iEARN in Action, March 30, 2005

Join Us! iEARN Projects, Seeking Contacts, Contributions and Collaborators

**DOWNLOAD THE NEW iEARN 2004-2005 PROJECT BOOK! 
http://www.iearn.org/projects/projectbook.html (available in Arabic, English, French, and Slovenian), or for a full listing of iEARN projects, see: http://www.iearn.org/projects/

VISIT THE LEWIN FORUM TO READ NEW CREATIVE WRITING FROM YOUTH WORLDWIDE! Farah Kamal, iEARN-Pakistan Coordinator, writes, "In the Lewin project forum recently several very young writers (1-2 graders) as well as several middle schoolers from USA, Pakistan, Russia and other countries have posted their creative writings. I request you all to take a moment, read those beautiful and heart touching pieces and write a brief response, even a few word from you would encourage these budding writers. Hope to see you soon in the Lewin forum." Lewin is open to all students, primary through high school. See http://www.iearn.org/projects/lewin.html

NEW iQUOTE PROJECT. iQUOTE is a team project whose main purpose is to create a platform through which students share various quotations of well known philosophers worldwide, and discuss their views and ideas about these quotes. Participants can also take a particular philosopher and discuss her or his biography. See http://www.iearn.org/projects/iquote.html. Facitated by a student team: Sadaf Basharat, Pakistan, Mostafa Nejati and Mehran Nejati, Iran, Nuria Peguero, USA and Jenni Feghali, Lebanon.

ENO ENVIRONMENT ONLINE PROJECT. Tommie Hamaluba in Botswana writes, "Our Gaborone Senior Secondry School ICT Club represents our
country in the ENO Programme. Environment Online. It is a global web school for environmental awareness and sustainable development where currently 180 schools from 69 countries study together environmental issues. Our activities are paced into weekly themes; http://eno.joensuu.fi Our
current theme is ecological footprint, an accounting tool that lets us measure
and understand how much nature we use and how much we have. By understanding the size of our Ecological Footprint, we can reduce it. We challenge all to join our campaign." See http://eno.joensuu.fi/way0405.htm

PEARL WORLD YOUTH NEWS IS LOOKING FOR HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS TO JOIN THE PROJECT AS NEWS REPORTERS. This project will launch an online international news service run by secondary school students from all over the world. Students will select the issues to be reported, and collaboratively write, edit and publish their articles on the web-based news service. These articles will be made available to schools across the world for publication in student newspapers. Students can become certified PEARL Reporters after completing an online training course, which is available at http://www.iearn.org/pearlproject/index.html. For more information about the project, contact Anindita Dutta Roy in the USA.

Check it out! Resources, Contests, Web Sites and Announcements (This includes resources that are not part of iEARN)

SEE THE NEW DESIGN OF THE iEARN-EGYPT WEBSITE! http://www.iearnegypt.org/

FIRST ANNUAL MIT MEDIA LAB IDEAS INSTITUTE (Innovative Design Experiences After School). Now accepting applications for summer 2005 (June 26- July 2, Cambridge, MA, USA). The week-long Institute is a new leadership program for after-school technology and learning professionals dedicated to helping youth learn to express themselves creatively with new technology. The Institute will bring together educators and program staff from community centers around the world who are committed to deepening the learning experiences of young people from low-income communities. Full funding will be provided to cover all expenses (food, lodging, travel) for 20 fellows selected for the program. Applications Due: March 31, 2005. For more information please visit the website: http://llk.media.mit.edu/ideas/

THE GLORIA BARRON PRIZE FOR YOUNG HEROES SEEKS NOMINATIONS FOR ITS 2005 AWARDS. The Barron Prize honors young people ages 8 to 18 who have shown leadership and courage in public service to people and our planet. Half of each year's winners are chosen for their work to protect the environment. Ten winners each receive $2,000 to support their service work or higher education. Nomination deadline is April 30, 2005. For more information and to nominate, visit http://www.barronprize.org.

SEEKING VOLUNTEER REVIEWERS FOR CYBERFAIR AND DOORS TO DIPLOMACY. If you would like to be an Independent Reviewer (and you are not already a CyberFair participant), please sign up now to become a reviewer for: International Schools CyberFair 2005 - Prepare & Unite, an online project design competition that focuses on the future - click here, and Doors to Diplomacy 2005, an online project design competition to raise awareness about foreign diplomacy issues - click here.

HISTORY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY - EUROPEAN PUPILS MAGAZINE. An educational opportunity for European students. See www.pupils-magazine.info and in the mirror site for downloading the printed issues only, www.boggiolera.it/epm. The new issue (FIRST IN THE 2005) is under its way and we are proceeding to collect new articles. You can send your articles as soon as possible to: Tzvetan Kostov, School 127 Ivan Denkoglu, Sofia, Bulgaria.

JOIN WITH SCHOOLS AND YOUTH WORLDWIDE BROADCASTING WITH RADIOWAVES. Radiowaves works with schools across the globe setting up their own online radio stations with Radiowaves and publishing their students' work. You can now collaborate and connect with like-minded schools Internationally using Radiowaves. One project you can join straight away is One World. See the One World station on www.radiowaves.co.uk. Mary Gowers is coordinating this project, connecting global partners to create content around issues of sustainability and awareness of the global dimension to local concerns. Your school can join the One World project by submitting content to your Radiowaves station that can then be imported to the One World station. Contact Mary Gowers via the One World station. To
find out more about submitting content to Radiowaves contact: www.radiowaves.co.uk. BETT Innovation Award Winner.

WORLD ENVIRONMENT DAY 2005 INTERNATIONAL PEN PAL PROGRAM. World Environment Day is the flagship environmental event of the United Nations, created in 1972 as a worldwide event raising awareness about ways we can all protect our global environment. This year, it will be held from June 1-5 in San Francisco, California, making this the first time that the event has ever been hosted in the U.S. The City of San Francisco is sponsoring an International Pen Pal Program that will link 10 classrooms in San Francisco with 10 classrooms in other cities around the world, commencing on April 21-22, and culminating on June 1-5. All classrooms participating in the Pen Pal program will receive free, full color materials and certificates for students recognizing their participation in this global event. If interested in participating, please contact Tamar Hurwitz in the USA.

NOMINATE CANDIDATES FOR THIS YEAR'S AWARDS! April 4, 2005 Nomination Deadline. Reward those making a difference and nominate today - self-nominations are accepted and encouraged. Individuals, Organizations, or Corporations using technology to address problems facing humanity and the environment are eligible. $250,000 will be awarded to five Laureates. For Nomination, Sponsorship, Table, and Ticket information please go to http://www.techawards.org/.

CHANGEMAKERS.NET ANNOUNCES AWARDS COMPETITION TO DISCOVER MOST EFFECTIVE STRATEGIES FOR ENDING HUMAN TRAFFICKING. Changemakers Innovation Awards include $5,000 cash prizes for each of three winners who are selected by visitors voting at Changemakers.net. Changemakers and its partners, Polaris Project and Vital Voices Global Partnership, invite contest entries from around the world to build an online community that "open sources" solutions for tipping the balance toward ending human trafficking. Entries must be in English to enter the competition. For more information, see http://www.changemakers.net. Deadline: May 22, 2005. The three Changemakers Innovation Award winners will be announced on June 15.

CHILDREN OF ABRAHAM is urgently looking for Muslim students between the ages of 15-20 from around the world to participate in a photography and dialogue project with their peers from over 20 countries entirely on the World Wide Web. Please write to us immediately at info@children-of-abraham.org if you know of an interested student.

EDUCATION SUPPORT PROGRAM (ESP) OF THE OPEN SOCIETY INSTITUTE ACCEPTING PROPOSALS. ESP is currently accepting proposals for RE:FINE, a new initiative established to support special projects that further open society goals in education in identified priority areas. It provides strategic grants for networking opportunities to promote open society goals in education. The fund supports initiatives in countries where OSI is involved in education. These include countries in South Eastern Europe (SEE), Central and Eastern Europe (CEE), Mongolia, the Caucasus, Central Asia, and other countries where OSI is developing partnerships. The application deadline is April 10, 2005. See here.

Coming Soon! Upcoming Events and Projects!

INVITATION TO JOIN OPEN INTERNET DISCUSSION, "WORLD WE LIVE IN" ON MARCH 31, 2005. Youth Educational Club NEW LINE ("Transformation of Humanities" Association, http://newline.iatp.by) and iEARN-Belarus - International Education and Resource Network in Belarus (http://iearn-belarus.iatp.by), Youth Philosophy Club WWLI-EHU (European Humanities University and the team of "World We Live In" Internet-project, http://wwli.iatp.by), Internet Access and Training Program - IATP, Internet project- 2, PROON (www.iatp.by), Belarussian Alumni Club of the Federation of Internet-Education (www.fio.by) and E.H.U.-International (http://www.ehu-inetrnational.org) are happy to announce an open Internet discussion "World We Live In", on March 31, 2005 from 14:00-17:00 Minsk time (15.00 - 18.00 Moscow time or 12:00 - 15:00 Grinvich) at http://iatp.org.ua/irchat4/. Languages: Russian, English, Belarussian and
German. We would like to welcome everyone to join this event! Go to
http://iatp.org.ua/irchat4/ to register (preferably during the first half an
hour of the conference) and choose the channel #belarus (common room for meetings, greetings, questions, and conducting work). For full text of the conference invitation and technical instructions click here.

YouthCaN 2005 ENVIRONMENTAL CONFERENCES IN BEIRUT, LEBANON AND NEW YORK CITY, USA APRIL 11, 2005. Every year, YouthCaN collaborates with organizations around the world to host conferences for youth to exchange their ideas, findings, and knowledge about the environment. The conferences include students from local schools, as well as video conferencing with students in other locations. To participate, contact youthcan@us.iearn.org. iEARN-USA (American Museum of Natural History, New York City) and iEARN-Lebanon (American Community School) are already planning to host gatherings. See http://www.youthcanworld.org. Students have chosen the theme for this year's conference to be "Species becoming endangered due to human abuse."

GLOBAL YOUTH SERVICE DAY (GYSD), APRIL 15-17, 2005. On Global Youth Service Day, millions of young people in countries everywhere highlight and carry out thousands of community improvement projects. iEARN-USA is on the International Coordinating Committee of GYSD. See http://www.gysd.net for more information on how to participate. Additionally, discussions are underway about in the iEARN Teachers Forum, Discussion Thread: Global Youth Service Day and in the Students Unlimited Project.

INNOVATIVE TECHNOLOGIES IN THE LEARNING PROCESS FOR POSITIVE THINKING DEVELOPMENT, APRIL 18, 2005. Venue: Secondary School"Pejo Javorov", Bulgaria.  Co-organizers: Educational authorities - Plovdiv, Bulgaria, Plovdvi University, "Paisii Hilendarski", Sofia University, Department for teacher's qualification services, Address for correspondence: sou_yavorov@abv.bg. Tel /fax: + 359 32 95 18 20.

THIRD ANNUAL BRIDGE REGIONAL CONFERENCE, BEIRUT, LEBANON, JULY 8-13, 2005. iEARN-Lebanon (http://www.iearnlb.org/) will be hosting the Third Annual BRIDGE Regional Conference in Beirut. The conference will include educators from iEARN programs in Bangladesh, Egypt, India, Indonesia, Jordan, Lebanon, Malaysia, Morocco, Nepal, Oman, Pakistan, Tunisia, United Arab Emirates, and the United States The focus will be on professional development and curriculum building, affording participants the opportunity to exchange educational tools and resources. Train-the-Trainer seminars, project planning workshops, and community service learning projects will be among the topics of discussion.

12TH ANNUAL iEARN CONFERENCE - JULY 17-24 2005 IN DAKAR, SENEGAL. iEARN-Senegal. The conference will be held at the Ngor Hotel.  Want to present a workshop proposal at the conference? send an e-mail message to: workshopregistration@us.iearn.org and a workshop application will be sent to you automatically. Want to register to participate in the conference? Send a message to: confregistration@us.iearn.org. Watch http://www.iearn.org for more information, or login to the 2005 Senegal Conference Discussion Forum. Youth are encouraged to join in the new 2005 Youth Summit Forum to help organizers in planning the youth summit.

Looking for Less-expensive flights to Senegal in July? iEARN has arranged for lower fares to Dakar from Europe via TAP Air Portugal and from the USA via Air France. For example, the round trip fare from JFK (NYC) is about US$988, plus $215 in airport and other taxes. From Amsterdam via TAP, it will be around US$940. More information will be posted here as it is available. See you in Senegal!!!

The Senegal Minister of Education, His Excellency Moustapha Sourang, welcomes us to Dakar and writes: "I have received your letter regarding the conference you will organize in Dakar.  Enthusiastically, I want to thank you for your support of iEARN-Senegal. I am most grateful for this."

Do you have Frequent Flyer Mileage to Donate to a Student or Teacher? Many, many teachers and students around the iEARN network are eager to participate in the 2005 iEARN International Conference to share their project work. But, they cannot due the high cost of airfare from their communities and countries. You can help!  If you have frequent flyer mileage on any of the following airlines, you can donate them to be used on flights to Dakar: Delta Airlines, Alitalia, Korean Air, Continental Airlines, AeroMexico, KLM, CSA Czech Airlines, Northwest Airlines. If you would like to donate mileage, please contact dakar@us.iearn.org.

Recent Events!

NATURAL DISASTER YOUTH SUMMIT, MARCH 25-29, IN HYOGO, JAPAN.  See NDYS 2005: here and here.  Forum: http://foro.iearn.org/iearnforums/natdisaster/

"BRIDGING GENERATION GAP AND EMPOWERING YOUTH" WORKSHOP HELD IN MANSOURA, EGYPT, SATURDAY, MARCH 26! Everything from A to Z was coordinated by students. The iEARN Team at the Mansoura secondary School for Girls shared their workshop design, which included plans for connecting youth from different schools and cities to enhance friendships and communication, and linking parents with teachers and students to support project work. In total, 120 participants (students, teachers, parents, supervisors, guests) from 15 schools participated.