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Edizione 2000
http://library.advanced.org/C001515
Eroismo in azione

Edizione 1999
http://library.advanced.org/28490
Il neorealismo italiano tra cinema e letteratura

ThinkQuest in Italia partecipa inoltre a premi nazionali come:

Global Junior Challenge
http://www.gjc.comune.roma.it/uk/show.asp?IdPrj=65

Premio Italiano per la Formazione "ALDO FABRIS 2000"

La lista completa dei lavori partecipanti al TQ2000 e' all'indirizzo:
http://www.thinkquest.org/php/lib/2000entries.php 

La lista dei partecipanti Italiani a Tq2000

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THINKQUEST e-NEWSLETTER

Vol. 4 No. 2,

October, 2000

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CONTENTS IN THIS ISSUE:

1. ANNOUNCEMENTS

---)Finalists in the ThinkQuest Internet Competition announced!

---)New TQ web site design: Take a Look

2. ThinkQuest Awards Event

3. THINKQUEST IN THE NEWS

---) ThinkQuest Recognition: EdNet, Forbes Laud TQ as "Best"

---)ThinkQuest Team Recognition

InvestSmart Selected as "Stop" on InfoSearcher TramLine

4. Partner's Post: Welcome to New ThinkQuest Partners

5. ELECTRONIC SCHOLAR'S NOTEBOOK

Staying With It: Looking at the Team that Continues

14 Days in October: The Cuban Missile Crisis

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1.ANNOUNCEMENTS

---) Finalists in the TQIC announced!

After the many months of production and anticipation, the

teams that produced finalist sites can see their work

highlighted. Congratulations!

Look at: http://www.thinkquest.org/tqic/finalists_2k.html

The ThinkQuest Library has an infusion of excellent sites that

show imagination, scholarship, and design ingenuity. All who

finished are Winners, and have shared their knowledge with

learners globally. All who finished are Winners ---applause for

you, too.

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---) New TQ Web Site Design:

The ThinkQuest Web Site has recently undergone some changes.

The most noticeable is that My ThinkQuest has become integrated

with the rest of the web site and no longer launches a separate

window. This will make it easier for users to login and to easily

access information from all areas of the site. What is not visible

but also important is that the entire back end of the system has been

re-written, bringing you a database driven site using CSS and the latest

HTML.

This creates an environment that is better accessible to all users.

Comments and suggestions are welcome using our helpdesk at:

http://www.thinkquest.org/help/ask_question.html

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2. ThinkQuest Awards Event and Conference Postponed

The ThinkQuest 2000 Award Event and Educational Conference will not be held

on

November 11-14, 2000, as was planned. At this time of global unrest, it is

inappropriate to be holding a celebration, but we look forward to being

able to recognize the accomplishments of the outstanding ThinkQuest 2000

participants during the coming year, and continuing our conference activity.

A revised judging process will be put into effect and all the ThinkQuest

finalists

will be contacted shortly, with that information.

"This is the time when the goals of kids learning together over the

Internet are even more important," said Dr. Terry Rogers, president

and CEO of Advanced Network & Services, the non-profit corporation that

founded ThinkQuest. "We must look beyond the current situation and show

how our young people can work across ethnic and geographic boundaries

towards a brighter future. Our ThinkQuest partner, RITSEC

has been so committed to technology and education, and has done an

outstanding

job of organizing this Event. Cairo is and will remain an important

regional center for ThinkQuest activities and as a location for future

events.

"There is much to do as we strive to reach our objective of 1 million

ThinkQuest participants, worldwide, by 2005," said Lisa Ernst,

Executive Director of ThinkQuest.

"We will continue to work with our global partners, such as RITSEC, to bring

education and technology to students everywhere."

More:http://www.thinkquest.org/announcements/10_17_00.html

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3. THINKQUEST IN THE NEWS

ThinkQuest Recognition: EdNet, Forbes Laud TQ as "Best"

---)EdNet Awards honor companies and non-profit organizations that have

made significant contributions to education or industry growth. EdNet

recognized ThinkQuest as best in the non-profit area. More than 150

entries,

were received this year which was the the largest in the history

of the awards program. For more information:

More: http://www.thinkquest.org/news/092500.shtml

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---) Forbes: ThinkQuest Best in The Good Life/Parenting

>From the Forbes Fall Issue: The Best of the Web:

"The average price per megabyte of disk drive storage has

fallen from $11.54 in 1988 to about two cents last year. Thank

goodness. Because, in our opinion, most of what's being

published on the Web is a waste of storage space. To help keep

your memory from getting clogged, Best of The Web editors have

sorted through thousands of Web pages to come up with our fall

list of the top 300 sites. "

ThinkQuest's description in Forbes noted the Best aspect as

"Breaking down cultural barriers by fostering teamwork over

the Web. It's the Web at its innovative, global best. Price: Free"

More: http://www.thinkquest.org/news/awards.shtml

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. THINKQUEST TEAMS IN THE NEWS

---) InvestSmart Selected as "Stop" on the InfoSearcher TramLine

InvestSmart [http://library.thinkquest.org/10326/ ]

}

is one stop on the InfoSearcher Tram Ride:

a tool for seeing web sites critically. Get on the train at:

http://www.infosearcher.com/cybertours/tours/tour02/_tourlaunch1.htm

This site, available in the ThinkQuest Reference Desk, helps teachers

stay current. Pam Berger has "pre-selected Web sites so you can

experience the Web first hand and learn how to use the Internet to

create active, engaged learners." Also featured in the current issue is

"A Day in the Life of a Cybrarian: 36 hrs = 1 Day

Spend a day with a Cybrarian and see how an online virtual environment

supports collaboration, teaching and the inquiry process.".

A high school's cybrarian is profiled in this engaging article.

More: http://www.infosearcher.com

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4. Partner's Post: Welcome to New ThinkQuest Partners

Check:http://www.thinkquest.org/news/news_clips.shtml

for the latest news about Partners.

ThinkQuest now has 100 partner organizations throughout the world and the

United States.

The most recent additions are:

Oman: Qurum Business Group, Khalid A. Alhosni, <kalhosni@qbg.com>

Taiwan: Taiwan School Net, Yue-Chane Hsing, <yuechane@kidscareforkids.org>

Benin: ORIDEV, Ken Lohento, <kenloh@h2com.com>

Indonesia: Kreston International Indonesia, Eddy Pianto,

<kap_eddy@indo.net.id>

Ukraine: Lviv Institute of Management, Vita Loboda, <vita@cscd.lviv.ua>

Recent additions in the United States are:

New Hampshire: Departement of Education, Cathy Higgins

<chiggins@ed.state.nh.us>

South Carolina: Department of Education, Tami Clyburn,

<tclyburn@sde.state.sc.us>

Virginia: Inst. for Teaching Through Technology and Innovative Practices,

Longwood College, Carole Inge, <cinge@longwood.lwc.edu>

American Samoa: Department of Education, John Ludgate, <johnl@doe.as>

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Check http://www.thinkquest.org/partners/partner_menu.php3?type=us

for contact information on the US partners, and

http://www.thinkquest.org/partners/partner_menu.php3?type=nation

for the latest contact information on National Partners.

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5. ELECTRONIC SCHOLAR'S NOTEBOOK (c)

Patricia Libutti, Ph.D.,

Cybrarian, ThinkQuest Programs

Staying With It:Looking at the Team that Produced

" 14 Days in October: The Cuban Missile Crisis "

[ http://library.thinkquest.org/11046/ ]

While looking at sites in the Library, I noted several

teams had made a definite effort to maintain their sites,

long after the competition year had passed. Knowing that both

technology and teenager's lives move at about the same rapid

pace, I was intrigued by the dedication to maintaining these

sites, as well as the issues involved in such an extension of

effort. Since this is October, one site: "14 days in October:

The Cuban Missile Crisis" launched in 1997, was followed.

Thirty-eight years ago, October 15, 1962, marked the beginning

of this conflict.The site maintainers, Kurt and Ben, are both in

college now.Their section on Site History traces the evolution from

a freshman term paper to as site still active after four years.

Hurt Wiersma (KW) responded to the Electronic Scholar's (ES)

request for a virtual interview and passed on this wisdom:

ES: WHY have you decided to maintain your site?

KW: I believe that we have some obligation to keep the site active

if we are to consider it one of the best web site on the topic on

the Internet, which I believe it is. This doesn't mean we are

updating it every day. Certainly we want to add more interactive

elements now that we are more experienced with stuff like PHP and

MySQL. It is also nice to keep it updated with the latest design trends

like style sheets and basic javascript which we haven't done as good

a job keeping up with.It is a nice resume builder to show future

employers that you know how to build a great web site.

ES: What have you learned about the task of maintaining a site?

KW: If you design your site correctly from the beginning and

take maintenance into account you can save yourself a TON of

time down the road. Things like server-side includes and linked

javascripts and style sheets are key elements. This way if you

want to make changes to pieces of code that exists all

over the site you can just change one file and then it

automatically appears on all the other pages.

ES: What is rewarding for you in maintaining this site?

KW: We added an interactive discussion board which is used by many

people on and off throughout the past couple of years. We have had

high school students, undergraduate students, graduate students,

and college professors from all over the world email us

comments or questions.

ES: What would you give as advice to teams that are thinking ahead

about maintaining their site?

KW: Use server-side includes and linked javascript and style sheet

files.Separate as much of the navigation HTML as you can

into header and footer include files. Back when we created this site

neither one of use had access to any web programming tools. Now there

are all sorts of well developed, for the most part free, easy to learn

tools like PHP that can make creating and maintaining dynamic web sites

so much easier and more powerful. Definitely look into using these

great new tools if you are interested in creating a great educational web

site.

Also do careful planning and design when you are first starting the

site. Believe me, it will pay off in the end!

ES: Thank you, Kurt --- Team 2000, look carefully at the

advice! TQ would like to see your sites well kept for a

long time

Next Month: From a Coach's Point of View:

The Site That Kept on Growing

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ThinkQuest 2000 Finalist Stories Include Website for Preserving Family

History,

73-year Old Grandma Coach

Winners to Receive Scholarships and Awards Totaling $1 Million

ARMONK, N.Y. - A "how-to" website on preserving family history via the web,

and a site on public speaking coached by a 73-year old grandmother are just

two of the impressive stories coming from this year's ThinkQuest 2000

Internet Challenge. The program, which matches teens with peers from around

the world to design educational Web sites, recognizes the winning students,

coaches, and schools with scholarships and cash awards totaling almost $1

million.

Outstanding ThinkQuest 2000 finalist sites include "The UnWritten: Saving

Your Photo Stories for the Future", a guide for preserving family history

written by three teenage cousins who found each other, learned about their

shared history and documented detailed genealogy, through their ThinkQuest

entry (http://library.thinkquest.org/C001313/). "The Art of Speech,"

coached by a 73-year old grandmother, is a must-see site for anyone planning

to speak in public (http://library.thinkquest.org/C001146/). "Van Gogh at

Etten: Sketches and Billboards" (http://library.thinkquest.org/C001734/), is

another carefully crafted, and well-researched collaboration between teens

in the Netherlands, Singapore and Nigeria.

"The ThinkQuest Internet Challenge unites students from around the globe

regardless of computer expertise - whether from inner-cities, suburban

communities, or rural villages - in their dedicated initiative to create

these wonderful educational tools that are used by millions," marvels Dr.

Terry Rogers, president and CEO of Advanced Network & Services, the

non-profit corporation that founded ThinkQuest. "With over 50,000 students

having completed the ThinkQuest journey to date, we are working to include 1

million participants, worldwide, over the next five years."

Selected from a pool of more than 6,800 students, only 70 students were

chosen as finalists in this year's ThinkQuest Internet Challenge. Most

teammates, who have never met in-person, use the Internet to complete their

entries by coordinating their workloads to accommodate the members' diverse

schedules, language differences, and radically divergent time zones.

President Clinton cited ThinkQuest as a good example of a non-profit program

helping to bridge the digital divide.

The annual ThinkQuest Internet Challenge, a philanthropic and educational

initiative, invites teams of students ages 12 to 19 to work together to

create an interactive, well-researched Web site on an educational topic of

interest to them. These teams work for more than eight months to gather

data, conduct research, and learn about the Internet as an educational

medium as they build educationally rich sites. Upon completion, the

student-created entries become a permanent part of the ThinkQuest Library,

which is made freely available to teachers, students, and Internet users

across the globe. Applications for the ThinkQuest 2001 Internet Challenge

will be accepted on-line beginning December 4, 2000 at www.thinkquest.org.

A panel of experts from the Internet Society conducts judging for the

ThinkQuest Web site entries, looking for compelling and accurate educational

content, technical excellence, interactivity, and imaginative use of

graphics. In addition, teams are assessed on how members collaborate by

sharing their individual knowledge, skills, and efforts.

The ThinkQuest Internet Challenge usually culminates in an annual Awards

Event with this year's gathering scheduled for Cairo, Egypt. However, due

to recent global events, ThinkQuest and their Egyptian partner, the Regional

Information Technology Software Engineering Center (RITSEC), have announced

that the ThinkQuest 2000 Award Event would not be held as planned.

"We are very proud of our finalists and will recognize the winners, but we

also feel that it is inappropriate to convene at this time of worldwide

unrest," added Dr. Terry Rogers. "It is our hope that ThinkQuest students

with their global and positive attitudes will one day become the peacemakers

and bridge-builders of tomorrow."

Students participating in ThinkQuest programs learn invaluable skills,

whether they are in grade school, college-bound or heading for a vocational

career. Acquiring skills such as time and project management, and technical

expertise, some ThinkQuest participants start their own businesses while

still in high school, and contest winners use awards to pay for college

tuition.

About ThinkQuest:

Since its inception in 1996, 50,000 young Web designers from 100 countries

have participated in the not-for-profit ThinkQuest programs, competing

yearly for more than $1 million in scholarships and cash awards for

themselves and their schools. The challenge encourages collaboration,

leadership, and critical thinking and helps raise students' self-esteem,

along with their technological skills. Collectively these students, many of

whom are new to technology, have created 4,000 Web sites on topics ranging

from diplomacy to space exploration to growing up with epilepsy. These Web

sites are found in the ThinkQuest Library at http://www.thinkquest.org, the

most heavily trafficked educational destination on the Internet with an

estimated 120 million hits, and 2.5 million unique users, per month.

ThinkQuest 2001 is scheduled to begin December 4, 2000. Interested students

should log onto www.thinkquest.org for details and rules in December.

[EDITOR'S NOTE: For more information about ThinkQuest programs, B-roll, or

to meet the amazing ThinkQuest participants, call 914-765-1134.]

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(C) Copyright 2000 Advanced Network & Services, Inc.

All rights reserved.