ALABAMA SUPERCOMPUTER AUTHORITY

Representatives from the Alabama Supercomputer Authority will exhibit and present at the Alabama Library Association's Annual Conference in Montgomery, Alabama - April 20-23, 2004. Teresa Kiser, Anniston Public Library, and Gina Sullivan, AVL Helpdesk will present on Thursday, Aprill 22, 2004 from 10:30-12:00 on the topic AVL: Beyond the Search.

READING ABOUT EDUCATION AND TECHNOLOGY

WIRED SCHOOLS HELP KEEP PARENTS INFORMED Every year, more schools across the United States, both public and private, are joining the online world with websites that post news about school events and also allow parents and students, via confidential passwords, to access teacher comments, test results, and grades. As this phenomena is still relatively new, statistics about how many schools are wired for parental access are hard to come by, says Don Blake from the US Department of Education. But the National Center for Education Statistics did determine in 2002 that 99 percent of public schools have access to the Internet, 86 percent of those schools host a website, and 68 percent of those update this website at least once a month. Interviews reveal generally positive reports about American's increasingly wired classrooms, reports Jennifer Wolcott. Even teachers, for whom frequent updates about students' work means more recordkeeping, are enthusiastic. For them, it can also mean less phone tag with parents, fewer surprises when it comes time for parent-teacher conferences or report cards, and the ability to deal with problems faster. http://www.csmonitor.com/2004/0217/p11s01-legn.html

LAB OF TOMORROW, one of European Schoolnet's "School of Tomorrow" initiatives, is working on overcoming barriers imposed by traditional classroom settings. To promote a hands-on approach to science, the project team is developing a family of tiny, fully programmable computer devices that can be embedded in everyday objects. Is this a model that interests you? http://news.eun.org/eun.org2/eun/en/_News_search_news/content.cfm?ov=32479&lang=en&id_area=109

STUDIES IN ED TECH: DO THEY KNOW WHAT THEY THINK THEY KNOW? What tech skills do students in a teacher education program actually have and how does that differ from the skills they think they have? Find out at http://www.techlearning.com/story/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=17500352

EDUCATION AND THE INTERNET

Selected items from EduHound

In commemoration of Theodor Seuss Geisel's 100 birthday on March 2, 2004, Seussentennial is a yearlong tribute to the man known and loved by generations of Americans as Dr. Seuss. "Seussentennial: A Century of Imagination" will celebrate Geisel's creativity, imagination, and his invaluable contributions to American society that live on today through his beloved books and iconic characters at http://www.seussville.com/seussentennial/ Other resources:

The Stock Market Game The Stock Market Game gives students the chance to invest a hypothetical $100,000 in a real-time portfolio. They think they're playing a game. You know they're learning economic and financial concepts they'll use for the rest of their lives. http://www.smgww.org

Headline Spot Quickly and easily find sources for 56 U.S. metropolitan areas, 50 states, 59 countries, 27 industries and dozens of subjects from arts and automobiles to technology and travel. http://www.headlinespot.com

New York Times Student Learning Network World events in-depth studies, a daily lesson plan to correspond with the news of the day, daily current events quizzes and theme based crossword puzzles. http://nytimes.com/learning/students/

NewsHour Extra's Teacher Resources Want to build your students' analytical thinking and critical analysis skills? Are you searching for ways to make your subject matter more relevant and engaging? NewsHour Extra is here to help! http://www.pbs.org/newshour/extra/teachers/index.html

Solving Problems Albert Einstein's 125th birthday is celebrated on March 14, also dubbed "Pi Day" by some clever mathematicians (March is the third month of the year, and the first three digits of pi are 3.14). Although Einstein was well known for his ability to solve difficult science problems, he felt he wasn't very good at mathematics. This month, the MarcoGram features different ways to understand and solve many types of problems. Use the warm-up activities to encourage students to address problems and generate creative solutions, then use the links to more lessons and resources on this topic. http://www.marcopolo-education.org/MarcoGrams/Mar2004.html.

Between the Lions is based on the PBS children's TV series, and presents a new story each week with related interactive games and activities for kids 4-7. It also recommends books for each episode and offers more than 300 tips and resources for helping kids learn to read. http://pbskids.org/lions/

The Branding of America Collaborative Activity, Learning Page offers thumbnail histories of nearly 30 well-known brand names associated with soft drinks, potatoes, cereal, fruit, airplanes, buses, pianos, sewing machines, jeans, shoes, and other products. http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/ndlpedu/features/branding/index.php

Baseball: As American as Apple Pie Community Center, Learning Page is an annotated collection of Library of Congress resources about America's pastime. It includes early baseball pictures, baseball songs and stories, baseball cards, the first all-professional baseball team in America (the Cincinnati Red Stockings, 1869), Cy Young, Ty Cobb, "home run kings," and letters and speeches by Jackie Robinson, the first African American to play major league baseball. http://memory.loc.gov/learn/community/cc_baseball.php

Celebrating Our Connections Through Water explains to students how they can collect data about the role of water in celebrations around the world, organize it in a retrieval chart, and use the information to create learning stations for a Water Day Celebration. http://www.peacecorps.gov/wws/water/africa/lessons/ESlang01/

Amazing Space consists of web-based educational presentations for young children about space, which were developed at the Space Telescope Science Institute. Teachers teamed up with scientists and engineers from the institute and staff members from the Office of Public Outreach to develop interactive lessons. All lessons include spectacular photographs taken by the Hubble Space Telescope and many high quality graphics, videos, and animation designed to enhance student understanding and interest. http://amazing-space.stsci.edu/

International Year of the Ocean -- Kid's & Teacher's Resources offers information about oceanography, meteorology, resource conservation, and marine biology. Links are provided to information about coral reefs, threatened and endangered species, and educational programs such as GLOBE, where students and teachers collect data that is used by scientists and researchers, and Adopt A Buoy, where National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration measurement equipment can be brought into the classroom. http://www.yoto98.noaa.gov/kids.htm

NOAA Arctic Theme Page The Arctic Theme Page is a rich and comprehensive resource that links to widely distributed data and information from research institutions throughout the world. Available information includes relevant data, graphics, and forecasts, including historical perspectives and in-depth analyses. Also included are a selection of Essays by Arctic experts on key issues in the Arctic. The audience for the Arctic Theme Page is wide, including scientists, students, teachers, decision makers and the general public. http://www.arctic.noaa.gov

NEWS YOU CAN USE

AnySoldier.US is the direct way for you to show your support for soldiers. Suggestions are provided on what to send, how to send, and volunteer soldier contacts who will put your letters and packages into the hands of soldiers who don't get much mail. The idea for AnySoldier.US started with Sergeant Brian Horn from LaPlata, Maryland, an Army Infantry Soldier with the 173rd Airborne Brigade in the Kirkuk area of Iraq. http://www.anysoldier.us/index.html

TEOMA Search Engine With so many new web sites around, we often need new ways to find and mine information. A team of scientists from Rutgers University developed Teoma, which is the Gaelic word for "expert." Teoma has a nice feature once results of a search appear. On the right of the screen additional search related links appear under "Refine" ("Suggestions to Narrow Your Search") and a section called "Resources" (additional links from "experts and enthusiasts" according to the site). Teachers might appreciate the fact that the first two results are clearly labeled as Sponsored Links so the commercial sites are easily identified. http://www.teoma.com/

Devil in the Details of Adequate Yearly Progress Just released online is a new report on how state policies can best implement the federal No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) in rural schools. Devil in the Details: Rural-Sensitive Best Practices Accountability Under No Child Left Behind describes the policy areas in which states have some leeway in defining Adequate Yearly Progress as mandated by NCLB. The paper identifies the most rural-sensitive position for each policy area and examines policy choices made in 15 leading rural states. The report is now available as a PDF file at www.ruraledu.org.

Great Presidential Candidate Selectors Think you know the Presidential candidate who is most in touch with your political priorities? You might be surprised! Take the quizes at http://www.cyberjournalist.net/news/000903.php to learn if the person you support for President is the person who supports your political views. Four interactive quizzes help you choose the candidate whose views best match your own. Take them all! Because they ask different questions; there's a good chance you'll end up with different rankings.

The Evaluation Exchange Harvard Family Research Project is proud to announce the tenth year of publication of "The Evaluation Exchange." In commemoration, their newest issue features reflections on some of the trends (both good and bad) that have occurred in the evaluation field over the past decade. Authors consider the "best of the worst" evaluator practices, changes in university-based evaluation training, and the development of evaluation as a discipline. http://www.gse.harvard.edu/hfrp/eval/issue24

School Results Online Educators and parents in several states have a new web-based tool to help them analyze their schools' performance. The School Information Partnership's new web site SchoolResults.org displays NCLB-related report card data in an easy-to-access and uniform way. Take a look; it's coming to your state soon too. Source: School Information Partnership

The Consortium for School Networking (CoSN) and Multimedia Instructional Network Delivery System (MINDS) have collaborated to offer educators globally the opportunity to view portions of CoSN’s 9th Annual K-12 School Networking Conference via streaming video. To take advantage of this offer, go to http://www.minds.tv and click on the CoSN button (top right icon) and follow the instructions to register for the streaming content. By registering now, you will have access to videos from the Consortium of School Networking (CoSN) Advancing K-12 Technology Leadership Conference in 2002. These videos will be available until the new 2004 CoSN video on demand sessions are posted online on March 15, 2004. MINDS is offering at no cost 5 individual concurrent user licenses for a one year subscription to MINDSconnects during the registration period. Winners will be chosen randomly from K-12 educational institution registrants only. Register now to increase your chances of winning! CoSN and MINDS thank you for your interest and look forward to contacting winners by April 12, 2004!