thinkquest.org/php/lib/ref_desk/index.php > .
This month, The National Library of Education's site, and
Copyright WebSite, developed by Benedict O'Mahoney, lent their
logos and links for all ThinkQuesters who have copyright questions.

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2. FEATURE: ThinkQuest Junior Winners Announced
by Webcast on May 19

An animated, colorful cartoon presentation of the ThinkQuest Junior
Awards featured the characters "T" and "Q" as reporters, was webcast on
Friday, May 19th , 2000. You can review this at
< http://www.thinkquest.org/tqjr/2kaward/index.html >
Winners in the five ThinkQuest categories at the levels of Silver,
Gold and Platinum were announced against backdrops of New York City,
the Grand Canyon, Hawaii, Hollywood and Alaska.

Look at these new,fresh sites from youngsters in grades four through six,
and find out more about their views at the URL:
< http://www.thinkquest.org/php/lib/winners.php3?contest_id=2&year=2000 >
(Remember to paste in all of the address in your browser
if the link doesn't appear to be a hot link.)
--------------------

3.THINKQUEST IN THE NEWS

---> State Department and ThinkQuest Chat Sessions Held to Develop
Awareness of the Digital Diplomacy Award

During May, ThinkQuest hosted two chat sessions with representatives of
the State Department. Both Ambassador Roy and Ambassador Richard Boucher
answered questions from students from around the world, The Ambassadors
used different languages besides English with
youngsters around the world. Ambassador Boucher conversed in Chinese,
and Ambassador Roy wrote responses in Indonesian as part of the chat
sessions. For more information on the Digital
Diplomacy Award, follow the URL :
< http://www.thinkquest.org/php/state_dept-award.php3 >

-----------------------

--->Focus on United States Partners: North Carolina, U.S.A.

A Letter From Tom Williams, NC State Partner, Tom Williams

"Hi! I am Tom Williams of the North Carolina Business Committee for
Education, a non-profit business group committed to K-12 education
improvement and the proud State Partner to ThinkQuest.
As the state partner, NCBCE and our other partners in NC are helping
build more student and teacher participation in ThinkQuest
In 2000 alone, NC has doubled the number of TQ Junior students
and teachers!

A new feature at TQ is the "My ThinkQuest" tool. NC currently has nearly
300 "My ThinkQuest" users and its growing! Especially helpful
is the messaging board and the high security chat room. It's a great
chance to discuss TQ with students and coaches from all over the world
and the US. I am hooked --- I hate to admit it!

North Carolina Business Committee for Education (NCBCE) is planning to
recognize all students and coaches from North Carolina in September at
our Annual Governor's Reception to be held with Governor Hunt at the
Executive Mansion in Raleigh. Please feel free to drop me a note or an
encouraging story. Oh yeah, I'll take complaints too, of course!"
< http://www.ncbce.org >

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---> Focus on National Partners: Korea Partner Facilitating Translation
of ThinkQuest Sites

Nam Sup Ahn < atc@atckr.com > has informed ThinkQuest of the beginning
effort to translate TQ sites into Korean for use with schools. Nam will
let TQ know which sites will be translated. The Partner organization is
ATC Korea Co., Ltd. < http://www.atckr.com/thinkquest/ >

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4. ELECTRONIC SCHOLAR'S NOTEBOOK
(C) Copyright 2000
Patricia Libutti, Ph.D.,
ThinkQuest Cybrarian

TechNOstress Relief !

This month, The Electronic Scholar's Notebook features ways
we can use strategic exercising to ward off that most
contemporary of ills, TechnoStress.

involves thinking and working carefully to care
for your eyes, muscles and body while you are at work on that
fabulous web site. Most people are not aware that they blink
automatically about every 15 seconds.It's a needed reflex, keeping
your eyes moist. When you are working on the computer, your
intense concentration may slow up that response. Try what is
commonly called the "20-20-20 Rule" by Dr. Robert Cameron,
of Ridgewood, NJ: "For every twenty minutes at the computer,
look away from the screen for twenty seconds, and blink twenty times."

There are many sites on the Web that are designed for students
to reduce technostress. Look at:

*The Harvard RSI Action Home Page : Read about ergonomic health---
essential for computer work.
< http://www.rsi.deas.harvard.edu/ >
* WorkStation Ergonomic Exercises-UVA .Use these stretches for
computer-sore muscles.
< http://keats.admin.virginia.edu/ergo/home.html >

Bob Anderson's book on _Stretching at Your Computer or Desk_
(January 2000) is one of several books that will help you stay
in ergo-shape even if you are in a chair all day!

For some, a laugh is the best relief of all! Look at the
1999 ThinkQuest winner: Laughing Out Loud to Good Heath!
< http://library.thinkquest.org/25500/ >

Students and educators, send in your favorite ways to reduce
Technostress, which will be published in the future.
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5. Wanted! International TQ e-Newsletter Editor

ThinkQuest is looking for an International Editor who will
obtain stories about ThinkQuest happenings from Partners.
Please e-mail Patricia Libutti, Editor, TQ e-Newsletter
<cybrarian@thinkquest.org >,

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This issue of The ThinkQuest E-Newsletter was written and
edited by Patricia Libutti, with assistance from Andrea Papa,
Director of Communications, Advanced Network & Services.Technical
assistance was provided by Paris Treantafeles. Feel free to pass this
newsletter on to your friends! Please send feedback or
submissions to tq-newsletter@thinkquest.org.
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ThinkQuest is a program of Advanced Network & Services,
a non- profit corporation whose mission is to advance
education by accelerating the use of computer network
applications and technology.
--------------------------------
(C) Copyright 2000 Advanced Network & Services, Inc.
All rights reserved.
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This issue of The ThinkQuest E-Newsletter was written and edited by Patricia Libutti, assisted by Andrea Papa.
Technical assistance was provided by Paris Treantafeles.
ThinkQuest is a program of Advanced Network & Services, a non-profit corporation whose mission is to advance education by accelerating the use of computer network applications and technology.