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News

The Tablet PC Takes Its Place in the Classroom
"TABLET PC's have been around for almost two years now, and while
they have not yet proved to be the revolutionary change agents that
they were billed as in November 2002, they are starting to carve a niche
for themselves in certain corners of the digital world. ...perhaps the
most promising area so far is in the classroom, a setting in which portable
devices with handwriting capabilities would seem to make sense."
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/09/09/technology/circuits/09jott.html
[free registration required]

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Funding

Awards for Middle School Students Solving Community Problems
"The Christopher Columbus Awards Program challenges teams of
students grades 6 to 8, led by an adult coach, to identify a community
problem and develop a solution using science and technology. Eight
finalist teams win a $200 grant to develop their ideas further and an
all-expense-paid trip to National Championship Week at Walt Disney
World. Additionally, the two Gold Medal winning teams will receive $2,000
U.S. Savings Bond for each team member and one team will win $25,000
to develop its idea in the community. Student teams (3-4 students each)
in grades 6-8 throughout the United States are eligible to apply. The
deadline for submitting applications is February 14, 2005."
http://www.christophercolumbusawards.com/
Referred by: GrantStation Insider

RadioShack Announces New Grants Program for Child and Family
Safety Efforts
"RadioShack Corporation, the Fort Worth, Texas-based consumer
electronics retailer, is now accepting applications for its Neighborhood
Answers Grant program. The program, which began this year, is designed
to fund worthy causes that help families protect children from abduction,
violence, and abuse." Deadline: September 15, December 15
http://www.radioshackcorporation.com/cc/contributions.html
Referred by: The Foundation Center

Good Neighbor Service-Learning Grant Program Offered by State
Farm Companies Foundation and Youth Service America
"Youth Service America and State Farm have partnered to present
the State Farm Good Neighbor Service-Learning Grant. The grant is
available to teachers/professors, youth (ages 5-25), and school-based
service-learning coordinators to implement service-learning projects for
National Youth Service Day 2005, April 15-17." Deadline: October 18,
2004
http://www.ysa.org/awards/award_grant.cfm
Referred by: The Foundation Center

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Research

Educational Technology: Media for Inquiry, Communication,
Construction, and Expression
You can explore what a Deweyian view of the role of technology in
inquiry-based learning is like! "A new way of classifying uses of
educational technologies, based on a four-part division suggested years
ago by John Dewey: inquiry, communication, construction, and
expression. This taxonomy is compared to previous taxonomies of
educational technologies, and is found to cover a wider range of uses,
including many of the cutting-edge uses of educational technologies...."
http://www.lis.uiuc.edu/~chip/pubs/taxonomy/

15 Million Youth Need Afterschool Programs
"America After 3 PM: A Household Survey on Afterschool in America finds
that just 6.5 million children are in afterschool programs ....Just six
percent of middle schoolers are in afterschool programs...In response,
the Afterschool Alliance unveiled [Afterschool for All: Project 2010], a
new united national voice in support of afterschool programs."
http://www.afterschoolalliance.org/press_archives/America_3pm_May_19_2004.pdf

Blended Model in the Elementary Classroom
"The integration of an online learning environment with a traditional
elementary school classroom would ideally combine all of the benefits
of both modes of teaching. ... This dual mode, or blended learning
environment, while increasingly more common in higher education and
even some high schools, has not been readily embraced at the
elementary (K-5) school level. Why not?"
http://www.techlearning.com/story/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=45200032

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Activities

Newz Crew Website Offers Place for Youth Dialogue
Do you work with high school-aged youth? Are you looking for free online
projects to help them learn about current events, technology, and improve
communication skills? Then maybe Newz Crew is the project for you.
http://www.newzcrew.org
Referred by: Global Kids

We welcome your feedback!

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YouthLearn
http://www.youthlearn.org

This newsletter is produced by the YouthLearn Initiative at EDC especially for
members of the YouthLearn discussion group. Every two weeks, the newsletter is
compiled from the entries in the YouthLearn News Blog, including summaries
from various sources that YouthLearn staff periodically review.

Past newsletters are archived at http://www.youthlearn.org/resources/newsletter/index.html.

YouthLearn is a project of the nonprofit Education Development Center, Inc.
Designed for youth development professionals, teachers, educators, and other
caring adults, YouthLearn provides resources and tools for developing effective
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