Tuesday, November 13, 2012

Supporting Student Innovation

Pat Yongpradit is one of my heroes. He is a high school computer science teacher who just does amazing things and gets his students involved in projects that take them well beyond the bounds of normal pointless projects. For several years now he has had students do well in competitions from the Imagine Cup (US Finalists in the game category last year), the Kodu Cup and the NFTE World Series of Innovation.

The other day he sent an email asking me to vote for his students teams. There are great projects and besides voting for them myself I felt I should share them with others. Sure I’d like to to vote for one or more of these projects BUT I’d also like to share the sorts of things students are capable of doing in high school. A lot of what is involved is giving students basic skills and knowledge, inspiring them to do great things, and getting out of the way. The following is from Pat:

My students are finalists in the 2012 NFTE World Series of Innovation. This is a creative opportunity for students to dream up new products and services and have a chance to be the winner of more than $2,500 in cash and prizes.

Watch the ideas and vote for my 3 student groups.

The challenge is presented by Microsoft and the Network for Teaching Entrepreneurship, an organization that inspires young people from low-income communities to plan for successful futures by pursuing educational opportunities and starting their own businesses. Help make a kid's idea come true.

You can vote once per 24 hours per email address... so vote early and vote often!  I believe voting ends on the 16th.

Take a look and if you feel moved to do so, vote. But do take a look at these projects for inspiration.

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