Current update

News from and about eMINTS. This week's news Congrats Center, MO school district Videogame makes plentary geology intuitive eThemes update   Standing offers Newest and updated eThemes

Current update - August 25, 2008

Congratulations to Center, MO school district

The Center School District in Kansa City, MO was featured in the August publication of SMART Technologies' EdCompass Newsletter. Featured are district Educational Technology Specialist Colleen McLain and fourth grade teacher Ellen Pittman in this monthly trade publication.

The article "Ready When the Bell Rings" quotes both Ms. Pittman and Ms. McLain on preparations for the new school year and using SMART Board technology.

Read the article ....

A videogame that makes planetary geology intuitive? Absolutely!

You and your students have the opportunity to discover the fundamental geological processes of the Solar System using NASA eEducation's casual game Selene: A Lunar Construction GaME. Players construct the earth's moon and then pepper it with impact craters and flood it with lava flows. Planetary scientist and lunar expert, Dr. Charles A. Wood, leads students in this moon adventure. Participating educators and their students will join the NASA-sponsored Classroom of the Future (COTF) researchers studying learning and assessment in game-based environments. Youth, adults and researchers can all participate in NASA's initiative studying learning and assessment in videogames and virtual worlds.

Read what educators are saying about Selene ....

Youth play the Selene game online, anywhere, 24/7. Research is on-going, and COTF seeks research participants (youth aged 13-18), adult recruiters and research collaborators. Computer requirements: High speed Internet connection, sound, Flash 9+, Java 1.4+ (can be downloaded for free).

Learn more at http://www.cet.edu/?cat=selene and http://selene.cet.edu.

NASA Consultant Pat Dougherty who works at the Heart of Missouri RPDC is available by e-mail and to assist teachers in central Missouri in person. Pat can be reached at daughertyp@missouri.edu.

eThemes update

Graduate students who serve as "resource scouts" returned to classes this week and will be working to prepare requests and updates for next week's publication.

Newest eThemes

Find the current list of new eThemes.

Monica Beglau
Executive Director, eMINTS National Center

Reviewed August 22, 2008.