Google Teacher Newsletter - Google Science Fair, GTA Australia and more

Hello educators,

As we approach the end of 2010, we have lots of exciting news to share.

In this newsletter:

- Google Science Fair 2011

- Google Teacher Academy in Sydney

- Google Apps for Education Professional Development webinar series

- Google Apps for Education "Extra Credit" webinar series

- Exploring Computational Thinking

- Google Code-in

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GOOGLE SCIENCE FAIR

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On 11 January, 2011, we are launching the inaugural Google Science Fair. We have partnered with NASA, CERN, National Geographic, Scientific American and the LEGO Group to create a new STEM competition that is more open, accessible and global than ever before. We are reaching out to educators prior to launch to let you know "the Google Science Fair is coming" and to extend an invitation to schools and teachers to get involved early in our global competition.

To sign up for fun and free resource kits for your classroom or school (with bookmarks, stickers, posters and more!) and a reminder notification when GSF registration opens, please visit the Google Science Fair at: http://www.google.com/sciencefair

The Google Science Fair is a global competition that any student aged 13 - 18 from around the world is eligible to enter. Students can enter as individuals or as teams of up to three. There is no entry fee and registration and submission will happen online. The deadline for submissions will be the 4 April, 2011. The Science Fair will culminate in a "once in a lifetime" celebratory event at Google headquarters in California in July 2011 where finalists will compete for internships, scholarships and prizes in front of a panel of celebrity scientist judges including Nobel Laureates, tech visionaries and household names.

We want to celebrate and champion great young scientific talent and give students from around the world the opportunity to compete for amazing experiences, prizes, scholarships and internships.  We hope you are as excited about this upcoming competition as we are are!

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GOOGLE TEACHER ACADEMY IN SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA

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We've got GTA news!  We'll be holding the next Google Teacher Academy in Sydney, Australia on Thursday, March 10th (with an optional half day unconference on March 11th) at the Google office in Sydney.  We are accepting applications from  all over the world, so polish up your writing and video skills and apply by 11:59 PM PST (UTC/GMT -8) on 27 January 2011.  For more information, please visit our site:  http://www.google.com/educators/gta.html.

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GOOGLE APPS FOR EDUCATION PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT WEBINAR SERIES

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Learn how to use Google Apps in the classroom with a new bi-weekly webinar series lead by Google Apps for Education Certified Trainers. Webinars will be held biweekly on Tuesdays, 4:30PM PT and will also be recorded and archived.

Future webinar topics for this series include:

- Dec 7: Google Apps 5x5 - 5 features for 5 products to take Apps to the next level:

https://google.webex.com/google/onstage/g.php?t=a&d=968946500

- Dec 21: The collaborative STEM classroom: https://google.webex.com/google/onstage/g.php?t=a&d=968946500

- Jan 4: Become a Gmail Ninja: https://google.webex.com/google/onstage/g.php?t=a&d=963565943

For more resources, check out the Google Apps for Education Online Training center at http://edutraining.googleapps.com/

Find a Google Apps for Education Certified Trainer to lead PD at your school: http://www.google.com/apps/teachertraining

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"EXTRA CREDIT" GOOGLE APPS WEBINAR SERIES FEATURING NORTHWESTERN, TRUMAN STATE, CLEMSON, AND MORE

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This month, join our webinar series for higher-ed IT leaders who want to learn more and do more with Google Apps. Hear directly from other universities and partners about how your school can integrate, customize, and extend Google Apps for Education. Topics include:

12/6: Using Google Apps as an e-portfolio solution

12/7: Integrating Google Apps with Blackboard(tm) using "Bboogle"

12/8: Integrating Google Apps with SunGard(tm) products

12/9: What EDUs can learn from Enterprise Apps implementations

Webinars are free.

Reserve your spot now at  http://www.google.com/apps/extracredit.

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EXPLORING COMPUTATIONAL THINKING

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Over the past year, a group of California-credentialed teachers along with our own Google engineers collaborated to develop Exploring Computational Thinking (http://www.google.com/edu/ect), a program committed to promoting computational thinking (CT) throughout the K-12 curriculum to support student learning and expose everyone to this critical set of skills. Similar to some of our other initiatives in education, including CS4HS (http://cs4hs.com/) and Google Code University (http://code.google.com/edu), we are providing educators like yourselves with access to our curriculum models, resources, and communities to help you learn more about CT and discuss it as a strategy for teaching and understanding core curriculum as well as easily incorporate CT into your own curriculum, whether it be in math, science, language, history, or beyond.

To learn more about our program or access CT curriculum materials and other resources, visit us at www.google.com/edu/ect.

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GOOGLE CODE-IN

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Google Code-in is our contest for 13-18 year olds to get involved in opensource software. Starting November 22 students will be able to work on a variety of tasks like documentation, outreach, translation, coding, and user interfaces and win $100 for every 3 tasks they complete. 10 Grand Prize Winners will also get an all-expenses-paid trip to Google's headquarters. Check out http://code.google.com/gci for more information.

Cheers!  Happy Holidays and may you have a safe and joyful new year!

Cristin Frodella

Google K-12 Education Outreach

Google for Educators

http://www.google.com/educators

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