The growing popularity of technology camps and other substitutes for a traditional experience in the woods.
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Millions of children in the United States go to summer camp. Some go to play outdoors at traditional camps in the woods, in the mountains or on a lake.
But families now have many choices of specialty camps. These can be in the middle of nature or a big city. Specialty camps offer young people the chance to learn about different subjects. Anything from space exploration to business to medicine.
In technology camps, one subject that children can learn about is video game design. They learn how to use computer programs to create games of their own.
One program that teaches video game design is called Cybercamps, located at the University of Maryland. Children can learn how to design their own virtual worlds to set their video game in. Then, they program their own rules and objects into the game.
Cybercamps also offers courses in robot building and Web design. A recent story in the Washington Post described how one child made a robot that could sing a song. Another made a robot that could follow a black line drawn on a piece of cardboard. Also, children can learn how to make Web sites. One child made a site for Pokemon, one of his favorite cartoon shows.
Kids-N-Technology is a day camp offered in several American cities. Boys and girls age eight to 18 get the chance to build their own desktop or laptop computer or game machine. They take it home after the camp is over.
In the past twenty years, the number of day camps in the United States has grown by almost 90%. Still, more than half of all camps are overnight camps. But the American Camp Association says, over all, the most popular length of time for kids to attend a summer camp is one week or less.
Friday, March 7, 2008
Saturday, March 1, 2008
Brown University:Allowing Students To Create and Soar Intellectually and Individually
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Providence Rhode Island is where Brown University is located and where Jamaican native Carrie Ann Gordon has chosen to attend. “I am not necessarily sure if I chose Brown or if Brown chose me. I applied to a decent amount of schools in the U.S. because I wasn’t really sure what I was looking for and Brown accepted me. They offered a good amount of scholarship or financial aid so that was also part of the reasons why I came here and it also had a really good liberal arts vibe,” she says.
Brown says you do not have to chose your major, you don’t have any core requirements, you could do whatever classes you wanted to do and then from there choose what you wanted to do for your life.”
Chemistry and Africana Studies are the two subjects Carrie Ann is majoring in at the university. She says Brown is a place where the people and the faculty make you feel welcome and glad that you are going there. “Right now, in the Chemistry department if I need help applying to graduate school, I’ve been able to talk to numerous professors and just say like ‘hi my name is Carrie Ann. I was wondering if you have heard of this school. This program. What do you think I should focus on if I am applying to Chemistry graduate school?’ They have been really supportive,” she says. “The Africana Studies department which is the second department that I deal with are really nice. They are just amazing people in the way that they embrace you and they want to know if you are okay, if you see them on the streets they will say hello. Sometimes they will pull you and say ‘hey, do you want lunch?’ So that is definitely good,” she says.
“The atmosphere at Brown has been really good for the most part. I haven’t had problems finding friends and there are people here who are of Jamaican decent so they are American, but their parents may be from Jamaica and that helps in some sort of a commonality. Also, the year I came to Brown two other Jamaicans came so I wasn’t alone in that and I am actually good friends with one right now,” she says.
“It is a pretty good environment. The deans are supportive and there is an advisory system and if you know how to use it, it can be extremely beneficial to your life.”
This is Carrie-Ann's senior year and she realizes that attending Brown has helped her reach her full potential to doing whatever she wants to do in life. “I think education is more than sitting in a college classroom and learning numbers and I guess chemical formulas in my field of study,” she says. “I think education is about learning about the world around you and how you yourself can contribute to the world. Jamaica doesn’t have the best educational system in the world and I think it is not because they don’t have a good syllabus or a good idea of what they should be teaching people, its just that education isn’t accessible to everyone and because not everyone can get the education that they need to survive or thrive in that society we have poverty and I guess people not being able to reach their full potential.”
Carrie-Ann says regardless what she does she will be going back home to help her country. “When choosing my major I was like I can’t choose something that I couldn’t utilize there because if I plan to live there and I choose a major that I can’t get a decent job or gainful employment then I am wasting my time at Brown,” she says. But what I realize is that getting a degree that you can use off the bat, like being a doctor knowing you can do medicine, but if getting a degree that you love and that I can use to like create a life of my own so that I can create the job that I want there and I believe that if I am able to find exactly what I want to do in my life and I know I want to do it there, then I will be willing to work to utilize whatever resources I have to be able to build whatever I want to build there,” she says. “
I think my education whatever it is can be used like I don’t necessary think the choice of like what my major is, but more of me being happy with what I have learned at Brown and utilizing it in anyway I see fit at home and that will be beneficial to my country.”
Listen to Profile of Carrie Ann Gordon
Providence Rhode Island is where Brown University is located and where Jamaican native Carrie Ann Gordon has chosen to attend. “I am not necessarily sure if I chose Brown or if Brown chose me. I applied to a decent amount of schools in the U.S. because I wasn’t really sure what I was looking for and Brown accepted me. They offered a good amount of scholarship or financial aid so that was also part of the reasons why I came here and it also had a really good liberal arts vibe,” she says.
Brown says you do not have to chose your major, you don’t have any core requirements, you could do whatever classes you wanted to do and then from there choose what you wanted to do for your life.”
Chemistry and Africana Studies are the two subjects Carrie Ann is majoring in at the university. She says Brown is a place where the people and the faculty make you feel welcome and glad that you are going there. “Right now, in the Chemistry department if I need help applying to graduate school, I’ve been able to talk to numerous professors and just say like ‘hi my name is Carrie Ann. I was wondering if you have heard of this school. This program. What do you think I should focus on if I am applying to Chemistry graduate school?’ They have been really supportive,” she says. “The Africana Studies department which is the second department that I deal with are really nice. They are just amazing people in the way that they embrace you and they want to know if you are okay, if you see them on the streets they will say hello. Sometimes they will pull you and say ‘hey, do you want lunch?’ So that is definitely good,” she says.
“The atmosphere at Brown has been really good for the most part. I haven’t had problems finding friends and there are people here who are of Jamaican decent so they are American, but their parents may be from Jamaica and that helps in some sort of a commonality. Also, the year I came to Brown two other Jamaicans came so I wasn’t alone in that and I am actually good friends with one right now,” she says.
“It is a pretty good environment. The deans are supportive and there is an advisory system and if you know how to use it, it can be extremely beneficial to your life.”
This is Carrie-Ann's senior year and she realizes that attending Brown has helped her reach her full potential to doing whatever she wants to do in life. “I think education is more than sitting in a college classroom and learning numbers and I guess chemical formulas in my field of study,” she says. “I think education is about learning about the world around you and how you yourself can contribute to the world. Jamaica doesn’t have the best educational system in the world and I think it is not because they don’t have a good syllabus or a good idea of what they should be teaching people, its just that education isn’t accessible to everyone and because not everyone can get the education that they need to survive or thrive in that society we have poverty and I guess people not being able to reach their full potential.”
Carrie-Ann says regardless what she does she will be going back home to help her country. “When choosing my major I was like I can’t choose something that I couldn’t utilize there because if I plan to live there and I choose a major that I can’t get a decent job or gainful employment then I am wasting my time at Brown,” she says. But what I realize is that getting a degree that you can use off the bat, like being a doctor knowing you can do medicine, but if getting a degree that you love and that I can use to like create a life of my own so that I can create the job that I want there and I believe that if I am able to find exactly what I want to do in my life and I know I want to do it there, then I will be willing to work to utilize whatever resources I have to be able to build whatever I want to build there,” she says. “
I think my education whatever it is can be used like I don’t necessary think the choice of like what my major is, but more of me being happy with what I have learned at Brown and utilizing it in anyway I see fit at home and that will be beneficial to my country.”
Evidence for School Uniform Policies in US Seen as Weak
Supporters believe dressing the same creates a better learning environment and safer schools. But studies find mixed results. Second of two reports.
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In 1999, 12% of public elementary schools in the United States required students to wear uniforms. Just three years later, estimates were almost double that.
Some middle and high schools have also joined the movement. Yet studies find mixed results from requiring uniforms. And some schools have turned away from such policies.
Supporters believe dressing the same creates a better learning environment and safer schools. The school district in Long Beach, California, was the first in the country to require uniforms in all elementary and middle schools.
That was in 1994. The example helped build national interest in uniforms as a way to deal with school violence and improve learning.
Findings in Long Beach suggested that the policy resulted in fewer behavior problems and better attendance. But researcher Viktoria Stamison has looked at those findings. She says they were based only on opinions about the effects of uniforms.
She says other steps taken at the same time to improve schools in Long Beach and statewide could have influenced the findings. The district increased punishments for misbehavior. And California passed a law to reduce class sizes.
Her report is among several in a book published last year called "Uniforms in Public Schools: A Decade of Research and Debate."
In Florida, for example, researcher Sharon Pate found that uniforms seemed to improve behavior and reduce violence. In Texas, Eloise Hughes found fewer discipline problems among students required to wear uniforms, but no effect on attendance.
Sociologist David Brunsma has studied school uniform policies since 1998. He collected the reports in the book. In his own study, he found that reading and mathematics performance dropped after a school in rural Pennsylvania required uniforms.
Political and community pressures may persuade schools to go to uniforms to improve learning. But David Brunsma and others believe there is not enough evidence of a direct relationship. In fact, he says requiring uniforms may even increase discipline problems.
But researchers also say studies of uniform policies are often scientifically limited. They say more work is needed to get better information.
Download Audio - MP3
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In 1999, 12% of public elementary schools in the United States required students to wear uniforms. Just three years later, estimates were almost double that.
Some middle and high schools have also joined the movement. Yet studies find mixed results from requiring uniforms. And some schools have turned away from such policies.
Supporters believe dressing the same creates a better learning environment and safer schools. The school district in Long Beach, California, was the first in the country to require uniforms in all elementary and middle schools.
That was in 1994. The example helped build national interest in uniforms as a way to deal with school violence and improve learning.
Findings in Long Beach suggested that the policy resulted in fewer behavior problems and better attendance. But researcher Viktoria Stamison has looked at those findings. She says they were based only on opinions about the effects of uniforms.
She says other steps taken at the same time to improve schools in Long Beach and statewide could have influenced the findings. The district increased punishments for misbehavior. And California passed a law to reduce class sizes.
Her report is among several in a book published last year called "Uniforms in Public Schools: A Decade of Research and Debate."
In Florida, for example, researcher Sharon Pate found that uniforms seemed to improve behavior and reduce violence. In Texas, Eloise Hughes found fewer discipline problems among students required to wear uniforms, but no effect on attendance.
Sociologist David Brunsma has studied school uniform policies since 1998. He collected the reports in the book. In his own study, he found that reading and mathematics performance dropped after a school in rural Pennsylvania required uniforms.
Political and community pressures may persuade schools to go to uniforms to improve learning. But David Brunsma and others believe there is not enough evidence of a direct relationship. In fact, he says requiring uniforms may even increase discipline problems.
But researchers also say studies of uniform policies are often scientifically limited. They say more work is needed to get better information.
Thursday, February 21, 2008
Students Do Not Always Like Being Told What to Wear (Duh!)
A look at clothing policies in American schools.
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A listener in Fukuoka, Japan, Shinji Abe, would like to know about school uniform policies in the United States.
American schoolchildren often wear uniforms if they attend religious or other private schools. Most public schools do not require uniforms. But over the last ten years or so, more of them have moved in that direction, including high schools.
Students may have to wear a specially purchased uniform. Or they may just have to dress alike -- for example, white shirts and dark colored pants or skirts.
Even schools that do not require uniforms generally have a dress code or other rules about what they consider acceptable. Policies commonly ban clothing that shows offensive images or words, or simply too much skin. Items like hats may be restricted because, for example, different colors may be connected with violent gangs.
Some parents like the idea of uniforms. Some say it means they do not have to spend as much on clothing for their kids. Others, though, argue that uniforms represent an unnecessary cost. There are also debates about whether uniforms or other dress policies violate civil rights.
Students and parents have taken legal action against school dress requirements. Just last week, a judge blocked a middle school in Napa, California, from enforcing a dress code unless families have a way out of it.
The American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California brought the case for the families of several students who were punished. Most attention centered on a girl who wore socks with the Tigger character from Winnie the Pooh.
The school said its clothing policy, including no pictures of any kind, was needed to control a growing problem with gangs. The families argued that the policy violated free speech rights as guaranteed by the United States and California constitutions.
The United States Supreme Court says student expression is protected as long as it does not harm the work and discipline of a school.
Americans value individual freedom. But some educators believe dressing alike helps improve student learning. They believe that uniforms help create a sense of unity and reduce the risk of fights. They also say uniforms make it easier for security reasons to tell if someone belongs at the school or not.
But just how effective are school uniform policies? Studies have found mixed results. That will be our subject next week.
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A listener in Fukuoka, Japan, Shinji Abe, would like to know about school uniform policies in the United States.American schoolchildren often wear uniforms if they attend religious or other private schools. Most public schools do not require uniforms. But over the last ten years or so, more of them have moved in that direction, including high schools.
Students may have to wear a specially purchased uniform. Or they may just have to dress alike -- for example, white shirts and dark colored pants or skirts.
Even schools that do not require uniforms generally have a dress code or other rules about what they consider acceptable. Policies commonly ban clothing that shows offensive images or words, or simply too much skin. Items like hats may be restricted because, for example, different colors may be connected with violent gangs.
Some parents like the idea of uniforms. Some say it means they do not have to spend as much on clothing for their kids. Others, though, argue that uniforms represent an unnecessary cost. There are also debates about whether uniforms or other dress policies violate civil rights.
Students and parents have taken legal action against school dress requirements. Just last week, a judge blocked a middle school in Napa, California, from enforcing a dress code unless families have a way out of it.
The American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California brought the case for the families of several students who were punished. Most attention centered on a girl who wore socks with the Tigger character from Winnie the Pooh.
The school said its clothing policy, including no pictures of any kind, was needed to control a growing problem with gangs. The families argued that the policy violated free speech rights as guaranteed by the United States and California constitutions.
The United States Supreme Court says student expression is protected as long as it does not harm the work and discipline of a school.
Americans value individual freedom. But some educators believe dressing alike helps improve student learning. They believe that uniforms help create a sense of unity and reduce the risk of fights. They also say uniforms make it easier for security reasons to tell if someone belongs at the school or not.
But just how effective are school uniform policies? Studies have found mixed results. That will be our subject next week.
Thursday, February 14, 2008
China, Russia Win Top Results in Physics Olympiad in Iran
High school students from 73 countries, including the US, competed in Isfahan.
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More than 300 secondary school students competed in the 38th International Physics Olympiad last month in Iran. They came from 73 countries, including the United States.
Students from China had the top results: four gold medals and one silver. Russia was second with three gold, one silver and one honorable mention.
Next came the United States and South Korea. Each team brought home two gold medals and three silver medals. And the teams from Iran and Japan had two gold, two silver and one bronze medal each.
The ten-day Olympiad took place in the ancient city of Isfahan. There were written examinations and laboratory experiments as well as discussion meetings.
And there was news of the death in Isfahan of the president of the International Physics Olympiad. Waldemar Gorzkowski was 67 years old. The Iranian Students News Agency said he died of a heart attack. He led the Olympiad for many years.
The physics competition is one of the International Science Olympiads held around the world.
The American Association of Physics Teachers and the American Institute of Physics choose members of the United States team. Physics teachers across the country nominate students and committees choose about two hundred of them. The students take additional tests to choose the twenty-four members of the team.
In May the members attend the United States Physics Team Training Camp at the University of Maryland. They go through nine days of intensive studying, testing and problem solving. At the end of the camp, five members of the team are chosen to travel to the Olympiad.
The five this year were Kenan Diab of Ohio, Rui Hu of Delaware, Jenny Kwan from California, Jason LaRue of Florida and Haofei Wei from Oklahoma. All five won medals.
The first International Physics Olympiad took place in Warsaw, Poland, in 1967. Until the early 1980's it was held only in the former communist countries of eastern Europe. The United States organized a team for the first time in 1986.
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More than 300 secondary school students competed in the 38th International Physics Olympiad last month in Iran. They came from 73 countries, including the United States.
Students from China had the top results: four gold medals and one silver. Russia was second with three gold, one silver and one honorable mention.
Next came the United States and South Korea. Each team brought home two gold medals and three silver medals. And the teams from Iran and Japan had two gold, two silver and one bronze medal each.
The ten-day Olympiad took place in the ancient city of Isfahan. There were written examinations and laboratory experiments as well as discussion meetings.
And there was news of the death in Isfahan of the president of the International Physics Olympiad. Waldemar Gorzkowski was 67 years old. The Iranian Students News Agency said he died of a heart attack. He led the Olympiad for many years.
The physics competition is one of the International Science Olympiads held around the world.
The American Association of Physics Teachers and the American Institute of Physics choose members of the United States team. Physics teachers across the country nominate students and committees choose about two hundred of them. The students take additional tests to choose the twenty-four members of the team.
In May the members attend the United States Physics Team Training Camp at the University of Maryland. They go through nine days of intensive studying, testing and problem solving. At the end of the camp, five members of the team are chosen to travel to the Olympiad.
The five this year were Kenan Diab of Ohio, Rui Hu of Delaware, Jenny Kwan from California, Jason LaRue of Florida and Haofei Wei from Oklahoma. All five won medals.
The first International Physics Olympiad took place in Warsaw, Poland, in 1967. Until the early 1980's it was held only in the former communist countries of eastern Europe. The United States organized a team for the first time in 1986.
Thursday, February 7, 2008
Historic Antioch College Faces an Unsure Future
A shortage of students and money leads to a disputed plan to close the Ohio school next July and reopen in 2012.
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Antioch College in Yellow Springs, Ohio, is a private liberal-arts school with a history of social activism. It was the first American college to name a woman as a full professor and one of the first to admit students of all races.
Antioch also became one of the first to offer work study programs, so students could gain experience in jobs. And it was among the first to stop using grades to record progress.
A Protestant group known as the Christian Church started Antioch College in 1852. Even in those days it was different from most other American colleges because it admitted women as well as men.
During the 1960's, Antioch students were active in the civil rights movement and opposition to the Vietnam War. At that time, the college had more than 2,000. But times changed.
In 1978 Antioch University was created. Antioch College became the undergraduate residential program.
But it has struggled with a shortage of students and money. School officials say students are rejecting the college because it lacks modern dormitories, wireless Internet or new athletic buildings. The number of students has dropped to only 400 this past year.
Now, the university Board of Trustees has voted to suspend operations at Antioch College next July. School officials say the goal is reopen the college in 2012. They say they want to raise enough money to design what they call a 21st century campus.
Today Antioch University has five other campuses around the country designed to serve working adults. The closure will not affect the other campuses.
Some people say Antioch's expansion is one reason the college is in financial trouble. But university officials say the other campuses have been helping to support Antioch College. They say the college has been operating at a loss for several years.
Antioch College has been closed and reopened three times already in its history, for financial and other reasons. Teachers and former students have talked about the possibility of legal action to try to stop the new plan. The Antioch College Alumni Association has been collecting money to try to keep the school from closing again -- or at least make sure it reopens.
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Antioch College in Yellow Springs, Ohio, is a private liberal-arts school with a history of social activism. It was the first American college to name a woman as a full professor and one of the first to admit students of all races.
Antioch also became one of the first to offer work study programs, so students could gain experience in jobs. And it was among the first to stop using grades to record progress.
A Protestant group known as the Christian Church started Antioch College in 1852. Even in those days it was different from most other American colleges because it admitted women as well as men.During the 1960's, Antioch students were active in the civil rights movement and opposition to the Vietnam War. At that time, the college had more than 2,000. But times changed.
In 1978 Antioch University was created. Antioch College became the undergraduate residential program.
But it has struggled with a shortage of students and money. School officials say students are rejecting the college because it lacks modern dormitories, wireless Internet or new athletic buildings. The number of students has dropped to only 400 this past year.
Now, the university Board of Trustees has voted to suspend operations at Antioch College next July. School officials say the goal is reopen the college in 2012. They say they want to raise enough money to design what they call a 21st century campus.
Today Antioch University has five other campuses around the country designed to serve working adults. The closure will not affect the other campuses.
Some people say Antioch's expansion is one reason the college is in financial trouble. But university officials say the other campuses have been helping to support Antioch College. They say the college has been operating at a loss for several years.
Antioch College has been closed and reopened three times already in its history, for financial and other reasons. Teachers and former students have talked about the possibility of legal action to try to stop the new plan. The Antioch College Alumni Association has been collecting money to try to keep the school from closing again -- or at least make sure it reopens.
Friday, February 1, 2008
School Ends, and So Too Does Our Foreign Student Series
A look at graduation time in America.
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Summer means the end of another school year in America. May and June are graduation season.
Centuries of tradition explain the special caps and gowns that students and professors wear at commencement ceremonies.
Top members of the class and invited guests offer speeches and advice. Finally the time comes for what everyone has been waiting for: one by one, the names of the students are called.
They go to the front and shake hands with school officials. They might receive their official diploma that day or maybe a few weeks later.
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Summer means the end of another school year in America. May and June are graduation season.
Centuries of tradition explain the special caps and gowns that students and professors wear at commencement ceremonies.
Top members of the class and invited guests offer speeches and advice. Finally the time comes for what everyone has been waiting for: one by one, the names of the students are called.
They go to the front and shake hands with school officials. They might receive their official diploma that day or maybe a few weeks later.
Graduations are always emotional events. But in May, at Fort Hays State University in Kansas, a graduate named Nola Ochs received special attention. Her major area of study was history. Nothing unusual about that. But Nola Ochs is 95 years old.
That made her the world's oldest graduate for the keepers of the Guinness World Records. Until now they have recognized a 90 year old journalism graduate from the University of Oklahoma in 2004.
Nola Ochs' granddaughter graduated with her. One of the commencement speakers told the students to take a lesson from Nola Ochs and never stop trying.
That is good advice on which to end our Foreign Student Series on higher education in the United States. We began in September with the process of applying to an American college or university. We talked about admissions tests, financial aid, online education, student exchange programs, programs for disabled students and a lot more.
Population experts at the Census Bureau say American colleges and universities will have an estimated 18 million students this fall. Twenty years ago, there were 13 million. Today there are not only more college-age Americans, but more going to college, including older people and women. At last report from two years ago, 56% of undergraduates were women. And women were 59% of graduate students.
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