This national sustainability challenge empowers K-12 students to develop and share environmental solutions that may just change the world.

Students from kindergarten to high school develop environmental solutions for their schools, homes, and communities for a chance to win prizes for themselves and grants for their schools. Teams of students work and compete with other students across the United States. The challenge is open August 24, 2011 through March 15, 2012.

Prizes include scholarships and school grants – up to $50,000 for the first place team!

For more information go to the contest website: WeCanChange.com

Sylvia

From Lego to U.S. educators and home schoolers:

Get ready for the 2011 LEGO® Smart Creativity Contest!

The LEGO® Smart Creativity Contest is all about creativity, innovation, and hands-on learning! We want you to think beyond the books and focus on the power of the brick!

In 150 seconds or less, we challenge you to: Show us how you use LEGO Education solutions to spark student innovation!

Whether you capture student innovation in the form of a LEGO-inspired animation, student-produced skit, or by performing an original song that plays tribute to the creativity of the LEGO brick, we challenge you to be creative and let that innovative spirit shine!

More details, rules, entrance requirements, and prizes.

There are obvious ways that this could be used in a classroom. It allows all aspects of the production process that are important to learning – planning, creating, sharing, and editing. It requires writing, always a good thing. It gives shy or quiet students, or students who are learning English the same “voice” as everyone else. Being able to quickly see and hear the results of your script and polish it endlessly is a real positive. This editing process is where the real learning happens, yet is often overlooked or rushed through in schools because it takes “too much” time. So this may be a be a good solution when real video production is too time consuming or too costly.

Now, you have to be careful – if you allow complete access to the site there is a gallery of user-submitted movies that have no guarantee of being appropriate. Xtranormal has an “education safe” setting that allows for some degree of protection.

However, the biggest issue of all – this is NOT free. When you sign up for an account, you get a few free “points” that you can use to buy characters and backgrounds. You can also get a discount as an educator by contacting them. There is a full explanation here.

If you read this blog – you know that I’m not an advocate of free stuff in all cases. There are certainly great free services, but increasingly I believe that you generally get what you pay for. We pay for hardware – if you want to do video production, you would pay for the cameras, for example.

Xtranormal is having a contest/film festival that might be just the ticket to get started. I believe you can enter the contest using your “free” points without having to spend any money. If anyone knows this is not true, let me know!

“Fame and fortune awaits you (maybe): submit your decision-themed film to the Xtranormal Film Festival between March 24 and April 14. Entrants are eligible to win their share of over $10,000 in prizes, and one lucky winner will be immortalized as an Xtranormal character.”

I’m not sure what a “decision-theme” is, but since the sponsor is Bing, and that’s their slogan, I suppose that’s the connection.

The contest is open to US residents over the age of 13. See all contest rules and entry instructions.

Sylvia

Working with their teachers, parents, grandparents, neighbors, and/or friends, teams are encouraged to think outside the box and show us how they can make our activities BIGGER. From creating a PVC Kayak, to a giant sized catapult, the possibilities are endless.

Design Squad Nation co-hosts Judy Lee and Adam Vollmer invite kids to participate in the contest.

Detailed contest information here. Note: The Contest is open to legal residents of the fifty United States and the District of Columbia, except Arizona. Not sure why that is, but that’s what it says…

Sylvia

Attention all parents and teachers! Do you have a budding artist at home or in the classroom? Would they love to win a college scholarship, a technology grant for their school, and have their art featured on Google’s homepage for millions of viewers to see?

Now is their chance! Today, Google starts accepting registrations for its annual Doodle 4 Google competition. Doodle 4 Google is open to K-12 students in U.S. schools who are invited to create their own Google doodle inspired by the theme, “What I’d like to do someday…”.  A “doodle” is the logo design that appears on the Google homepage periodically to celebrate special events, holidays, or the lives of artists and inventors.

Celebrity judges this year include Whoopi Goldberg, comedian and TV talk show host; Jim Davis, creator of the Garfield comic strip; Maira Kalman and Beverly Cleary, illustrators and authors of children’s books; Scott McCloud, cartoonist, and others.

In previous years, schools and teachers needed to sign up with Google in order for students to participate. Google has expanded the contest this year by allowing parents to register their children directly if their school has decided not to participate. Google has also partnered with two after-school programs, Boys & Girls Clubs of America and Girl Scouts of the USA, to help register students and submit artwork.

Last year’s winner, Makenzie Melton, a third grader at El Dorado Springs, R-2 Schools in El Dorado Springs, Missouri, had her own logo displayed on the Google homepage for hundreds of millions of users to see for a day. She also won a $15,000 college scholarship and a $25,000 technology grant for her school. You can see last year’s winning doodle and find more information here.

(from Google press release)

Application and more information here

Deadline is Jan. 10, 2011.

Not in Colorado? Check this list to see if your state has a Qwest technology grant!

Sylvia

Young Adult Library Services Association Offers Mini-Grants for Teen Tech Week

Teen Tech Week is designed to help teens learn to become efficient and ethical users of technology, especially in a library setting. Teen Tech Week also encourages teens to recognize that librarians are qualified, trusted professionals in the field of information technology. Teen Tech Week 2011 will be celebrated March 6-12 with a theme of “Mix and Mash @ your library.”

Through funding from the Margaret A. Edwards Trust, the Young Adult Library Services Association, a division of the American Library Association, will award up to ten Teen Tech Week mini-grants, consisting of $450 in cash and $50 worth of Teen Tech Week products, to YALSA members who create a reading program that incorporates technology.

Visit the ALA Web site for complete program information, mini-grant rules, resources, and much more!

via Cash Grants for Science and Math Programs from Intel Corporation.

You can enter your school in this competition anytime before Feb 17, 2011 – but don’t wait until the last minute!

Sylvia

Of course, no surprise to anyone who reads this blog, I’ll be looking for authentic student involvement and students doing real work using technology. Hopefully I won’t be seeing the same old stuff repurposed in new ways, and not just changes to teaching practice!

So submit your videos to the official contest website, no later than 11:59 p.m. on November 2, 2010.

Can’t wait!

Sylvia

For many schools around the country, back-to-school this year is a lesson in economics they’d rather not have. Education budgets have been cut nationwide and valuable school programs such as sports, music and art are being hit hard, if not eliminated.  According to a 2009 survey conducted by the Afterschool Alliance, of the 1,500 afterschool leaders polled, “…three in five respondents [said]funding for their programs is down compared to two years ago, and more than one-third [said] it is down a lot.”

Pitching in to help is the idea powering the 2010 Power A Bright Future grant contest, a school grant program the Clorox Company is launching to help fund these vital school programs. Today, parents and teachers across the country can nominate school programs for a chance to receive a $50,000 grand-prize grant or one of three $20,000 grants from the Clorox Company to help provide critically needed resources to diminishing school programs.

To Nominate a Program
It’s easy for parents and teachers to nominate a school program.  Simply visit www.Clorox.com between now and September 27, 2010 to learn how to nominate a school.  Once the nominations have closed, the rest will be left up to a vote–by America! People across the U.S. may vote for their favorite program between October 5, 2010 and November 1, 2010.

The program that receives the highest number of votes will be awarded the $50,000 grand-prize grant, and the next top vote-getters in each of the three categories (Learn, Play and Create) will be awarded a $20,000 grant. The final Power A Bright Future grant winners will be announced on or around December 8, 2010.

For official rules and to nominate a school program, visit www.Clorox.com.