California is honored by two California teachers who coached winning teams in the Oracle Education Foundation’s ThinkQuest Competition.
Two of the four teams that won in the international competition are from California! This is an amazing accomplishment because the winners were selected from among 7,603 teams and represented China, Great Britain, Greece, India, Indonesia, Maldives, Moldova, Pakistan, Puerto Rico, Romania, Singapore, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Taiwan and the United States.
As part of their award, students from Mira Costa High School in Manhattan Beach, Beckman High School in Irvine, and Oak Ridge High School in El Dorado Hills will attend the ThinkQuest Live event in San Francisco from October 2 – 6, 2011.
Congratulations to Ms. Patricia Ware, a science teacher at Mira Costa Middle School in Manhattan Beach, California, who coached students from Mira Costa High School and Beckman High school, who took first place in the Digital Media event – 16 and under category. The students developed a website , The Water Crises, which focused on the crisis faced by over one billion people who lack access to clean water. This website positions education as a vital part of the solution. It includes case studies in the US, India, and Italy, and discusses the challenges faced by communities, and proposed solutions.
Ms. Ware said these were very bright, motivated and competitive students who did the project work at home, after school hours.
Congratulations to Mrs. Stephanie Allen, a teacher from Oak Ridge High School in El Dorado Hills who coached a team to win third place for the Locker Checkout Program, an application that matches students with school lockers based on gender and grade level. This application replaces old, manual matching processes.
Teams were challenged to use their communications, technology, and critical thinking skills to define a problem and present a solution. Students had approximately eight months to complete an entry. An international panel of volunteer judges reviewed the entries and selected 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Place winners within three age divisions for each event.
Schools can support project teams for the ThinkQuest Competition by providing special time outside of the classroom during the school day. For example, a ThinkQuest project could be a focus for a pull-out GATE class.
Teachers with motivated students who are interested in the ThinkQuest competition, can visit www.thinkquest.org/competition for more information. The deadline for entering is April 25, 2012.