Youthlearn News Archive 2005

In an age of instant media gratification, learning must be real, rich, and relevant."

"A new world of personalized, device-delivered digital content and functionality hovers just over the broadband horizon. The New WWW—offering us whatever we want, whenever and wherever we want it—may seem like just an extension of our already-technology-enhanced contemporary life. In some ways, it is. But such a wireless stream of media gratification is actually a radical departure from typical human experience.

Thu Dec 29, 2005By Eric Auchard

"SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Internet users share many common interests, but men are heavier consumers of news, stocks, sports and pornography while more women look for health and religious guidance, a broad survey of U.S. Web usage has found.

The study by the Pew Internet & American Life Project to be released on Thursday finds men are slightly more intense users of the Web. Men log on more frequently and spend more time online. More men also have access to quick broadband connections than do women.

Do the kids want to make holiday cards, multimedia art for the walls, or (why not?) political cartoons? This activity offers a good framework for introducing and working with image-editing programs. In it, kids work in pairs to take pictures of two people, import them into a photo-editing application like PhotoShop, and combine them to create an image of the two people talking to each other with comic book-style word balloons.

This article presents the wide reaching positive results of soliciting student input and incorporating their feedback into classroom activities, which extend beyond student self-efficacy. Research indicates that schools that function in a truly democratic way are more likely to have fewer disciplinary issues and meet high academic standards. This is supported by a study conducted in 2002, in which it was noted that students who are 'systematically silenced' are more likely to drop out.

The Winter 2006 issue of Cable in the Classroom'sThreshold: Exploring the Future of Education features "articles focused on New Literacies for a Changing World, produced in partnership with The Friday Institute for Educational Innovation."
In "Framing the Future of Literacy," Alan November, Kathleen Tyner, and Henry Jenkins "explore the new, active literacies students will need in a global, participatory culture." Kathleen Tyn

On November 7, 2005, Cisco Systems, Inc. and The National Center for Women & Information Technology (NCWIT) launched a campaign to increase awareness of education and career opportunities for girls and women in math, computing and technology. The campaign is designed to address the declining interest of girls and women in information technology careers, a problem that persists despite U.S. Department of Labor predictions that the number of future jobs in the professional technology workforce will outstrip available, qualified candidates by two-to-one.

This program helps to identify qualified youths with potential for education at the postsecondary level and encourage them to complete secondary school and undertake a program of postsecondary education. Maximum Award: $220,000-$3,600,000. Eligibility: Institutions of higher education; public or private agencies or organizations; combinations of institutions, agencies, and organizations; and secondary schools under exceptional circumstances, such as if there is no institution, agency, or organization capable of carrying out a Talent Search (TS) project in the proposed target area.

Christopher Columbus Awards Program Invites Middle School Children to Apply, Adds Natural Disaster Category

Deadline: February 13, 2006

Sponsored by the Christopher Columbus Fellowship Foundation in cooperation with the National Science Foundation, the Christopher Columbus Awards program is a national competition for middle-school-age children that combines science and technology with community problem-solving in a real-world setting.

With the help of an adult coach, participating students work in teams to identify an issue they care about and, using science and technology, work with exper

As teachers and administrators face rising demands to improve student performance, they see new challenges coming to the classroom in the form of personal technology -- like some iPods that can play video as well as audio. A survey of more than 70 public and private high schools in the Indianapolis metro area showed that most do not allow electronics of any kind to be used during the school day. Rather than trying to beat it, reports Lisa Renze-Rhodes, some educators are joining the hand-held technology boom, allowing certain personal electronics to come to class."

The Captain Planet Foundation funds hands-on environmental projects to encourage youth around the world to work individually and collectively to solve environmental problems in their neighborhoods and communities. Maximum Award: $2500. Eligibility: Schools and non-profits. Deadline: December 31, 2005.