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More than 50 students from eight countries, along with their coaches and parents, convened in San Francisco from November 11-15 for ThinkQuest Live 2007. Sponsored by the Oracle Education Foundation, the annual event is a weeklong celebration of the students’ accomplishments, expertise, and skill in winning the ThinkQuest International Web site building competition.
The attending youth represented the first, second, third, Global Perspectives, and TRIO Special Recognition Award teams from the 2007 competition cycle. As part of their prize, the students took part in a series of learning and recreational programs and were guests-of-honor at an awards banquet, where they were honored by the foundation’s Board of Directors and Oracle executives, including Oracle President Safra Catz.
“ThinkQuest Live recognizes the tremendous accomplishments and hard work of these bright and talented students,” said Clare Dolan, Vice President, Oracle Education Initiatives. “ThinkQuest encourages young people to come together and form teams with students from around the world to create educational Web sites. They develop these Web sites from scratch, investing hours in online collaboration, research, and teamwork. And at the end of the competition, they have not only created learning resources for their peers throughout the world, they have also developed critical life skills.”
"I have barely reclaimed my breath from this exhilarating quest into innovation, creativity, and technology,” said Salwa Kefi, the primary coach for the first-place “Living on the Brink” team. “ThinkQuest is a unique contest that offers students a chance to develop major skills, including critical thinking, problem solving, team building, self-reliance, and the use of technology. ThinkQuest taps into students' potential, unbridles their artistic talents, and helps them give rein to their creative imagination."
The ThinkQuest competition has been embraced by educators worldwide as an effective way to engage students in online collaborative learning. Beyond developing expertise in Web publishing and the subject matter of their Web sites, students build fundamental skills in research, writing, teamwork, and project management. All qualifying Web sites are published in the popular ThinkQuest Library, a rich online resource visited by millions monthly.
This year’s prize-winning Web sites were created by multinational teams of students hailing from Argentina, Australia, India, Indonesia, Singapore, Tunisia, United Kingdom, and United States. Winning teams that were represented at ThinkQuest Live include:
- Earth Buddies
- Energy Generation: Taking a Step into the Future
- Global Tales
- Internet Safety
- Living on the Brink
- Sustainability
- The Credibles
- The Real Enslavement
- TQ Toolkit: A Web Building Guide for ThinkQuesters
- Young Blood: Children of War
More information on ThinkQuest and all of the 2007 winners can be found at the ThinkQuest Web site.
The Oracle Education Foundation sponsors ThinkQuest and Think.com, free online programs for the primary and secondary education community. It also makes grants to select schools and nonprofits to bridge the digital divide and promote global collaborative learning with technology.
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