iEARN in Action, August 12, 2004

iEARN-NIGERIA EXPANDS ACROSS THE COUNTRY.  Florence Igbokei of iEARN-Nigeria reports that they are working with 209 teachers in various cities across Nigeria on professional development and project-based learning.  She writes, "My mandate is to work with Olaolu Sasore, the iEARN-Nigeria National Coordinator, to ensure increased participation of Nigerian teachers and students in iEARN Projects."  The new teachers can be found in the iEARN database.

REGISTER NOW FOR iEARN'S ONLINE COURSES!  The registration for the next session of iEARN online professional development courses is now open to teachers worldwide. The nine-week interactive online professional development courses will take place in October 4 - December 5. Each subject-specific course includes twenty teachers from around the world.  After the nine-weeks, you will have begun working on a project which fits into your teaching schedule and meets your local/state/national standards. The courses are now approved by several US states/cities, namely New York City, Delaware, and Rhode Island for teacher professional development credentials. For more information, and to enroll, see http://www.iearn.org/professional/online.html.

iEARN EXPANDS SPANISH ONLINE COURSES. 700 Spanish-speaking teachers from Argentina, Chile, Uruguay, Paraguay, Colombia, Honduras, Mexico, Peru, Brazil, Costa Rica, El Salvador and other Latin American countries are taking iEARN online courses in Spanish through an agreement between Fundacion Evolucion and Microsoft-Argentina within the program "TELAR -Todos En LA Red." Microsoft-Argentina and its program "Partners in Learning" found the TELAR - iEARN courses very innovative and decided to support this innovative program of technology integration in the classrooms through the training of its teachers. For registration and more information www.telar.org

Join Us! Seeking Contacts, Contributions and Collaborators

2003-2004 iEARN PROJECT BOOK. Versions are now available in Arabic, Armenian, English, French, Russian, and Spanish. See here. For a more complete listing of iEARN projects, see here.

ATTENTION iEARN PROJECT FACILITATORS!!!   If you are currently facilitating a project, or are planning a new iEARN project, and would like to have it included in the 2004-2005 iEARN Project Description Book, please complete the project template below and send it to projectbook@us.iearn.org as soon as possible, but no later than the FINAL DEADLINE of August 20th.
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NEW PROJECT TEMPLATE
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1.Name of Project:
2.Brief one-sentence description of project:
3.Full description of project:
4.Age/level of project participants:
5.Timetable/schedule for 2004-2005:
6.Possible project/classroom activities:
7.Expected outcomes/products:
8.Project contribution to others and the planet:
9.Project language(s):
10.Curriculum area:
11.Names/email of initial participating groups:
12.Name of facilitator(s):
13.Email of facilitator(s):
14.iEARN Forum/Newsgroup where it will take place or is taking place:
15.WWW page of project (optional):
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Note: If you do not yet have partners, please start by posting your idea to the iEARN Teachers Forum or via offline newsreader at apc.iearn.teachers or iEARN Youth Forum or via offline newsreader at apc.iearn.youth. This will help you to learn if a similar project is already underway, and if not, then perhaps others will want to collaborate with you on the design and facilitation of the new project.

NEW ONLINE FORUM NAVIGATION AND DESIGN AT http://foro.iearn.org.  In an effort to create a more user-friendly interface for the online forums accessed at the URL above and to accommodate the growth and activity of the network, a new navigation system has been installed.  Questions or feedback?  Both are welcome at support@us.iearn.org.

CULTURAL FOODS / RECIPE PROJECT SEEKING NEW FACILITATOR. Thank you to Isabel Cristina Araujo Teixeira in Brazil for the wonderful facilitation of this project over the years! Isabel is now moving on from a project that remains very popular and active. If you are interested in volunteering as a facilitator of the project, please contact Diane Midness in the USA.

"IT'S WORTH READING" PROJECT. In this project students can write book reviews and reports of the books they have read and would like to recommend to others. Interested? Contact Sobia Alam and Afshan Haneef Khan in Pakistan.

"LIFE CYCLE OF A TIRE" PROJECT. Join in a global investigation about tire production, processing, usage, disposal and recycling options available in countries around the world. Contact Christine Hockert in the USA.  http://www.iearn.org/projects/lifecycle.html

KNOWING ME IS KNOWING YOU (KMIKY) PROJECT. A web-based collaborative project, focused on cultural awareness and intercultural learning. Click here for the project web-page. iEARN participants can join in discussion in the Culture Forum about the project themes, and their connections to various ongoing projects. Contact Andreea Silter in Romania.

HELP TO CREATE A LAWS OF LIFE PROJECT LOGO!  Young people worldwide are invited to submit essays about their laws of life in which they describe the rules, ideals, and principles by which they live, and explain the sources of their laws of life (i.e., life experience, religion, culture, role models, etc.). Participants respond to each other's essays and interact with each other electronically.  In addition, the project is seeking help from participants to design a 2005 logo for the project.  Participants are encouraged to submit possible project logos, preferably in JPG format, as an attachment no larger than 100 kb by December 1, 2004 to the project facilitator: Natalya Cherednichenko in Ukraine. Interactive Forum: Laws of Life (apc.iearn.values).

SPORTS PROJECT.  Interested in sharing information about your favorite sports?  Want to talk with students in Iran about the participation of female athletes from Afghanistan in the Olympics in Greece? Any thoughts about why Americans in the US call soccer what the rest of the world calls football?  Join these and other discussions in the Games and Sports Forum.  Questions? Contact the student facilitators in Iran: Fereshteh Abbasi, Mina Sarmady, Fatemeh Malek, Mahsa Yousefzade, and Samira Abnar.

NEW "TRAVEL PROJECT" IDEA. Viviane from Lycee D'Oyack in Douala, Cameroun writes,  "I am a French teacher. I would like to propose a new project on travel. Students share their travelling experiences by saying if they were good or not,if they learned something or not,and give some advice for others concerning the travel, his preparation and method of travel.  Please respond if you are interested in participating in this project especially if you are interested in responding in French." See this topic in the Teachers Forum for more information or contact Viviane in Cameroun.

THE ECOLOGY OF THE CORAL REEF IN THE RED SEA. Due to growing pressure on the shores of the Red Sea, there is an almost constant deterioration of the coral reef and it's inhabitants. / THE ECOLOGY OF AN EXTREME DESERT. Eilat is a small town in Israel amidst a desert which sees about an inch of rainfall a year. This affects the flora and fauna in the surrounding desert. The children of both projects are in the fifth grade. All are welcome to join in exchanges of information and research on similar ecologies in your region!  Interested? Contact Dan Ofri in Israel. Forum: YouthCaN

Check it out! Resources, Web Sites and Postings (including resources that are not part of iEARN)

NEW iEARN POLAND WEBSITE! 

YOUTHGUIDE MEDIA PROJECT.  Youthguide is an online youth media project supported by the Swiss Federal Office of Culture. The aim is to build up the first national (trilingual) multimedia platform for young people between 14 and 25 to publish their own texts and photos in the fields of politics, culture, sports and leisure. Youthguide supports young people who want to become media makers as well as schools that want to do journalism, internet and multimedia projects.  Contact Andreas Renggli in Switzerland.  http://www.youthguide.ch

ENTER YOUR iEARN PROJECT WORK IN CHILDNET ACADEMY PROGRAMME! Children's charity Childnet International will soon launch its global Childnet Academy programme for 2005 which it runs in partnership with Cable & Wireless. The Academy competition is for young people 18 years and under who have developed online projects or have a new idea which will benefit other young people around the world. Children and young people can enter individually or as a school project. Winners of the 2005 Academy will win a trip for two to Jamaica to participate in the Academy week programme. For further information please visit http://www.childnetacademy.org

Coming Soon! Upcoming Events and Projects!

SEND GREETINGS TO TEACHERS AT THE INTERNATIONAL PREP SCHOOL IN CLEVELAND, OHIO, USA.  Diane Midness will be holding a workshop there on Monday, August 16 to introduce teachers to iEARN.  Post greetings in the Teachers Forum

SEND GREETINGS TO ENGLISH SUMMER CAMP PARTICIPANTS ACROSS 7 CITIES OF UZBEKISTAN. iEARN Uzbekistan Center in collaboration with School Connectivity for Uzbekistan program and Public Affairs Section, US Embassy in Uzbekistan is conducting English Summer Camp for children from 7 cities of Uzbekistan. Please leave your comments for camp participants and welcome them to iEARN community by posting to the Teachers Forum. There will be a camp website created at http://www.iearn.uz/ during the camp.

iEARN MALAYSIA: SECOND MALAYSIA iEARN WORKSHOP IN USM, PENANG, AUGUST 16-18, 2004.  iEARN Taiwan and iEARN Malaysia will team up to work with lecturers from teachers training colleges on implementing iEARN's project-based learning methodologies. iEARN participants can send greetings in the Teachers Forum.

iEARN EGYPT TO HOST ITS FIRST YOUTH SUMMIT - FUTURE MAKERS: BUILDING THEIR WAY OF SUCCESS AND GIVING A HAND TO OTHERS ON AUGUST 28-31, 2004. The Summit will be inaugurated by Dr. Ahmed Gamal El Din Moussa, Minister of Education in Egypt. http://www.iearnegypt.org

2005 iEARN CONFERENCE TO BE HELD IN DAKAR, SENEGAL.  Watch http://www.iearn.org for more information.

Recent Events

SHARE PHOTOS AND MEMORIES OF THE 11TH ANNUAL iEARN CONFERENCE IN SLOVAKIA!  A message and photo board has been created on the conference website for you to post your thoughts, memories, photos, videos, etc. from iEARN 2004 in Slovakia!!  Conference organizers will soon be posting a photo and video album containing hundreds of images from the conference and youth summit. http://www.iearn2004.net/. Participants have already started sharing their conference photo galleries. Click here, here and here to view them.

iEARN REGIONAL CONFERENCE, AMMAN, JORDAN, JULY 6-10, 2004. Over 160 iEARN educators from 15 countries gathered in Amman, Jordan in July to share project experiences, participate in professional development workshops and build bonds of friendship and peace. His Excellency Minister of Education Toukan provided eloquent remarks at both the opening and closing sessions of the conference. Minister Toukan noted, "All of us will benefit greatly from the active contribution of iEARN as an exemplary focus for effective, productive and authentic learning through the best uses of modern technology." The Minister's remarks can be found here. A powerpoint summary of the Regional conference can be found here. Congratulations to the entire iEARN-Jordan Team.

iEARN-AZERBAIJAN HOLDS TRAINING WORKSHOPS. Teachers from outlying regions and rural areas came together in July for a training workshop in Azerbaijan. The workshop focused on (a) use of IEARN  for better English classes in secondary schools, (b) use of IEARN for integrating Civics into secondary school English language curriculum; (c) capacity building for IEARN teachers in the issues of NGO formation and  management. Photos from the workshop can be found here.