DEN Blog Network

The 2009 Siemens We Can Change the World Challenge, hosted by the Siemens Foundation, Discovery Education, and the National Science Teachers Association (NSTA), is now open for entries.  In addition, the challenge has expanded to include elementary school students as well as middle school students this year.  The deadline for elementary level entries is January 31, 2010, and the deadline for middle school entries is March 15, 2010.  The goal of the challenge is to encourage K-8 students to design replicable solutions to environmental issues in their classrooms, schools and communities.

Recently, the grand prize winning team from the inaugural year of the challenge, Team Dead Weight from West Branch, Iowa, presented their project to an audience of peers, UN representatives and media.  View this video to learn more about the Siemens We Can Change the World Challenge and Team Dead Weight: http://bit.ly/noUP7.

Got an iPhone or iTouch?  Then this is one app that you’ll definitely want to download!  The Discovery Channel has released an application that will allow you to watch videos, view photos and take quizzes from  your favorite Discovery shows.  The app has been taking the iPhone world by storm and has quickly risen up the popularity charts.  It’s the perfect way to experience everything you know and love about the Discovery Channel on the go.

Download the app through iTunes.

We here at the DEN would like to congratulate educators and student from Northside Independent School District in San Antonio, Texas and Prince George’s County Public Schools in Maryland, for reaching a major milestone: 1,000,000 educational videos viewed through Discovery Education streaming.

Of course, I’m sure you want to know what the millionth video viewed was in each district, right?

At Clark High School in Northside ISD, the millionth video was “Assignment Discovery: An Inside Look at the Flu.”   To recognize the milestone, representatives from KLRN and Discovery Education presented Clark High School with video resources for science classes and highlighted Superintendent John Folks for his dedication to engaging students with 21st century learning tools and services.

The millionth streamed video for Prince George’s County Public Schools was “The Magic School Bus Gets Charged,” and was viewed by a class at Oakcrest Elementary School.  According to Dr. William Hite, Jr., Superintendent, Prince George’s County Public Schools, “I credit the educators of Prince George’s County for their hard work in reaching this important milestone.

An extra congratulations go out to all the STAR Discovery Educators at Prince George’s Public Schools who were such an integral part of helping them reach this milestone!

Herald Williams
Talitha Simeona-Moon
Renee Henderson
Gary Rann
Rosetta Terry
Carmella Doty
Paul Thebert
Stephanie Roby
Dennine Powe
Edwin McCulley
Aimee Pressley
Aaron Smith (The Art Guy)
Dara Case
Rosetta McMillon
Marilyn Barber
Nathan Garner
Terry Linn
Paula Jaenichen
Enrique Seale, Sr
Evelyn Adams
Talitha Simeona-Moon
Susan Toerge

Discovery Education streaming PLUS was recently reviewed by Multimedia and Internet @ Schools and imagine our surprise when we received an absolutely perfect rating: 5/5 stars!  Of course, to those of you using DE streaming PLUS, this won’t be much of a surprise, but the review is well worth reading and sharing.  A quick highlight from it:

Discovery Education streaming Plus is an absolute must-have tool to provide students with a richer, deeper understanding of topics under study. This is a great way to provide differentiated instruction, to allow for various styles of learning, and to enable students to become “eyewitnesses” to the events, places, things, and people studied in the classroom.

The flexibility of this resource can’t be topped. Educators can use an entire video or just a short segment to illustrate a point or to quickly demonstrate a concept. The latest version of streaming Plus provides two important features—the ability to differentiate instruction for ELL populations through the new world languages media and materials available in hard-to-find languages such as Mandarin Chinese and Arabic, as well as the opportunity to access comprehensive programming such as PBS productions, Planet Earth, Smash Lab, and more.

Discovery Education streaming Plus is a service that will enhance curriculum, meet standards, differentiate instruction, and—most importantly—expand the academic achievement of your students. Highly recommended.

To read the entire article, click here and register an account at MMIS, or download the PDF.

Today, Discovery Student Adventures: South Africa took us to the very bottom of the continent, the Cape of Good Hope.  Pictured here are Linda Rush, Karen Wells and Jason Cochrane, who have now earned an honorary DENny for being at the southernmost DEN event yet!

To read about our cage dive with great white sharks, trip to the Cape of Good Hope, or adventures with African penguins, visit the DSA: South Africa blog!!

While Jannita’s journey with Discovery Student Adventures to Australia is wrapping up, DSA South Africa is just beginning!  Two days of travel split up by a brief exploration of Frankfurt, Germany have led us to our first day in Cape Town.

This morning, we’re getting an overview of the country, before we hop on the bus and begin exploring.  Thankfully, we have 12 student bloggers and 3 teacher bloggers to share the journey with you.  To keep up with the adventures, follow along at the DSA South Africa blog to see our tweets, photos, videos and blog posts.

We’d like to congratulate the first, second and third place winners in this year’s Siemens We Can Change the World Challenge! And the winners are (drum roll)….

Grand Prize Winners: Team “Dead Weight” from West Branch, Iowa
- West Branch Middle School Students Jathan Kron (age 12), Justin Roth (age 13) and Brennan Nelson (age 12), along with their teacher, Hector Ibarra, raised awareness about the dangers of lead wheel weights in vehicles to help phase out this hazardous material in the tire industry.

Second Place Winners: Team “Recycle Because You Care” from Addison, Ill.
- St. Philip the Apostle School students Angel Lozzio (age 13), Maggie O’Brien (age 12) and Dana Gattone (age 13), along with their team advisor, Dawn O’Brien, recruited non-recycling households in their community to start recycling, and launched a school-wide recycling program.

Third Place Winners: Team “Stewards of the Pamlico Sound” from Buxton, N.C.
- Cape Hatteras Secondary School of Coastal Studies students Evan Haas (age 14), Ashley Hodges (age 14) and Kailee Pieno (age 14), along with their teacher, Tracy Shisler, created an artificial oyster reef to restore the oyster population of Pamlico Sound.

More than 2,000 students participated in the inaugural challenge, with the grand prize winners receiving a comprehensive prize package, including an appearance on Planet Green, Discovery’s 24-hour eco-lifestyle network, a once-in-a-lifetime Discovery Adventure Trip accompanied by a Discovery TV personality, a $5,000 U.S. Savings Bond, a chance to present their project before a panel of environmental experts, a flip camera, and an eco-friendly prize pack of school supplies.

Congrats to all the winners!  And don’t forget, if you’re an elementary teacher and would like to have your students participate, keep an eye on WeCanChange.com in August for details how!

The State Finalists have been announced for the Siemens We Can Change The World Challenge!  The winning teams were posted to the We Can Change website this morning.  We’d like to extend a hearty congratulations to each of the 22 teams that have been honored as State Finalists this year.  They have all done an incredible job of making a lasting environmental impact in their communities.  In just a few short weeks, they’ll be announcing the 2 National winners, so you’ll want to keep your eyes open for that.  And if you are an elementary teacher eager to participate in the challenge yourself, your time is coming!  In August 2009 we’ll be announcing details for how K-5 teachers and students can join in.

Congrats to all twenty two winning teams!

Read more

What’s better than winning a 2009 BESSIE Award?  Winning TWO 2009 BESSIE Awards!  Discovery Education Science - Elementary scored a Best Science Web Site for Upper Elementary award for the second year in a row, and Discovery Education streaming won for Best Digital Video Library in the Teacher Tools category.

 “We are grateful to the team at ComputED Learning Center for this recognition,” said Kelli Campbell, Senior Vice President of Content and Product Development for Discovery Education.  “We strive to create not only outstanding instructional tools such as Discovery Education streaming and Discovery Education Science for Elementary, but also programs like the Discovery Education 3M Young Scientist Challenge and the Siemens We Can Change the World Challenge, which ignite student curiosity and engage students in learning.”

So join me in congratulating my colleagues here at Discovery Education on winning two more very prestigious awards!

Click here to read the full press release.

Our own Digital Storytelling guru, Joe Brennan, was recently interviewed by Techn & Learning about his thoughts on techniques, software, and how to get the best bang for the buck!

A selection from it to whet your appetite:

Q. Many teachers are using digital storytelling in the classroom. How can seasoned educators in this genre polish their technique and bring their students to the next level?

Through Discovery, I connected with the American Film Institute Screen Exhibition program and learned how to bring Hollywood features to classic digital storytelling. First, I had to teach video grammar. All of those writing elements apply to a 30-second or 60-second commercial, movie trailer, or any genre that the kids recognize. You just teach them a few shots–close ups, extreme close ups, medium shots, reverse angle shots. Even little tips, such as: the reporter is the one who looks into the camera but the person you’re interviewing never really does. When kids shoot their own original footage it looks recognizable to people who watch it.

 Click here to read the entire article!