NEWS

ThinkQuest Newsletter
September, 1999

Contents:

• Feature Story: The ThinkQuest 1999 Conference
• A World in Transition: Kids, Technology, and Learning
• Announcements
• Cybrarian's Corner
• ThinkQuest Teams in the News

• FEATURE STORY: THE THINKQUEST CONFERENCE '99:

A World in Transition: Kids, Technology, and Learning is:

- a conference for educational leaders like you

- a conference where you can attend AND participate

- a conference where the ideas are ahead of the curve,

- and where the vision reaches beyond the obvious and into the classroom

ThinkQuest '99 will focus on:

THE FUTURE OF LEARNING with sessions on interactive learning spaces, virtual classrooms, the digital divide, project based learning online and where you can interact with students and teachers who have created the best educational Web sites in the World.

THE FUTURE OF TECHNOLOGY with sessions on the next generation Internet, analog schools in a digital world, the post-computer era, converging technologies and education, and more....

THE FUTURE OF EDUCATION IS WHAT WE MAKE IT with small group discussions among keynote speakers, panelists, and other education and technology leaders (that's you) Plus hands-on sessions with ThinkQuest projects, MS Office 2000 and the latest technologies for learning.

What else makes this conference so special:

We started with students and teachers from around the world who have collaborated in creating the best educational Web sites available, the ThinkQuest finalist teams.

We added leaders in advanced technology to describe and demonstrate the future of computing and the Internet, including:

John Gage - Chief Researcher, Director Science Office, Sun Microsystems

Dr. Terence W. Rogers - Director, Abilene Project- Internet2

Jaron Lanier - Virtual Reality pioneer; Lead Scientist, National

Tele-immersion Initiative

We mixed in today's leading educational thinkers, researchers and doers to provide insight, best practices and keys to success, including:

Elliot Soloway - Professor, The University of Michigan

Hank Becker - Professor of Education, University of California, Irvine

Linda Roberts -Director, Office of Educational Technology, US Department of Education

Joan Fenwick - Director, AT&T Learning Network

Edwin Gragert - Director, I*EARN

Margaret Honey - Director, Center for Children and Technology

Bob Tinker - President, The Concord Consortium

Bob Pearlman - President, The Autodesk Foundation

Margaret Riel - Associate Director, Center for Collaborative Research in Education

Sara Armstrong - Director of Content, George Lucas Educational Foundation and many more.

We added a Tel*Ed 10th anniversary strand that brings many of the pioneers of educational telecommunications to provide their wisdom and perspective.

And we topped it off with the Gala ThinkQuest Awards Ceremony that honors teachers and students in true Hollywood style.

It's almost the 21st Century. Are you ready?

Meet us in Los Angeles November 20-22, 1999! For details and registration go to http://www.thinkquest.org/conference or email conference@thinkquest.org or call 914-765-1138

• Announcements:

The ThinkQuest web site has been selected as a featured site in StudyWeb as one of the best educational resources on the Web. Visit StudyWeb at:

http://www.studyweb.com/

21st Century Teachers Network and PBS Online feature ThinkQuest! For more information, please read:

http://www.thinkquest.org/news/21ctpress.html

• Announcing "My ThinkQuest" !

We are please to announce the launch of My ThinkQuest coming at the end of September 1999. My ThinkQuest is a fully customizable version of the new ThinkQuest web site that allows members to select the specific content which is of most interest to them.

Membership is free and in addition to customizable content, members will have access to our services including:

* A messaging system to send notes to other My ThinkQuest users

* Chat rooms

* Bulletin boards

* Mail lists

* One click access to the help desk

* Tutorials

* Team maker database

* more!

Who should sign up for My ThinkQuest?

1. Anyone interested in participating in any of the ThinkQuest 2000 programs.

2. Anyone who is a visitor to our web site who would like to have custom experience.

Note: If you already have a Participant ID (as a coach or a student) from ThinkQuest 1999, you do not need to create a new account for My ThinkQuest.

You may login using your current Participant ID and Password and once you are in you may choose an easy to remember user name for subsequent logins. For example, if my ID is currently 116823 - I can login and change it to "computerkid" making it much easier to remember my login in the future.

We're looking forward to seeing you all in My ThinkQuest!

• SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT

ThinkQuest Internet Challenge and ThinkQuest for Tomorrow's Teachers Entries are in!

Congratulations to all of the teams that have completed their entries for the

ThinkQuest Internet Challenge and ThinkQuest for Tomorrow's Teachers! We can see that all of the teams have worked very hard on these wonderful entries and that the judges will have a difficult time narrowing our huge list of talented teams to semi-finalists and finalists in the months ahead!

We received over 700 ThinkQuest Internet Challenge Entries and almost 50 entries for our newest program - ThinkQuest for Tomorrow's Teachers.

Teams are now encouraged to promote their site as judging continues.

Semi-finalists will be announced on Friday, September 17th. Finalists and honorable mentions will be announced the week of October 11th. Judging for finalist teams will continue through the Awards Weekend, November 20 - 22, 1999.

We would like to thank every team member for their hard work. Many teams contacted us to let us know they could not finish their entries on time. We are hoping that these teams have a chance to participate in next year's ThinkQuest.

Applications will be available online for the 2000 contest beginning in late September.

• ELECTRONIC SCHOLAR'S NOTEBOOK

A Monthly Column About Research On the Net for ThinkQuesters By Patricia O'Brien Libutti, Cybrarian, ThinkQuest Hello! There is actually a person behind the Library of Entries area on your computer screen. My name is Patricia O'Brien Libutti (libutti@thinkquest.org).

I work to help you by e-mail about ThinkQuest web site research. In this issue,

I am going to start a series of articles on INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY, which is the work of one's brain seen in a specific way on a specific date. Although this small article is for our younger ThinkQuesters, all of us focus on these laws.

The work on the Internet is protected by law. The Rules of ThinkQuest make it clear that you need to pay close attention to these laws. When you make your web site, you have done considerable research and looked at many others' ideas.

Before you think about how it all will look with special web effects that you use, consider one major idea: You need to give credit by listing everything  [books, web sites, graphics] you used to make your web site.

To list other's work is not enough, though. If you did not write it, draw it, or produce the .gif.... then you usually need to get permission to use it.

"Copyright" means that the author or artist claims protection for the original work they did. They have the right to have their work used for pay or with permission, and their work cannot be used without that, unless they say so.

You, too, either have your work or will have your work protected with a copyright, in partnership with ThinkQuest. So, you have to be very careful that what you show as your work is truly your own work.

Three questions that came my way at the Help Desk this summer will get us started.

Question: "Is it OK to use an encyclopedia article [or book chapter or poem or anything else published] on my site? A lot of people do it." Answer: No, it is not OK. If you looked at an encyclopedia or book, you cannot scan work and the list the names of the authors. You are expected to look at many works, but then you need to write your own material, Work that is in the Public Domain (that means it is no longer copyrighted or never was copyrighted, such as the NASA files) can be used, but always with credit to the source of the work.

Question: " Can I use photos (or pictures) from a book (or magazine)?"

Answer: The same is true for any photo, map, drawing, and any other part of a book, magazine, web site, movie, etc.. Clipping a picture and inserting the image in your site is not the same practice as clipping a magazine photo and showing it in your class report. The whole world can see your site; your class is a small group.

Question: "How about using a trademark as a button (or showing it)?"

Answer: This is one area that is hard to understand for our younger ThinkQuesters, but there is real trouble ahead for those who use a company's trademarks without permission. A lot of you, older and youngers alike, may be surprised at what "trademarks" are in today's web world. A trademark is a company or organization logo, set of words, name, or image that is registered: (tm) will be on the words, etc. Another cue to a trademark is an "R" with a circle around it (R).

Although that is a lot of "NO!", don't be discouraged. The same protection also applies to you when your entry is in the ThinkQuest Library of Entries. In the future, there will be a place on this web site where many links about copyright and OK web practice are located. The ThinkQuest Rules give a number of examples, but if you don't find an example that fits your case, contact me, and I will help you. You also can learn from the Winning Entries: check some of the ThinkQuest entries which have their credits in order.

Next issue: ThinkQuest Web Sites That "Do It Right" --- and links to further information on responsibility in this World 'O Webs.

• ThinkQuest Teams in the News:

Congratulations to Conceiving a Clone, Team #, which was recently named one of the fifty best science sites by Popular Science!

http://www.popularscience.com/context/features/bow99/eclectic.html

"Why is the Mona Lisa Smiling?" ThinkQuest team #13681 is proud to be featured by ZD Net Australia: http://zdnet.com.au/zdnn/content/zdnn/0427/310640.html

ThinkQuest Team #3265, "The History of Rowing", is being featured by StudyWeb this month: http://www.studyweb.com

The New York Times Learning Network has featured many wonderful sites that are appropriate for kids, including many ThinkQuest Library Entries! Check them out at: http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/navigator/students.html

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