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Why American students fail in science
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Editorial, Google, Microsoft, Science
There is going to be a lot of debate over the fact that American students are again falling behind in their education. According to National Assessment of Educational Progress, American children are nothing less than pathetic when it comes to understanding science.
This whole mess will be blamed on all sorts of things, probably all valid. But who, besides me, is going to blame the computer? Has anyone noticed that ever since the computer was brought into the classroom, student test scores have been falling? Does anyone find this coincidence weird? After all, the computer is, in itself, a teaching machine, of sorts.
Over the years, I've seen a lot of quasi-teaching software and educational software companies come and go, but can you name one large or middle-sized software company that specializes in educational software for children in grade school now? Just try to name one.
The biggest software company in the world, Microsoft, used to have some educational software sold under its discontinued Home brand, but I have no idea what became of it. The company, along with the Gates Foundation, promotes the idea of computers in the classroom, but it seems more of a ploy to make kids comfortable using Windows than anything else.
For science education, the greatest thing a computer can do is to show scientific principals in a way no blackboard or discussion could ever do, with graphical representation and full motion animation. You'd think that with all the computers that have been installed in school that American kids would be wizards by now. But no.
Click to continue reading Why American students fail in science
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Sakshat: The $15 Tablet PC for Students
Posted by John Kilhefner Categories: Handhelds, PC / Laptop, Science
In a recent announcement by India’s Human Resource Development Minister, Kapil Sibal, (who subsequently can now be referred to as ‘The Indian Steve Jobs’) an innovative tablet PC is headed for the market in 2011 - with a retail price of only 15 dollars! The remarkable device, dubbed Sakshat, is made with students in mind, acknowledging the problem of high cost devices essential to a higher education. Developed by the Indian Institute of technology and the Indian Institute of Science, Sakshat costs a mere $30 to manufacture. While even at such an astonishing price already, Sibal seems hopeful that it can be lowered to an unheard of $10.
Click to continue reading Sakshat: The $15 Tablet PC for Students
Read More 
| IBN Live
Gateway NV Series Notebook
Posted by Sheila Franklin Categories: PC / Laptop
Gateway is after the student demographic with their NV Series Notebooks. Available in black, blue, red, or brown, most feature a 15.6-inch LCD (1366×768,) 4GB RAM, 320GB hard drive, webcam, DVD burner, HDMI and Vista Home Premium. The NV5214u, with a price of $499.00, comes with a 2.1GHz dual-core AMD Athlon 64 CPU and ATI Radeon 3200 graphics while the NV5807u has a 2.1GHz Intel Core 2 Duo CPU and an Intel 4500MHD graphics chipset at a price of $599.00.
Read More | Gateway
Tokyo Students Get Free iPhones For Attendance Purposes
Posted by Sheila Franklin Categories: Cell Phones, GPS, Handhelds
While keeping a cell phone on campus may be good for security reasons in the States, Japan has an entirely different idea. Aoyama Gakuin University in Tokyo has been handing out free iPhones to their staff and students at the School of Social Informatics. They are doing so to keep track of them by GPS to find out if they are cutting class. The instructors will also use them for homework and testing.
Read More | Tokyo Mango
Microsoft Office Ultimate 2007 Price Slashed
Posted by Sheila Franklin Categories: Hot Deals, Microsoft, Software
It may be almost the end of the term for most, but if you are a student, Microsoft has a deal for you. Their Office Ultimate 2007 is priced at $59.95, as opposed to the usual $679.95. That 91% savings is good for anyone who has a viable .edu addy and is enrolled in school or is taking a credited class. The pricing will remain through the end of 2010 and you can grab a copy on its “Ultimate Steal” site. Windows Vista Ultimate (PRODUCT)RED Upgrade w/SP1 and Microsoft Office Visio Professional 2007 are also available at reduced prices.
Read More | Microsoft Ultimate Steal
Self-Flushing Toilet
Posted by Sheila Franklin Categories: Design, Household
This is our kind of bathroom fixture. Students from the Skjern Technical College in West-Jutland, Denmark have designed an intelligent toilet. The thing is so smart it puts down the seat after it has been flushed without the use of an energy source. The four contenders were given a prize for best product at the Young Enterprise entrepreneurial awards. This is a prototype that we hope gets some funding and makes it to the market soon.
Read More | The Copenhagen Post
India to Help Develop $10.00 PCs
Posted by Sheila Franklin Categories: Corporate News, PC / Laptop
India has agreed to work on the planet’s cheapest laptop. The Minister of State for Human Resource Development D. Purandeswari says that the country will try to develop $10.00 units for school kids. Back in 2006, the Indian Government decided not to go for the OLPC program but seems to have changed its mind. The project will be funded by the Reliance Anil Dhirubahi Group and will launch in Maharashtra’s Khairat village. They are hoping to cover about 25,000 towns 6,000 villages by the end of this year.
Read More | India eNews
Robotic Foosball Table
Posted by Sheila Franklin Categories: Design, Science, Toys
Foosball players that can’t find enough competition can rejoice in the fact that they can now play against a robo-player. Engineering students from the Univ. of Adelaide won an award for their mechatronics project that took 8 months to complete. The system consists of a motions sensor system, software for decision making, and an actuation system for control manipulation. The 4 sets of rods can move side to side and rotate for kicking. The winners were sponsored by Sage Didatic and supported by Rockwell Automation.
Read More | Rockwell Automation
HP 2133 Mini-Note PC launches
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Corporate News, Design, PC / Laptop
Today, HP made rumors of their releasing a low-cost ultra-portable PC a reality with the official announcement of the HP 2133 Mini-Note. Meant for the education market, the HP 2133 Mini-Note is designed with students in mind, and is optimized for both in-classroom and out-of-school learning. The 2133 Mini-Note features an 8.9-inch WXGA scratch-resistant display, lightweight anodized aluminum shell,and Wi-Fi. HP also threw in their 3D DriveGuard technology, which locks the drive in the event of sudden movement for protection of data, as well as HP DuraKeys, which prevents fading. You know kids and their greasy fingers.
“HP listened to our needs and now is delivering a product designed by education for education,” said Chris Sieger, director of information technology for Alexandria City Public Schools in Virginia. “Teachers and technology are the two most important assets in education. HP’s announcement demonstrates that it understands what schools need from industry.”
HP is aiming to keep this one inexpensive, so the Mini-Note starts at $499 USD. You can add on things like Bluetooth, integrated VGA webcam, and CompuTrace software which helps local law enforcement track stolen computers.
The HP 2133 Mini-Note PC should be available later this month, and you can check out more images of the device in our Mini-Note photo gallery.
Gallery: HP 2133 Mini-Note PC launches
Intel 2go is Low Cost
Posted by Sheila Franklin Categories: Corporate News, Hot Deals, PC / Laptop
Another laptop has entered the competition at minimal cost. In addition to the Asus EEE and the OLPC, the Intel 2g0 PC has also been designed mainly for students. It features an Intel Celeron M CPU with 915GMS chip, 512 MB RAM (which is upgradeable to 1GB,) and 40GB storage. The 9-inch device also has a 800 x 480p resolution, and room for an SD card. Available in the next couple of months, the 2go should retail for ~$400.00.
Read More | Mobilewhack
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