Science : Rosalind Franklin Centenary : Image Competition & Essay Competition

Rosalind Franklin [1920-2020]

This year, to mark 100 years since the birth of Rosalind Franklin The Rosalind Franklin Institute is looking back and celebrating on the life and work of this amazing scientist. The Rosalind Franklin Institute will be highlighting how many current discoveries and inventions would not have been possible without Rosalind Franklin’s work. 

Mys usual readers know that I published an article about Rosalind Franklin on her 93rd birthday the 25th July 2013.

The Franklin Family

via BBC

Scientist Rosalind Franklin would have been "totally amazed" that 100 years after her birth she is being commemorated, according to her sister.

She is best known for her pioneering work which guided James Crick and Francis Watson to unlock DNA's secrets.

But far more of her short career was spent unravelling the molecular structures of coal and viruses. 

Jenifer Glynn, 90, her sister, said she would have been pleased if her career "encourages girls into science".

Rosalind Franklin

https://images.nationalgeographic.com/

"I think she would be totally amazed at the fact that 100 years after her birth there's such commemorations," 

Jenifer Glynn

Mrs Glynn said before her "sadly early death" aged 37 in 1958, she worked across biology, chemistry and physics, with a "focus on research that mattered to society."

Rosalind Franklin Papers 1951-1954

https://wellcomelibrary.org/

"She would have also been amazed at the idea she has become a feminist icon - it was not in her mind at all.

"She was aware that it was harder for women, but wasn't trying to blaze a trail, although nothing would have pleased her more than the fact that perhaps it encourages girls into science."

Mrs Glynn said before her "sadly early death" aged 37 in 1958, she worked across biology, chemistry and physics, with a "focus on research that mattered to society".

Newnham College and the Churchill Archives Centre in Cambridge, which holds her scientific papers, are marking the Centenary of her birth this 25 July 2020.

Rosalind Franklin 100 Image Competition

https://www.rfi.ac.uk/franklin-100-news/

• Rosalind Franklin 100 Image & Essay Competitions:

This year marks the Centenary of Rosalind Franklin’s birth. It's an exciting time for the institute named in her honour. 

As the institute prepares to open the new building, a four storey on the Harwell Campus which will house a world-unique technologies.

The Rosalind Franklin Institute was looking for images from member institutions to celebrate both its namesake and the interdisciplinary work she has inspired. 

• Images in three categories: fact, experience, and experiment

The Rosalind Franklin Centenary Image Competition was open on 14th April and will close on 25th July, with the winner being announced in September 2020.

Rosalind Franklin 100 Essay Competition

https://www.rfi.ac.uk/franklin-100-news/

At the same time an essay competition for undergraduate scientists at member institutions was running as well for passionate about exploring the intersection between physical and life sciences. 

• The Rosalind Franklin Centenary Essay Competition was open on 14th April and will close on 25th July, with the winner being announced in September 2020.
• 
  

Rosalind Frank

Visionary scientist

Illustration by Jody Hewgill for TIME

Time Magazine, 1953

https://time.com/

In 1953, Time published an article about Rosalind Franklin on the cover included in the well known project 100 Women of the Year.

 In 1953, Watson, who had been investigating the structure of DNA as well, was shown the image and immediately knew its significance. 

"The instant I saw the picture my mouth fell open and my pulse began to race,” he wrote in his 1968 book, The Double Helix. “The black cross of reflections which dominated the picture could only arise from a helical structure.”

As we know, at age 37, Franklin died of cancer (1958). Only now is she being appreciated. 

"In my cancer advocacy work, I’ve met female scientists who are welcomed and respected by their male colleagues. I’m sorry Rosalind Franklin wasn’t. But from now on, whenever you hear the names of the two men who discovered DNA, make it a troika: Franklin, Watson and Crick - in that order."

Katie Couric, Time, 1953

Rosalind Franklin Centenary 

https://www.rfi.ac.uk/

Well, we will be back in September with the names of the winners of the two competitions: Rosalind Franklin image competition and Rosalind Franklin essay competition.

"I think she would be totally amazed at the fact that 100 years after her birth there's such commemorations," 

Jenifer Glynn

Note: Jenifer Glynn is the sister of Rosalind Franklin

G-Souto 

23.07.2020

Copyright © 2020G-Souto'sBlog, gsouto-digitalteacher.blogspot.com® 

Schools : Women in Science : Rosalind Franklin, resources by G-Souto is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Europeana ? Competition Educational Apps : Get involved !

http://pro.europeana.eu/

Are you an app or game developer? So today, I would like to motivate the last hesitant creative to get involved on the "Europeana Creative Challenge".

Europeana is a database of some 30 million cultural and historical documents, images, sound and video files from Europe's museums, libraries, galleries and archives.

Of course, all my readers know Europeana. It's not the first time I write about Europeana. 

Just remember Europeana : app for Education (2013) or Europeana Remix : new interactive project (2011).

Ok ! So, I am writing again about apps. But now you must to create it. Ok ! You have some more days, to be precise, four days and some hours.

Europeana Creative is looking for creative developers, designers, start-ups and other entrepreneurs to RE-use the Europeana collections! 

Europeana Creative has launched two innovation challenges to create educational apps for teaching Natural History and History Education. 

The challenge is to create applications (apps) for a range of themes: natural history education, history education, tourism, social networks and design

For now, Europeana Creative launched the first two Challenges: 

• Natural History 

• History Education 

 Create :

• A concept or prototype of a web application or app which re-uses digital cultural heritage content accessible through www.europeana.eu, our collections and infrastructure.
• A concept or prototype of a web application or app which engages users with digital cultural heritage content.
• A sustainable, elaborated business model to supplement your product.

Credits : Videos CC BY-SA Europeana Creative

The application phase for the 1st Challenge Event started on February 12, 2014. It ends on March 31, 2014, at Midnight.

Entry Criteria:

You must be a web developer, entrepreneur or creative wizard registered in one of the 28 EU member states. 

Participants can be a single person, team, company or organisation. 

Each legal entry can send in one application for a challenge theme. 

You should submit your application written in English. 

For more detailed information on the application please read the Application Guidelines

Need Inspiration for the History Education Challenge? A Few Ideas? Ok, just read here

http://ecreativeeducation2014.istart.org/

Prize:

The best five applications will be invited to a final challenge event to pitch their ideas to representatives from the cultural and creative industries as well as to investors. 

The winner of a category will receive a hands-on Incubation Support Package provided by the project consortium to bring his/her product successfully to the market.

The winners will be expected to deploy a working prototype by the end of July 2014.

The Europeana API allows you to access to most of the collections and incorporate them into things like apps, games, websites, even creating mash-ups using other sources or APIs. The possibilities are endless!

So if you want to apply or simple team up with other creative thinkers your ideas together go on!

True ! You have four days, three hours and some minutes.

But if you have a good idea, don't give up ! You have the time. A brilliant idea starts next minute.

Visit Europeana Creative on Facebook or follow on Twitter.

"We believe in making cultural heritage openly accessible in a digital way, to promote the exchange of ideas and information. This helps us all to understand our cultural diversity better and contributes to a thriving knowledge economy."

Europeana Challenge Team

G-Souto

26.03.2014

Copyright © 2014G-Souto'sBlog, gsouto-digitalteacher.blogspot.com®


Europeana? Competition Educational Apps : Get involved ! by G-Souto is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

First InGenious Competition for Schools: STEM

http://www.eun.org/

Are you a curious and innovative teacher? Have you creative students?  So InGenious is for you.

http://www.womenandtechnology.eu/

inGenious, the European platform in STEM education, is looking "for teachers from the European Union, FYROM, Switzerland and Turkey, and from all disciplines, to be rewarded."

You have some days left to enter the competition, 31 January 2014, by presenting activities you have implemented in your class to help pupils understand the role played by STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths) in our lives and the career opportunities that STEM skills can open.

http://files.eun.org/

The inGenious competition aims to raise pupils’ awareness of STEM studies and careers, by exploring innovative sectors, breaking down stereotypes, addressing tomorrow's challenges, and understanding how we can make a difference. 

Where is is taking place:

This competition is for any and every motivated primary and secondary level teacher from either of the European member states, Israel and Turkey. 

What is it about: 

inGenious is looking for creative individuals that have a real passion to inspire and prepare students for innovative and highly recognized paths and careers in science, technology, engineering and maths.

Teachers are asked to help pupils find the link between their passions, such as mobile technologies, robotics or space exploration, and obtaining the necessary skills to reach career paths in these domains.

• Teach and inspire by conducting thought-provoking lessons, activities in class, takling issues around false stereotypes, understanding which skills lead to which opportunities, and talking about the many attractions towards high level STEM sector jobs;   
• Reach out and Discover by inviting experts, visiting a factory, testing industry practices, conducting role plays;
• Show and tell by creating high quality materials and resources that can be shared in classrooms across borders, make the experience fun and interactive.

"Explain what you have done, and why other colleagues from across Europe may find it useful and should apply it in their class, and get rewarded: you will be invited in Brussels for the European Award ceremony award and a science workshop."

The competition was launched in September 2013 and the deadline is 31 January 2014. 

Important information: 

Only activities conducted between this time-frame will be considered eligible. However, teachers will still be able to submit their entries throughout the month of February.

How to apply:

Visit Guidelines, Terms and Conditions here

Important: Download the inGenious Competition Guidelines

To submit your entries go on My Entries here

In My entries, you will be able to access a private area to manage the submission of your competition entries! 

If you are looking for inspiration, check the inGenious resources. And now watch the video Ignite your Future below:

Ignite Your Future is a video with supporting lesson plan series that challenges pupils directly to think about a future in a science related career. Ignite Your Future makes powerful connections between the innovations pupils enjoy, their school studies and STEM careers. 

Why participate?

There are many reasons to participate in the inGenious competition! 

• Earn the chance to be one of the 30 finalists to attend the Award Ceremony in Brussels 
• Earn the chance to win an invitation for the Science disseminators workshop
• Share and learn from like-minded teachers across Europe

Some thoughs:

I teach Humanities. And since 2000 I could understand the importance of technology in curricula. So I introduced ICT in my Languages lessons. It aimed to deliver high impact in building digital competences in Languages curricula. My students were very happy.

ICT enhanced learning in the classroom, formal education, and online, informal education.

It's interesting that I practiced flipped classroom on the time, but we didn't name it like this. After all pedagogy doesn't change so much, only the wordsto name it.

Now, we are talking a lot about STEM (technology, maths, science...) but the curricula students must take outside of the major, is still part of every degree. That we call General Education.

Students need Humanities as they need Arts in School Education. And of course STEM as well. Not only STEM.

The time is for STEM. However, Humanities, Arts and STEM must continue stand up together for a complete education.

" I may still have a conflict of interest in that I want my children and grandchildren and my students' children to get not simply a degree, but a basic and substantive education. They are growing fast, and this rehabilitation is long past due."

J. W. Powell

You are a STEM educator? Go on and show your creativity with your students and apply to InGenious competition!

G-Souto

24.01.2014
Copyright © 2014G-Souto'sBlog, gsouto-digitalteacher.blogspot.com®

First InGenious Competition for Schools: STEM by G-Souto is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.

Kids and Creativity

http://aeiou.visao.pt/

"Creativity is a central source of meaning in our lives"

Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi*

Visão Júnior is a Portuguese magazine for children and adolescents. To celebrate the 7th anniversary, Visão Junior promoted a contest for children aged 6 to 15, last August. 

The prize? Seven Nintendos 3DS for seven winners.

Wow! How can children resist!

The aim was to create a scene for a Nintendo game. Using images and objects, children were invited to create a montage simulating some relief and 3D aspects, write a little text (maximum 15 lines)  explaining the game and giving it a name. 

All the participations sent until September 15, 2011.

Luana Ambrósio, 11 years 

The magazine's staff was completely surprised. The organization received 332 drawing works from all the country. 

Watch the video here   Fantastic, don't you think?

I know, I know! You are smiling and thinking: Of course! There is a Nintendo 3D to win!

Well, I am not astonished. And I don't think as you are thinking. Of course children like games and Nintendo 3D. However, they go further than adults when they are invited to be creative.

I really know how amazing students are when educators motivate them to participate in something unsual that can be included in the curriculum, in this case, Languages and Arts.

The Nintendo and Visão Júnior were only a motivation to involve children and adolescents. Winning a Nintendo 3D was a good motivation, no doubt! 

Sofia Monteiro, 13 years 

I can't forget some scientific reports about 3D visual effets on children under 6 years. And I wrote about it on Nintendo 3D?

However, as the participants are up-to 6, the aim is the creativity that we can help to evolve in our students in a simple contest like this one.

Remember other contests, as Youtube Symphony Orchestra 2011, for young schoolar musicians, Robotics in Education for young people or gifted children, European girls drawing competition for ICT for gender equality. All these projects started in the school.

Education:

This contest could be included in Languages and Arts school curricula in elementary education and high junior education.

As educators, we can easily understand how students like to collaborate in different activities that develop their school skills and their creativity! They like to feel free to create. Contests are a great resource that educators must not waste.

Francisco Tavares, 9 years

The organization was so happy about the success of the contest and the quality of the drawing works that  decided to open for a week, in the Lobby of the building, a public exhibition with the best 90 works.

Just a curiosity! Talking about gender equality, it is very interesting to see that from the seven winners, six are young girls.

Some thoughts :

Creativity is a central source of meaning in our lives, and of course creativity is a fundamental aim to captivate students in the classroom.

Students will develop school skills in a different environment that educators may introduce in some moments of the curricula, if curricula are not very attractive to students! They will learn by playing. 

"In this century, the importance of play in educating and socializing chidren has been recognized in theory, while greatly neglected in practice."

Bruno Bettelheim*

Not anymore! There are teachers who changed it! Educators are so creative as their students because they have the courage to change the rules, captivating thus their students for learning.

Inês Lebre, 12 years

"What makes us different from ape - our language, values, artistic expression, scientific understanding, and technology - is the result of individual ingenuity that was recognized, rewarded, and transmitted through learning."

Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi*

G-Souto

27.10.2011

Copyright © 2011G-Souto'sBlog, gsouto-digitalteacher.blogspot.com®

Creative Kids and curricula by G-Souto is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.

Credits: images Visão Júnior

References: screenshots Virtual Illusion

Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, The Creactive Personality, Chicago University

http://www.cgu.edu/pages/4751.asp

Bruno Bettelheim, Chicago University, Chicago Journals

http://www.jstor.org/action/showPublication?journalCode=schoolreview