iEARN in Action, March 10, 2006

REGISTER BEFORE APRIL 1 FOR AN EARLY BIRD REGISTRATION DISCOUNT FOR THE 2006 iEARN ANNUAL WORLD CONFERENCE AND YOUTH SUMMIT IN ENSCHEDE, NETHERLANDS, JULY 3-7, 2006! Every year one of the countries active in iEARN hosts the annual World Conference and Youth summit as a meeting place for teachers and students in Primary and Secondary Education, NGO and corporate partners, field experts and governmental representatives. The conference is open to anyone who is interested in collaborative online project work! For more information, contact: info@iearn2006.nl. The main sponsor for the 2006 conference is the Dutch Ministry of Education via the national portal Kennisnet, a strategic alliance that allows you to connect to 100's of Dutch educators during theconference. The conference motto is "A learning World"... welcome to Holland! For Youth Summit information see here. To register, click here.

DEADLINE EXTENDED TO MARCH 20 FOR OUR WORLD YOUTH SURVEY. Seeking youth opinions about issues of cultural and social identity, challenges affecting our planet, and the degree to which they feel connected to people from other countries. Your students can Participate in the survey (Feb 1 - March 20): 1) on the www here. The survey is currently available in English, Arabic, Chinese, Dutch, French, Russian, Spanish and (soon) Swahili). 2) via e-mail. Send an email message to ourworld@us.iearn.org and the survey will be sent directly back to you/them. They can then complete and return the survey through email to: ourworldsurvey@gmail.com.

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

**Download the 2005-2006 iEARN Project Book:
http://www.iearn.org/projects/projectbook.html, (available in Arabic, English, French, and Japanese)or for a full listing of iEARN projects, see: http://www.iearn.org/projects/

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LEGEND OF THE SEVEN SEAS PROJECT. The iEARN team, the Netherlands, Holten,writes, "Dear students and teachers, We are desperate looking for students aged 15 to 20 who can give us information about their country and main harbor in the 17th century. The 17th century is important because we are making a game about the trade in the 17th century. The team that provides us the best information gets a 2000 Euro scholarship for the World Conference in July in the Netherlands. We hope to receive the information in 1 or 2 weeks. Here you can play our game here. For further information about the game click here.

IQUOTE PROJECT. Join with students worldwide in an exchange of inspiring quotes. Started by students from Iran, Pakistan and the USA.

SENEGALESE HIGH SCHOOL TEACHER SEEKING PARTNERS IN U.S. OR UNITED ARAB EMIRATES. My name is Amath DIALLO. I teach at Taïba/ICS High School in Senegal. I am looking for a teacher in any part of USA or U.A.E. country that is interested in having online exchanges with my students on culture, family, religion or customs.

INTERESTED IN DISCUSSING INTERNATIONAL POLICIES RELATED TO NUCLEAR WEAPONS? Tim Ames in Washington State, USA writes, "Dear Teachers around the World, I am a new teacher to iEARN...I teach high school (9th grade) World History. In April my students and I will be looking at nuclear proliferation in the world, and the international policies which dictate where nuclear weapons are developed and/or permitted. We would like to discuss this topic with other students, particularly in countries with nuclear technologies and capabilities like the US, China, Pakistan, India, Russia, Japan and Iran." Interested? Contact Tim Ames.

OVERCOMING NARROWMINDEDNESS. Zahra Bavian of Iran writes, "We invite teachers to encourage their students to fill the questionnaire which is designed by Judy Kelly, who is a German teacher in the USA. Filling this questionnaire gives us the chance to find our similarities difference or a social topic, " Narrow-Mindedness," which can bring up lots of discussions to be followed by different cultures." For more information, see here, or connect directly to the Tolerance Forum.

CROSSING BORDERS BY DIGITAL WRITING. The theme of this digital paper is: "My World". Children from all over the world are invited to participate. Children of schools in South Africa and the Netherlands have made the first start in February. Language: English, Dutch and Afrikaans. The "digikrant" is a project supported by Dutch organisations: Eduniek, Qlict and AfricEN. The results of this inspiring digital project will be presented during the International iEARN Conference in the Netherlands during July 2006. You want to write an article or more information? Send an email to h.vanrooijen@e.uniek.nl for access code and password. http://worldjournal.digikrant.net/.

PAPER, PRINTER, CARTRIDGE, AND SMALL BATTERY RECYCLING. Grade 2 and 9 at Benjamin Franklin International School in Barcelona, Spain is recycling paper, batteries, and print cartridges. Bins for these items were purchased and placed around campus. Grade 9 showed Grade 2 how to recycle paper. Cartridges were collected and turn into a local company for cash which was used to pay for bins and the recycling of paper. For more information, contact Yuke Abe, BFIS student, Dan Phillips, BFIS staff.

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

CONTRIBUTE TO A SPECIAL EDITION OF THE BACKTALK JOURNAL. Rebecca Timson of Washington State, USA, writes, "To the iEARN community: My students are going to publish a collection of international interviews in a special edition of the Backtalk Journal. Students anywhere in the world, ages 13 - 17, may contribute to this volume. The rules are: Students must interview someone in a different country from where they live, someone who is involved in some way in promoting human rights, health, welfare, justice, peace, education, or international cooperation. The deadline for receiving interviews for this publication is May 15th. I hope that many students will participate. This publish will be presented next fall at national and international conferences. Interested? Contact Rebecca Timson, Billings Middle School, Seattle, WA USA.

SUBMIT ARTICLES TO TEEN SPEAK ONLINE MAGAZINE. "Hello! My name is Victor Rudo, an American high school student and the Editor-In Chief of a new website, http://www.teenspeakonline.com. Our website is dedicated solely to allowing teenagers to express their opinions in a controlled, edited, and professional environment. We are not a blog, and we try hard to maintain our professional image and good reputation by editing all work submitted by our staff writers to ensure they are of the highest quality. We are partnered with PEARL News, as many of our writers are enrolled in their course, and are a proud member of the Google News community." Interested? Contact TeenSpeakEditor@gmail.com

DISSERTATION ON iEARN PRESENTED IN THE UNITED STATES. Datta Kaur Khalsa writes, "On Friday, February 24th, Dr. Datta Kaur Khalsa, presented her 2 years of research related to iEARN U.S. teachers. The presentation was at the 27th Annual Ethnography in Education Research Forum at the University of Pennsylvania campus in Philadelphia. The title of her presentation to a 'packed' room was " Global interaction and education through project-based learning: What teachers need and what administration can offer." The presentation spoke about iEARN's success and the social and cultural characteristics of 30+ plus iEARN U.S. teachers who were surveyed and interviewed. It described the teachers' iEARN online training experience, their school's administrative support for their iEARN's efforts and prevalent background and personality characteristics that helped them become key iEARN teachers and mentors. The audience was very enthusiastic and very interested to receive more information on the wonderful services of iEARN. If you would like to read more details on this research, please email me. Thanks for helping with this! For more links and descriptions to research on iEARN, see here.

GLOBAL CALL FOR NOMINATIONS OF INNOVATORS USING TECHNOLOGY TO BENEFIT HUMANITY. Deadline: April 3, 2006. The Tech Museum Awards program honors and awards innovators from around the world who use technology to benefit humanity in the categories of education, equality, economic development, environment, and health. The awards are a program of the Tech Museum of Innovation (http://www.thetech.org/) in San Jose, California. Individuals, nonprofit organizations, and companies are eligible to enter the competition, and self-nominations are accepted and encouraged. Program details, including judging criteria, can be found at the Tech Museum Awards Web site. iEARN-USA was a Tech Museum Laureate in 2004 in the Education Category.

Coming Soon! Upcoming Events and Projects!

THE ART MILES MURAL PROJECT PRESENTING --

AT UN HEADQUARTERS. The project has been invited to accompany Mr. John McConnell, Founder of Earth Day during the annual ringing of the Peace Bell at UN Headquarters at exactly 1:26 pm on March 20, 2006. (Several iEARN school murals will be exhibited near the Peace Bell) A representative of Art Miles will announce the "Exhibition of the Century" in support of the UNESCO Decade for the Culture of Peace and Non Violence Among Children of the World (2001-2010) to be held at the Great Pyramids of Giza, Egypt. Over 5,000 murals will be exhibited at the conclusion of the Decade in a spectacular event.

IN EGYPT. The project has organized the first of many Egyptian mural exhibitions hosted by the American Cultural Center in Alexandria, Egypt on March 15, 2006. Murals from iEARN and other international schools will be exhibited from Egypt, Suriname, Japan, and Austria to name but a few.

For more about the Art Miles Project, see
http://www.iearn.org/projects/artmiles.html

UPCOMING YOUTHCAN EVENTS ---

iEARN-IRAN TO COOPERATE WITH FARZANEGAN ZEYNAB EDUCATIONAL CENTER TO HOLD YOUTHCAN EVENT IN REY, IRAN, MARCH 14, 2006. Students and teachers worldwide who are interested in environmental issues are invited to attend the the conference and to contribute to its sessions and workshops. Contact YouthCaNir@gmail.com or see here.

MIAMI, FLORIDA, USA YOUTHCAN CONFERENCE, APRIL 4, 2006. Coordinated by Miami Country Day School. For more information see here.

YOUTHCAN ENVIRONMENTAL CONFERENCE AT THE AMERICAN MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY, NEW YOKR CITY, USA, APRIL 10, 2006. One of the most exciting parts of the YouthCaN project are the student workshops in New York City and other sites on April 10th. The event is a great opportunity to see what others are doing in environmental projects, and to share your projects and activities. It is a chance for your students to develop their presentation skills. Do you know of a group of students who would like to present their projects as either workshops or display tables? For more information and a workshop presentation/registration form, send a blank e-mail message to: youthcan-info@us.iearn.org. Most workshops are in person, but also can be through technology. For more about YouthCaN, see http://www.youthcanworld.org/.
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GET INVOLVED IN GLOBAL YOUTH SERVICE DAY (GYSD), APRIL 21-23. GYSD webpage http://www.gysd.org. GYSD is the largest service event in the world, mobilizing youth to identify and address the needs of their communities through service. GYSD events and activities take place in over 100 countries around the world simultaneously. [iEARN Pakistan is a national coordinator of GYSD, and invites youth and educators from iEARN Pk partner schools to join this global event of GYSD 2006 April 21-23 2006. All participating Pakistani students whose completed project reports are posted in the Students Unlimited Forum will get a certificate of appreciation from iEARN. Make sure each report has the full names of the students and the school addresses. Please refer to the website here. Contact iEARN-Pakistan officials at 9221-4547547 for further support and help in planning, organising and reporting your events and activities. Farah S. Kamal.

MEGACONFERENCE, JR. 2006 - MAY 18 . An Event For and By students of the World http://megaconferencejr.org/. See streaming from previous years here.

WALK THE WORLD. Walk the World is a growing global event organised by the United Nations World Food Programme and its partners. On this annual day of action, hundreds of thousands of individuals across the globe take to the streets to call for the end of child hunger. By Walking the World, we are playing a key role in helping to achieve the first UN Millennium Development Goal: that of halving the number of hungry people by 2015. Join Walk the World and take action to end child hunger. This year, on 21 May 2006, we aim to have at least 750,000 people walking in all 24 time zones! For information about organizing a walk or joining one that is already planned, check out http://www.fighthunger.org.

eLearning AFRICA CONFERENCE, MAY 24-26, 2006, ADDIS ABABA, ETHIOPIA. Join in the first international conference on ICT for development, education and training to be held in Addis Ababa from May 24 - 26, 2006 (more information available here). Girma Mitiku, iEARN-Ethiopia Coordinator and Conference Advisory Committee member (http://www.elearning-africa.com/partner_advisory.php) writes, "All iEARNers are supposed to participate, especially the African iEARNers!"

KNOWLEDGE FOR GLOBAL CLASSROOMS 2006 INTERNATIONAL SUMMER INSTITUTE, UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS AT URBANA-CHAMPAIGN, USA, JUNE 18-23. Theme: People, Places, and Patterns: Teaching World Geographies & Cultures. Organized jointly by the area studies centers, other international studies programs at the University of Illinois, this intensive institute will address the contemporary issues and concerns, including: societies-environments, rural and urban change, and geographies of social, economic, and political life. Case studies covered and presentations include Africa, East Asia, Latin America, EU, Eastern Europe & Russia, Middle East & South Asia. While all K-12 teachers are welcome, the curriculum materials are geared mainly towards high school and to middle school education. The workshop is aimed at social studies/social science teachers, particularly those teaching human geography, sociology, and world cultures. Visit: http://www.afrst.uiuc.edu/ISI2006.html or contact: Jamie McGowan.

REGISTER NOW FOR THE 2006 iEARN ANNUAL WORLD CONFERENCE AND YOUTH SUMMIT IN ENSCHEDE, NETHERLANDS, JULY 3-7, 2006. REGISTER BEFORE APRIL 1 FOR AN EARLY BIRD REGISTRATION DISCOUNT.See top of News Flash for more detail.

FIRST INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON THE ROLE OF ICT IN BRIDGE BUILDING AND SOCIAL INCLUSION CONFERENCE. Northern Ireland, September 10-16, 2006. If you are involved in a project linking students together through ICT and want to hear about the latest developments in video-conferencing, the use of 'moodle' to create joint web sites, or the experiences of those in Ireland and elsewhere who are using ICT to build bridges, we'd like to hear from you. If you are an academic interested in the theoretical models behind such work or a policy maker for ICT at national or international level this conference will be an important event. For further details click here.

AUSTRALIAN COMPUTERS IN EDUCATION CONFERENCE (ACEC), OCTOBER 24, 2006. iEARN Australia and the Asia Education Foundation are conference partners in the Australian Computers in Education Conference (ACEC) which will be held in Cairns, Far North Queensland between October 2-4, 2006. iEARN Australia has been allocated 6 workshops during the conference as well as a pre-conference iEARN training session. In addition there will be a key-note speaker via video-conference being organized by iEARN Taiwan. The conference organizers have provided a reduced registration fee for iEARN members. iEARN members have the opportunity to do a workshop or presentation as part of the iEARN stream or to submit a paper for refereeing through the conference web site. If any iEARN members are interested in attending or presenting at this conference in Australia could you please email iEARN Australia iearnoz@iearn.org.au For further details about the conference and registration go to http://www.acec2006.info

Recent Events!

iEARN LITHUANIA ORGANIZED BEGINNER WORKSHOP FOR FOREIGN LANGUAGE TEACHERS, MARCH 9 IN VILNIUS AT THE TEACHER TRAINING INSTITUTE. Daina Valanciene, iEARN-Lithuania Coordinator shares that the workshop focused on integrating iEARN projects into curriculum and primary-secondary school collaboration in international projects (where translation into a foreign language is essential). Welcome them in the Teachers Forum.

iEARN-NIGERIA ORGANIZES TWO-DAY WORKSHOP MARCH 9-10 IN ABUJA. Fifty teachers from all over the country are expected to participate. The theme of the workshop is "Capacity building in collaborative learning" and teachers will be introduced to iEARN projects. Welcome them in the Teachers Forum. For more about iEARN in Nigeria, see the SchoolNet Nigeria website

SEMINAR FOR ENO PROGRAMME IN AFRICA HELD IN FINLAND, FEBRUARY 22. The seminar was about a global school network for sustainable development called ENO-Environment Online. Teachers from Botswana, Namibia, Zambia, Uganda , Zimbabwe and USA presented their schools and activities in the ENO Programme. See the seminar online here.

For Reference!