NEWS

ThinkQuest Newsletter
October, 1999

Contents:

1. FEATURE
2. CONFERENCE UPDATE
3. AWARDS EVENT '99
4. TEAMS IN THE NEWS
5. THINKQUEST PARTNERS: NEW & NOTEWORTHY
6. THE ELECTRONIC SCHOLAR'S NOTEBOOK: Sites That Cited It Right!
7. THE ONLY CONSTANT IS CHANGE DEPARTMENT

FEATURE: THINKQUEST FINALISTS ARE COMING TO A SCREEN NEAR YOU!

Click the Link on Friday, October 15, 1999

The Internet Society oversees the judging of all ThinkQuest Internet Challenge entries, ThinkQuest for Tomorrow's Teachers entries, and the GEM Awards. April Buther, Program Director from the Internet Society, announced that the finalists are scheduled to be presented on the ThinkQuest site on Friday, October 15, 1999. Thanks go to the 186 judges who examined 740 entries over the course of the Challenge, which involved Level 1 (determining Semi-finalists), and Level 2 (determining Finalists). The link for the finalists will be http://www.thinkquest.org/library/tq99finalists.shtml 
All 740 sites are now in the ThinkQuest Library of Entries, and are being classified and described for ease of use.

CONFERENCE UPDATE: Think Out Loud at the ThinkQuest Conference 99'

Robert Sibley, Education Programs Director, ThinkQuest November 20-22, 1999, Los Angeles, California http://www.thinkquest.org/conference/

Educational Technology conferences come in all shapes and sizes, but almost all have one thing in common: there is no place for students. There is no place for them to listen, learn, think or talk. The ThinkQuest Conference is a little different. We created the conference to let educators and students experience the incredibly powerful learning environments that students and teachers can create together. We have experienced this environment each year since 1996 at the ThinkQuest Awards Weekend. We created the ThinkQuest Conference that is held in conjunction with the Awards Weekend to give other educators and students a chance to experience this as well.

From this extraordinary starting point we built an Educational Technology conference like no other. We invited leaders in advanced technology such as John Gage, the co-founder of Sun Microsystems and Terry Rogers, the Director of the Internet2 Abilene Network to talk about the technologies that are on the horizon. We invited leaders, thinkers, and doers in education, Educational Technology, government and business to discuss the implications, possibilities and realities of the impact of technology on teaching and learning. These include Elliott Soloway, Linda Roberts, Margaret Riel, Yvonne Andres, Sara Armstrong, Bob Tinker and many more. There is even an informal "Ask ThinkQuest" session with several ThinkQuest staff members.

Then we invited the pioneers who 10 years ago created the first conference on telecommunication and learning,Tel*ED, to celebrate their 10th anniversary and provide perspective and experiential insight. We included hands on sessions on the latest software and learning resources, and we arranged for conference speakers to participate in small group discussions with attendees who want to dig deeper.

Last, but by no means least, we have scheduled sessions where this year's finalist ThinkQuest Internet Challenge and ThinkQuest for Tomorrow's Teachers teams can present their Web sites and discuss their goals and the process of creating them. The conference ends with the incredible ThinkQuest Awards Ceremony, where students and educators are recognized for the wonderful work they have done.

For anyone interested in the future of education, this is the place to see it first.

So come and think out loud with us at the ThinkQuest Conference 99' There is a full day pre conference workshop on coaching a ThinkQuest team on Friday, November 19. See the Web site for details. Send questions to conference@thinkquest.org, or call 914-765-1138.

THINKQUEST AWARDS EVENT '99: Seriousness, Fun, ...and Surprises

ThinkQuesters are expected to be seen, heard, and enjoyed for the freshness of ideas and technology insights seen in their web work. But the Event is more than looking, listening, and learning ---all that is connected with PLAY in its purest form.

Contestants should expect to find the experience in Universal City, California to be a surprising one. What IS Event '99? You can read about it in the ThinkQuest web http://www.thinkquest.org/awards_wknd/event.shtml, but what IS it, really? Allan Weis, creator and founder of ThinkQuest, reflected on the ThinkQuest Awards Event: "The Event ---is kids coming together from all over the world , who have never met each other, and who will be facing several things. The first is serious ---the web site judging.
The second is fun ---the surprises we have prepared for them. And they are surprises. .."

Lisa Ernst, Director of ThinkQuest Programs, stated " The ThinkQuest staff has been busily preparing for the ThinkQuest annual Event all year. We are looking forward to a great Conference and Awards fun-filled weekend for all". Allan added one other thought: "Hopefully, many of these kids will leave that Event with new friends."

TEAMS IN THE NEWS

Tomorrow's Teacher Team Recognized:"Multimedia Applications on a Shoe-String Budget" "Multimedia Applications on a Shoe-String Budget" has received the following awards and recognition: "Multimedia Applications on a Shoe-String Budget" [Teachers Team 50001] is currently a "Best Bet for Educators" for the week of 9-26 through 10-2-99 on the USA TODAY Education Website located at http://www.usatoday.com/educate/home.htm 

A two page article about "Multimedia Applications on a Shoe-String Budget" was recently published in "On Cue," a Newsletter of the Massachusetts Computer Using Educators (Volume 9, Number 2 , Summer 1999. pp. 3-4).

"Multimedia Applications on a Shoe-String Budget also received the MidLink Magazine Honor Roll of Best Web Sites - A+ on August 31, 1999. [Thanks to Coach Dr. Donna Mason for item.]

Team Sites Selected for Resource Excellence

GLOBENEXT by Team 50033 was reviewed in Education World  http://www.education-world.com/awards/past/r1099-05.shtml. ThinkQuest for Tomorrow's Teachers is specifically mentioned in the review. The review goes out on an extensive list serve as well as being archived.[Thanks to Sheryl Hinman, Coach]

WHY IS THE MONA LISA SMILING Web Site by Team 13681 http://www.thinkquest.org/library/13681.shtml 

On September 12, 1999 the site was featured in the New York Online article in the New York Times:  http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/99/09/biztech/articles/12onli.html 

On September 26, 1999 The Florida Times Union selected the site for their Web Watch Best Bets on the Net: http://www.jacksonville.com/tu-online/webwatch/archives/092699.html 

The site was also featured as the cover story on the Apple Education Educational Technology Associates Ed Tech News The article is archived at: http://library.advanced.org/13681/data/links/et.htm 

StudyWeb researchers selected three ThinkQuest sites as "best educational resources on the Web". "The Harlem Renaissance" by Team 26656 http://library.advanced.org/26656/, 

"CHEMystery - Interactive Guide to Understanding Chemistry", by Team 3659  http://library.advanced.org/3659/thermodyn/, and "Mathematics History"  http://library.advanced.org/22584/ by Team 22584 were considered excellent resources for students.

The Discovery Channel School selected "Views on Cloning and Genetic Engineering:
Improving on Nature or Popping the Genie's Cork?" by Team 19697  http://library.advanced.org/19697/index.htm as a "valued Internet resource for the thousands of teachers who visit http://discoveryschool.com/. The Discovery School features hundreds of pages of lesson ideas and activities for many of the topics commonly taught in the K - 12 curriculum".

Congratulations to Team 24355, web authors of "Conceiving a Clone", which was recently named one of the fifty best science sites by Popular Science! You can see the site featured at  http://www.popularscience.com/context/features/bow99/eclectic.html [Thanks to Andrea Papa, Director of Marketing and Communications, for items]

THINKQUEST FEATURED ON SITES: WHY?"... Educational, Friendly and Fun to Use"!

THINKQUEST is featured by EDUTECH GV/WFL BOCES http://thinkquest.edutech.org/ Contact info:Jeremiah Frink, Coordinator of Computer Training , EduTech GV/WFL BOCES.

The THINKQUEST web site has been chosen by the State of Washington's Guaranteed Education Tuition (GET) program to be included in the new online Resource Library on the GET Web site.

The Resource Library contains links to educational sites for both parents and children. ThinkQuest was chosen because "it's educational, friendly and fun to use".

Washington's Guaranteed Education Tuition (GET) is located at http://www.get.wa.gov.

ThinkQuest was recognized with the "Realms of Exploration" award for September, 1999, from The Scientium http://www.scientium.com. The award is prominently displayed at  http://scientium.com/roe.htm#sept1999. Bruce M. Bowden, Publisher,The Scientium, wrote that "Realm of Exploration" Award is "intended to recognize those entities and sites on the World Wide Web which present content compatible with Scientium governing principles of awareness, curiosity, consistency, integrity, discovery, and empowerment. Each recipient is hand-picked by the site publisher as representative of some of the best our species has to offer. This award is made monthly except in unusual circumstances, and each awardee is eligible for a yearly 'Realm of Excellence' award according to the calendar year in which they appeared".

Amazing Kids!TM, an educational non-profit organization dedicated to inspiring excellence in children, has announced the October winners of the Amazing Kids! of the Month award.

The announcement included the statement "This month's award goes to elementary and middle school students from across the United States, who were the winners of the 1999 ThinkQuest Junior Contest awards". The complete story can be found on the Amazing Kids! 

Webspace at http://www.amazing-kids.org. (Excerpt from BUSINESS WIRE--Oct. 8, 1999) [Thanks to Andrea Papa, Director, Marketing & Communications, ThinkQuest]

THINKQUEST PARTNERS: NEW AND NOTEWORTHY

Twenty State Organizations Partner With ThinkQuest To Expand Curriculum Based Internet Resources By Andrea Papa, Director, Marketing & communications, ThinkQuest Twenty state education and technology organizations have joined with ThinkQuest - the fastest growing philanthropic Internet-based educational initiative in the world - to give more teachers and students nationwide access to ThinkQuest's extensive library of educational Web sites and its contests, which encourage students to create original Web sites. By collaborating with the California Technology Assistance Project (CTAP), TIES (Technology and Information Education Services) from Minnesota, the New Jersey Educational Computing Cooperative, the North Carolina Business Committee for Education, and the Tennessee Department of Education, to name a few, ThinkQuest will exponentially broaden student/teacher participation and increase both the number and variety of student-created Web sites. The first state partnership meeting bringing together organizations from across the Unites States will be held at this year's ThinkQuest Awards Event, which takes place in Los Angeles on November 20-22.

"We are delighted that so many states will be participating in the ThinkQuest program," said Allan Weis, president and CEO of Advanced Network & Services, producers of ThinkQuest. "The Web is becoming the most critical tool for research and learning, and it makes sense that students should be participating in this revolution." "This is a great opportunity to combine classroom experience and real-life application," said Thomas J. Williams, Executive Director for the North Carolina Business Committee for Education. "We are looking forward to introducing ThinkQuest to all students, educators, and our educational partners across the state.

ThinkQuest exemplifies how our students are leading the way in technology integration in using the Web for learning and teaching at all age levels."

Netherlands ThinkQuest Broadcast Link

Dr. Grant Beglarian, Director,ThinkQuest Partnerships announced that " Pien Voortman, our National Partner in the Netherlands, informed ThinkQuest that the awards event of the Dutch version of ThinkQuest will be webcast on October 7, 8:30 AM to 11 AM."

It was broadcast over the Internet from 14:30 - 17:00 (Western European time) so take a look if you like at: http://www.thinkquest.nl/nl-finale.html.This link has the information from the broadcast.

NEW! Partners Include Three More Countries

ThinkQuest is proud to include Uganda, Tunisia, and the Republic of Georgia as International Partners. Check http://www.thinkquest.org/partnerships/index.shtml for the extensive display of flags of each partner. Click on the flags and find the contact information for each partner .

Next issue: Especially for Partners, ThinkQuest is preparing a page for partners to check the entries of students from their country/state.

THE ELECTRONIC SCHOLAR'S NOTEBOOK: Sites That Cited It Right!

Patricia O'Brien Libutti, Ph. D., Cybrarian, ThinkQuest Last month, the concept of INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY (Copyright and Trademark) was briefly explored. You can find these ideas more fully explained by Jim Parker, Esq., Advanced Network & Services http://www.thinkquest.org/help/citations.shtml and http://www.thinkquest.org/tqic/tqic_rules.shtml.You also can learn from the winning Entries: check some of the ThinkQuest entries which have their credits in order.

Text Citations

Look at: Eye on Everything: Citation Station http://library.advanced.org/18516/citation.htm  for a good assemblage of citations and attribution (both mean official recognition of others work). Yes, publishers sometimes do give permission: "Totally Tessellated: An Introduction to Tessellations" (TQ 1998) http://www.thinkquest.org/library/16661.html demonstrates the ways to show permission to use parts of a book. "Yo, It's Time For Braces" http://tqjunior.advanced.org/5029/ obtained permission to include several dentists' texts in their site on braces  http://tqjunior.advanced.org/5029/ackno.htm.

Image Permissions and Clip Art Look at "EgyptWorld" http://library.advanced.org/15924/gather/cgi-bin/r_credits.cgi?BACK=l_pyramids2.cgi#memphis  for a complete example. Want to see how photos are listed well?

Check "The Cuban

Experience" http://library.advanced.org/18355/photos.html and "Where Earth meets Sky: The Himalayas" http://www.thinkquest.org/library/10131.html. Both sites show excellent practice and permission models."The Cuban Experience" demonstrates how to list the work when you did it yourself.

How about Sound Clips?

Examine the credits for "The Soundry:Links and References"  http://library.advanced.org/19537/Links.html as a guide.

Going Further Into the Realm of Copyright and Trademarks If you are a TEACHER or COACH (or a STUDENT interested in knowing more), try looking at the links listed below.

Take the Test! [20 item Test of Fair Use] will help you apply this knowledge: "The Educator's No Fat Lean Guide to Copyright and Fair Use" by Hall Davidson from the September 1999 issue of Technology & Learning http://www.techlearning.com/content/speak/articles/copyright.html 

Another article that uses a lot of examples of what students usually do is "Keeping it Legal: Questions Arising out of Web Site Management" by Jamie McKenzie, FNO (June,1996,FromNowOn, http://www.fno.org/jun96/legal.html#Concept.

"Copyright Bay" is a collaborative web page assembled by graduate students  http://www.nmjc.cc.nm.us/copyrightbay/coprbay.htm. The site uses images of a bay and ocean to teach copyright laws and ideas to you. Try it! It's a good example of a web site that takes very complex materials and makes them into exploration pathways.

A readable legal set of articles can be found in Marie A. D'Amico's "Cyberspace Law Articles" http://lawcrawler.findlaw.com/MAD/. The page includes "Can I Borrow a Bit of Digital" [fair use on the Web] in NetGuide, May 1996.

The Franklin Pierce Law Center has a web page on copyright: "Avoiding Patent, Copyright & Trademark Problems: What You Don't Know Can Hurt You! " by Thomas G. Field, Jr. http://www.fplc.edu/tfield/avoid.htm#ACI.

One of the best parts of the page is the excellent, easy-to -follow chart "When Works Pass Into the Public Domain http://www.unc.edu/~unclng/public-d.htm.

For intensive investigation by teachers and coaches, an archive of relevant information is in "Stanford University Libraries: Copyright and Fair Use Page: Articles"  http://fairuse.stanford.edu/articles/ and "Cyberspace Law Center---Intellectual Property"  http://cyber.findlaw.com/.

Got it? If not, let me know what you want to know. Contact me by e-mail: cybrarian@thinkquest.org

Next issue: Where to Get Copyright Free Graphics and Text 

THE ONLY CONSTANT IS CHANGE DEPARTMENT:

Founding Editor of The ThinkQuest Electronic Newsletter Moves, Oversaw Two Years of TQ Chronicles Sonia McSweeney, Projects Coordinator, whom many parents, coaches and students have worked with over the past two years,is moving to another position in designing web sites. She will be missed by all who came to count on her style with this electronic communication, as well as by those who contacted her to answer questions at the Help Desk. We wish her much luck and happiness on her new assignment!