| Students begin living flu experiment | | Posted Thursday, February 01, 2007 3:10:57 PM by Blog57 Team | | WASHINGTON (Reuters) -- Can wearing a face mask and regularly cleaning hands stop the spread of deadly bird flu? Students at the University of Michigan started a living experiment this week to find out. They are using the peak of influenza season to see if simple cotton masks and little bottles of hand sanitizer will protect them. Health experts fear the H5N1 avian influenza virus might mutate any moment and start a pandemic -- a global epidemic that could kill millions. If not H5N1, some other new virus could do the same, world health officials agree. (Interactive: How a superflu is born) They also agree there is no easy way to stop one. Viruses are very difficult to treat with drugs, unlike bacteria, which can usually be stopped with antibiotics. Antivirals exist to treat flu, but are in limited supply.... | |
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| | | Bright students to be school brand ambassadors in Rajasthan | | Posted Friday, January 05, 2007 1:20:35 PM by Blog57 Team | | Government-run schools in Rajasthan will soon have their bright students and best teachers turn brand ambassadors to attract more students. "We have got a proposal in this regard from officials of the secondary education department. We are looking at it," Rajasthan Education Minister Ghanshyam Tiwari told IANS here. The need to appoint a brand ambassador was felt following increasing competition from private schools. The brand ambassadors would be those who have made their institutions proud in some way."I feel it would be a step in the right direction to attract students to government schools," said Manisha Singh, a teacher in a government school. The teachers would take extra classes during holidays. .... | |
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| | | Math trips up students in WASL retakes | | Posted Wednesday, November 15, 2006 11:26:29 AM by Blog57 Team | | Math remains a snag for most Cowlitz County students who retook the Washington Assessment of Student Learning (WASL) test in August, despite school officials' efforts to prepare students through training classes during the summer.Before the retake, some of the county's students participated in the state's $28 million Promoting Academic Success (PAS) program, which provided students with local WASL prep classes. .... | |
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| | | Number of students taking online courses rises | | Posted Monday, November 13, 2006 7:38:21 AM by Blog57 Team | | Roughly one in six students enrolled in higher education -- about 3.2 million people -- took at least one online course last fall, a sharp increase defying predictions that online learning growth is leveling off. A new report scheduled for released Thursday by The Sloan Consortium, a group of colleges pursuing online programs, estimates that 850,000 more students took online courses in the fall of 2005 than the year before, an increase of nearly 40 percent. Last year, the group had reported slowing growth, prompting speculation the trend had hit a ceiling. "The growth was phenomenal," said Jeff Seaman, Sloan's CIO and survey director, who also serves as co-director of the Babson College survey research group. "It's higher in absolute numbers and higher in percentages than anything we've measured before.... | |
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| | | Schools now require letter grades for kindergarten students | | Posted Sunday, November 12, 2006 1:53:52 PM by Blog57 Team | | Kindergartners in Mobile County's public schools may not yet know all of their ABC's, but now the students are required to receive actual letter grades in every subject almost weekly. It's part of a new systemwide requirement that has teachers redoing the way they assess kindergartners. To make an A, students at Mobile's E.R. Dickson Elementary School, for example, must speak in complete sentences during show-and-tell and use descriptive words. Points are lost if the teacher has to prompt the student to speak. "They're not going to make a 100 if I have to say, 'And then what did you do with it?'" said Vivian Schultz, who has been teaching kindergarten for 24 years and has some concerns with the new grading policy. Schultz and some other kindergarten teachers have voiced frustration over the new requirements, pointing out that these same kids are just now learning to sit still during class and to tie their shoes.... | |
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| | | Brushy Creek M.S. Students Make Film For Soldiers | | Posted Friday, November 10, 2006 11:43:01 PM by Blog57 Team | | The group of students wanted to honor veterans in a unique way, a way that would truly stand out. They came up the idea of making a film and sending the movie to soldiers overseas. It's a real project in patriotism.The film is titled A Tribute To America's Soldiers. It is comprised of messages of love and support from over $1,000 students in the Leander School District. Members of Leanders VFW also make an appearance.DVD copies of the movie, along with letters and cards, will be sent to soldiers in time for the holidays.The two Brushy Middle School students who took on the project talked about why they did it at a Veterans Day event on Friday.I just wanted to show our school how patriotic we are, sixth grader Will Kaelin said. I think its a lot of fun, sixth grader Lexi McDonald said. Being part of the project and making veterans feel good by making a movie for them.The kids took on a mammoth task and say it was a real labor of love.The parade route will close South Congress from Riverside to Csar Chavez starting at 4 a.m.... | |
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| | | CNNU: Students debate affirmative action | | Posted Wednesday, November 08, 2006 3:18:29 PM by Blog57 Team | | Affirmative action was the topic of debate leading up to the midterm elections as students at Michigan State University in East Lansing have been rallying for and against the Michigan Civil Rights Initiative. The Michigan Civil Rights Initiative is a ballot proposal that would amend the state constitution to ban any discrimination or preferential treatment based on race, gender, color, ethnicity or national origin for public employment, contracting or education. For MSU students, the debate centered on affirmative action, which would end if voters approve the proposal. The university does not consider race or gender for student admission, but it is factored into hiring decisions. Students also focused on how the amendment could affect programs for minorities and women, as well as minority enrollment at the university.... | |
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| | | Three schools to fingerprint students for lunch program | | Posted Monday, November 06, 2006 3:37:27 PM by Blog57 Team | | SANTA BARBARA, California (AP) -- A plan to fingerprint elementary school students when they buy lunch has some parents worrying that Big Brother has come to the cafeteria. The Hope Elementary School District has notified parents that, beginning this month, students at Monte Vista, Vieja Valley and Hope elementary schools will press an index finger to a scanner before buying cafeteria food. The scan will call up the student's name and student ID, teacher's name and how much the student owes, since some receive government assistance for food. It is meant to speed up cafeteria lines. "It raises sanitary issues, privacy issues -- it is kind of Orwellian," said Tina Dabby, a parent of two at Monte Vista Elementary. "It just sounds kind of creepy." Currently, the information is written on paper and transferred to computer so reports can be compiled and sent to the state and federal governments, which reimburse school districts for the subsidized lunches served.... | |
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| | | Students tap final frontier of ad space | | Posted Saturday, November 04, 2006 7:45:09 AM by Blog57 Team | | In a novel bid to raise money to send a research satellite into space, a group of students at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology is offering companies and individuals a chance to put their advertisements into orbit. This week, the Mars Gravity Biosatellite Program at the university created a Web site, YourNameIntoSpace.org. The program also started a group on the networking site Facebook.com - "I'm Sending My Name into Space and You Should Too!" The sites will sell space on the satellite where companies or individuals can place their logos, slogans, photos and other images. The group needs about $30 million by 2010 to help finance the project, which is researching how mammals are affected by long-term exposure to Mars-like gravity. .... | |
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| | | Redbank students to compete on quiz show | | Posted Thursday, November 02, 2006 7:14:18 AM by Blog57 Team | | Redbank Valley High School students will compete on WPSU-TV's academic quiz bowl "Scholastic Scrimmage" Saturday on the Penn State-based public broadcasting channel. Redbank team members are captain Andrew Smith, Channing Framption, Josie Shreckengost, Gale Garmong and alternate Lyndsey Smith. The team is coached by Greg Campbell. The one-hour show is scheduled to air at 6 p.m. Saturday, and Redbank's match against Conemaugh Township is scheduled for the second half hour at 6:30 p.m. About 80 teams are competing on "Scholastic Scrimmage" and winning teams keep advancing to the next round. The final two teams will meet in a special grand championship episode. WPSU-TV is available in parts of Clarion County. .... | |
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