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YouthLearn Updates

ITEST Program Continues To Grow
In the past, we've shared with the YouthLearn community our work as part
of the team here at EDC assisting National Science Foundation's ITEST (IT
Experiences for Students and Teachers) program. YouthLearn team members
are liaisons to some of the more than 50 program grantees around the country
and create many of the publications that illustrate promising practices revealed
through their efforts. A recent convening of grantees of the program illustrated
the dynamic ways (link to PDF) that these projects are articulating how IT skill
development and STEM (science, technology, engineering & math) learning go
hand-in-hand in today's classrooms and afterschool programs.
URL: http://www2.edc.org/itestlrc/

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News

Teens Help Teens Stay Safe Online
"While parents worry about potential dangers to their children lurking in our
web-surfing, IM-ing, text-messaging culture... public awareness of the need
for online safety education has increased recently, there's still more that
needs to be done. Teenangels, a program for youth ages 13 to 18, is using
the peer-to-peer approach to school others about online safety."
URL: http://www.connectforkids.org/node/4045
Referred by: Connect for Kids

Interview with 2005 National Teacher of the Year
"Jason Kamras, a mathematics teacher at John Philip Sousa Middle School, in
Washington, DC, is one of the youngest honorees of the National Teacher of
the Year program. Kamras was recently named one of Edutopia Magazine's
'Daring Dozen.' Follow this link [below] to find Edutopia's profile of Kamras,
plus a 9-minute video interview and a complete interview transcript. In the
video Kamras describes how he improved mathematics learning by connecting
math to photography, to digital art using Photoshop, and to the street map
of Washington, DC." The second part of the interview is scheduled for April 12.
URL: http://www.edutopia.org/1528
Referred by: MiddleWeb

Youths use cell phones as mini-PCs
"A new survey suggests that today's youth--and minorities in particular--are
using cell phones more and more as mini personal computers, sparking a
revolution in ubiquitous computing. The survey could have important
implications for school leaders looking to design programs that appeal to their
students and younger stakeholders."
URL: http://www.eschoolnews.com/news/showStoryts.cfm?ArticleID=6228
Referred by: eSchool News

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Funding

Grants for Youth and Scientific Education
"The American Honda Foundation Grants Program awards $40,000-$80,000
to organizations working in science education and with young people. The
proposal deadline is May 1."
URL: http://corporate.honda.com/images/banners/america/AHF_brochure.pdf
Referred by: Edutopia News

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Resources

SEDL Afterschool Training Toolkit
"The Southwest Educational Development Laboratory has developed a versatile
online toolkit designed to help AFTER-SCHOOL PROGRAM directors and staff
create engaging and academically enriching environments for students."
YouthLearn Director Tony Streit serves as a technology consultant to SEDL on
this effort, and is currently helping SEDL develop the Technology Toolkit,
featuring a number of resources from YouthLearn and available in early 2007.
URL: http://www.sedl.org/afterschool/toolkits/index.html
Referred by: ECS e-Connection

"Digital History" aims to make history instruction more interactive
"Faculty at the University of Houston's history department and College of
Education have designed the 'Digital History' web site to support the teaching
of American history to K-12 students. The site includes an online textbook,
annotated historical documents, and more than 70 interactive, inquiry-based
modules. Students can view a timeline to see notable political, socio-economic,
and cultural episodes in United States and world history...."
URL: http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu
Referred by: eSchool News

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Activities

April is National Poetry Month!
"Get ready to teach poetry this month with a list of tips and great poems from
The Academy of American Poets. Other great poetry sites for young kids
include 'Giggle Poetry' and 'Kathi Mitchell's Poetry for Kids,' which has
directions for teaching kids about lots of different types of poems."
URL: http://www.poets.org/page.php/prmID/41
Referred by: Reading Rockets

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
learning programs enhanced with technology, particularly in out-of-school settings.

To subscribe or unsubscribe:
Go to http://www.youthlearn.org/join/subscribe.html

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Copyright 2006 Education Development Center, Inc. All rights reserved.
YouthLearn was created by the Morino Institute.