BB #3 - Education

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First-place winner Sara Volz, 17, of Colorado Springs, Colo. (center), built a bio-fuel lab under the lofted bed in her room to explore the potential for algae to become an economically viable fuel.

Sara is shown here with second-place winner Jonah Kallenbach, 17, of Ambler, Pa. (left), and third-place winner Adam Bowman, 17, of Brentwood, Tenn. (right) as they celebrate their awards at the Intel Science Talent Search, the nation's oldest and most prestigious high school science research competition... where high school seniors seek solutions to some of the world’s largest problems, from medical treatments to environmental solutions.

"American high school students are terrible writers, and one education reform group thinks it has an answer: robots. Or, more accurately, robo-readers — computers programmed to scan student essays and spit out a grade. The theory is that teachers would assign more writing if they didn't have to read it. And the more writing students do, the better at it they'll become — even if the primary audience for their prose is a string of algorithms..." 3-30-12  slashdot

COMMENT With schools failing to get the next generation excited about computers, silicon.com chief reporter Nick Heath argues that lessons need to revisit how the information age got started... While most people in Britain use a computer, few of us would pretend to know, or care, how they work...For most, the computing technology we use every day is so complex as to be unknowable - barely distinguishable from magic - the secrets of its inner workings only known by a technocratic elite... 1-4-12  slashdot

Students and teachers in grade school through higher education are using the iPad to augment their lessons or to replace textbooks... a third grade class mastered the iPad with minimal training. For the most part, the students didn't need to be taught how to use their apps. College students are also turning to the iPad to do what they do instinctively well: saving themselves money... A university staff member, recently began taking credits in pursuit of another certification, and uses her iPad in place of textbooks. 'The price of the iPad pays for itself after a single semester,' the staff member said.  12-12-11 slashdot

Off to Mars
Could life ever have existed on Mars? A new NASA robot called Curiosity may help scientists find out. It's getting ready to blast off to the Red Planet in the next few weeks. The rocket carrying Curiosity will launch from Cape Canaveral, Florida... The journey will cover millions of miles and will take nearly a year. The car-size robot is expected to touch down on Mars in August 2012... more... 11-10-11   ~ Scholastic News


Near-Perfect Young Dinosaur Fossil Found in Bavaria
The discovery of young, unnamed dinosaur fossils is rare, but on Wednesday (10-19-11) researchers in southern German state of Bavaria announced they had uncovered an almost perfect specimen. The flesh-eating member of the theropod subgroup, which walked on its hind legs, is among the best preserved specimens of its kind worldwide, said Oliver Rauhut, conservator of Bavaria's state paleontological and geological collections (BSPG) in Munich.  10-22-11   slashdot