Tech Directions - March 2009 - (Page 9) the news report Susanne Peckham susanne@techdirections.com LEGO Smart Creativity Contest Now through August 2009, LEGO Education is sponsoring an activity challenge for educators. The LEGO® Smart™ Creativity Contest offers great prizes, online recognition, and the chance to share activities with thousands of students across the nation. The task is simple. Create an activity using only the bricks included in a LEGO Smart Kit. The contest is open to anyone employed or working in the education field, including teachers, classroom aides, and administrators. A contest web page provides the materials needed to enter the contest, including a LEGO Smart Kit request form. One kit is provided free of charge to each qualified entrant. Eight monthly winners and one grand-prize winner will be selected. Monthly winners will receive a prize package including a LEGO Bulk Brick set, a LEGO Smart T-shirt, and a LEGO Education travel mug. The grand prize winner will receive in addition a $100 gift certificate to www.LEGOeducation.com and their activity will be featured on the 2010 LEGO Smart Card included in the LEGO Smart Kit. Visit www.legoeducation.com/ forms/activitycontest.asp for rules and challenge details and to request a LEGO Smart Kit. are the foundation of this year’s aerospace challenges. In addition, competing students will answer Al Gore’s energy challenge to America, by using renewable energy to change everyday life. Students create unique products, produce viable business plans, and are given opportunities to bring their ideas to market. The competition provides students with the ability to network with scientists, university professors, world business leaders, venture capitalists, and entrepreneurs. The competition was created to honor astronaut Pete Conrad, a former astronaut who died in a motorcycle accident in 1999. As an example of finalists’ creative efforts, Mike Fitzgerald, Tech Directions Advisory Board member and technology education specialist with the Indiana Department of Education, describes the entry submitted by the team from New Castle (IN) Area Career Programs (NCACP), which seeks to harness energy from the sun. Fitzgerald writes that “NCACP proposes a new road surface that will recharge a vehicle as it drives.” For a complete list of the 20 finalists, with details on their proposed innovations, and information on entering next year’s competition, visit www.conradawards.org. to demonstrate to policy makers the impact CTE has on students and their communities. If you have a student in mind, ACTE requests that you send the student’s story (written either by the student or teacher) to Jamie Baxter at jbaxter@acteonline.org or at ACTE, 1410 King St., Alexandria, VA 22314. Toshiba America Foundation Offering Grants Technology teachers can apply to enhance and expand their curriculum with a $1,000 or $5,000 Science and Math Improvement Grant from the Toshiba America Foundation (TAF). It’s a great way to fund a special project and motivate students to excel. TAF will help with every step of the process it takes to get your grant, including tips on how to apply and much more. Teachers in grades 7-12 may apply for grants up to $5,000 at any time during the calendar year. Grant requests of more than $5,000 are reviewed twice a year, and deadlines for those applications are February 1 and August 1. Learn more about the program and how to apply for a grant by visiting www.taf.toshiba.com or calling 212-596-0667. TAF makes more than $500,000 in grant monies for teachers available each school year. The program has awarded educators more than $8.1 million since its inception. Events Mar. 8-10. HVACR Educators and Trainers Conference. Las Vegas, NV. www.hvacexcellence.org. Mar. 20. Technology Education Association of Maine/USM Conference. University of Southern Maine, Gorham. web.mac.com/meteched/iWeb/ TEAM/Spring%20Conference.html. Mar. 26-28. International Technology Education Association Conference. Louisville, KY. www.iteaconnect.org/ Conference/conferenceguide.htm. Apr. 4. Ohio Technology Education Association Spring Conference. Columbus. www.otea.info/CONFERENCES. HTML. Susanne Peckham is managing editor of Tech Directions. Finalists Selected for Innovation Awards Competition Finalists have been chosen for this year’s Pete Conrad Spirit of Innovation Awards competition, in which teams of high school students from across the nation compete in creating commercial products using science and technology. Students design products in personal space flight, lunar exploration, and renewable energy. NASA’s call for a human return to the moon and the increased interest in space transportation ACTE Requests Student Success Stories The Association for Career and Technical Education (ACTE) is collecting student success stories to promote the value of career and technical education. The profiles feature outstanding CTE students who exemplify quality CTE education and/or have overcome obstacles to get where they are today. Ideally, the student or former student would be talented, intelligent, articulate, and currently pursuing a degree or career in a CTE-related field. ACTE uses student success stories www.techdirections.com NEWS REPORT 9 http://www.taf.toshiba.com http://www.LEGOeducation.com http://www.LEGOeducation.com http://www.legoeducation.com/forms/activitycontest.asp http://www.legoeducation.com/forms/activitycontest.asp http://www.conradawards.org http://www.hvacexcellence.org http://web.mac.com/meteched/iWeb/TEAM/Spring%20Conference.html http://web.mac.com/meteched/iWeb/TEAM/Spring%20Conference.html http://www.iteaconnect.org/Conference/conferenceguide.htm http://www.iteaconnect.org/Conference/conferenceguide.htm http://www.otea.info/CONFERENCES.HTML http://www.otea.info/CONFERENCES.HTML http://www.techdirections.com
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