2000 ThinkQuest Internet Challenge

Best of Contest - Sports and Health

Sighting the First Sense - Seeing is Believing

Sighting the First Sense - Seeing is Believing offers a breadth of educational tools and resources regarding sight and visual perception. As an interdisciplinary entry, our site is divided into several sections highlighting many aspects of this topic; from how we perceive sight to the art of perception and how it works. In addition to text and illustrations, visitors also have the opportunity to engage in visual demonstrations and interact with other users, thereby taking full advantage of the "Internet style of learning." All in all, this web site is a prime source for information related to sight and visual perception.

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Platinum - Arts and Literature

Van Gogh at Etten - Sketches and Billboards

Vincent Van Gogh is undoubtedly one of modern art's most appreciated artists. Behind this gifted artist is a series of sad and strange stories. In general he felt insecure about his life and didn't feel a sense of individuality or uniqueness. Therefore, in this interactive and informative website, we will look at the time he lived in Etten, a small town in the south of The Netherlands. The original paintings of Vincent which were used for the billboards in Etten are discussed, a small art course will be added iis in the site, as welll as links to Van Gogh sites, games, quizzes, chatrooms, discussion boards, guestbooks and much more...

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Platinum - Arts and Literature

Hogwarts-Online

"Hogwarts-Online" is a very special kind of school in the Internet. We tried to link the mysterious content of the best-selling Harry Potter novels by J. K. Rowling, by now well known to both children and adults, with interesting knowledge, in order to make learning a pleasure. Our "school" is becoming international, as we intend to translate "Hogwarts-Online" into as many languages as possible, being helped by children from all over the world.

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Platinum - Science and Mathematics

Dinosaur Treks

Dinosaurs have fascinated millions. Now YOU can be fascinated! Learn all about individual dinosaurs, their tracks, and their associated extinction theories. Immerse yourself in three interactive dinosaur treks to get acquainted with the different dinosaurs that existed throughout the world millions of years ago. Also play some of our great games, chat with fellow dino enthusiasts, participate in our many online polls, and check out the amazing dinosaur image gallery. Teachers, remember to view the section just for you and see our ever-growing list of teacher submitted lesson plans and activities.

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Platinum - Social Sciences

Voyage of Exploration: Discovering New Horizons

For countless centuries, people have ventured forth into areas they have known little about. The desire to explore has been prompted by many different reasons- from necessity and curiosity to the desire to find riches. "Voyages of Exploration: Discovering New Horizons" follows in the footsteps of some of the world's greatest explorers, reliving their adventurous expeditions into the unknown. Our aim is to take the users on a journey through past centuries looking at these adventurers, the dangers they faced, where they went and their motivation for exploration. This fits into the curriculum of many areas in many countries, where for example, students may be required to explain the political and economic motives for European exploration, trace the routes of the major Spanish and Portuguese explorers and map the empires established or chart the sea journeys of explorers to Australia. "Voyages of Exploration" is no ordinary text book though. This site utilizes the latest Internet technologies to promote Internet learning by allowing students to interact with fellow students around the world and allows teacher's to track their student's progress.

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Platinum - Interdisciplinary

Replicators: Evolutionary Powerhouses

This website is an interactive learning tool that explores the concept of replicators as it relates to a number of different and diverse fields of study. Replicators - the fundamental units of any process of natural selection - were first defined by evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins as any entities of which copies are made. The concept of replicators has diverse applications in a variety of areas, including biology, sociology, linguistics, and philosophy. The site uses an interactive, hands-on style of instruction to engage visitors in an active process of learning and retaining information. Interactive demonstrations that are both entertaining and informative are used and integrated to reinforce major concepts and enrich traditional text-based education. Visitors are encouraged not only to investigate our demonstrations, but also to become part of our community by sharing their thoughts and opinions with other visitors.

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Gold - Arts and Literature

The Fourth Essential of Life

From the time that Sappho walked the earth and inspired the ancient Greeks with the soft murmur of her music to the Year 2000 with the launch of the motion picture Fantasia/2000, music has been an element of human life that has given this world the power to live with vigor and dignity. One could say that music is as essential to human life as oxygen, water, and food. With this knowledge in mind, this site educates people about the many different dimensions of music. The topics include the physical effects music on people, the diverse musical cultures of the world, and the basics of music.

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Gold - Arts and Literature

The Art of Speech

Words apropos make things go! For words to be apropos we must learn persuade others into accepting our views. Speech is an artform that people seldom stop to appreciate or study. It is around us everywhere. On TV, radio, in the classroom, on the stage. The Art of Speech web site offers a robust and dynamic environment for all, with access to the Internet style of learning. The site covers introduction to communication through advanced rhetorical technique. Through analysis of theories and systematic practice, users will have substantial materials to prepare them for authentic speech activities, competitive speech activities and life. Team C001146 has created an interactive classroom environment that teachers may use to set up a class, monitor and control the use of the site and what their students do. Our innovative test and lesson system will change the way oratory is taught within the classroom. The speech library and letter libraries are great tools for learning about opportunities and style. In between your study time, you may like to take a break and play our original game made with Stagecast creator. We have included virtual post cards with a customizable interface to allow you to make notes in the curriculum, which you may refer to later. Or look up the timeline for a summary of the biographies you have read. We hope you have a fun time. Do stop at the debate areas to exchange your views on the interesting Art of Speech with everyone else.

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Gold - Science and Mathematics

Cellupedia

Cellupedia provides an interactive introduction to the microscopic world of the cell. With a graphical virtual tour of the cellular structures, this site hopes to provide greater understanding of the micromachineries that help weave the fabric of everyday lives. For the casual user, a main objective of this site is to be a comprehensive and fun reference about cells.Cellupedia also provides current and relevant news articles and scientific papers. Finally, this site fosters greater appreciation of the historical developments in cell biology and helps the reader better understand the new advancements in modern biology and medicine.

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Gold - Social Sciences

The Energy Planet

The Energy Planet: This innovative site takes users on a journey through time to learn about the long history, present, and future of energy. The site takes the user on a journey through time, beginning with ancient cultures and their methods of utilizing energy. All modern forms of energy are explained in detail, and specific modern components, such as fuel cells, batteries, and generators are taken apart piece by piece and explained in detail. Future forms of energy are explored. We live on an Energy Planet!

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Gold - Sports and Health

Eyesight, an Insight

Eyesight, an Insight is an interactive website aimed to provide you with all the information you could imagine about the most precious gift given to man - his eyesight. We even have an assistant version for those who dont want to strain their eyes while reading the text on the site.

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Gold - Sports and Health

Poisonous Plants and Animals: Danger and Use, Beauty and Fun

This web site contains valuable information on poisonous plants and animals. A wide range of species are described and classified according to their habitat and biological origin. Special attention is given to the behavior of venomous snakes and insects with advice on how to avoid a deadly bite. The site also reviews the application of some plant and animal poisons in medicine and pharmacy thus showing that dangerous substances can sometimes be useful.

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Gold - Interdisciplinary

Butterflies - On the Wings of Freedom

Many people find butterflies very beautiful, but hardly anybody knows how these marvels are constructed. Therefore, our entry provides thorough, broad and brand-new information about butterflies, because the more people know about the wonders of nature, the more they are determined to save it.

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Gold - Interdisciplinary

The UnWritten: Saving Your Photo Stories For The Future

"The UnWritten" will lead you into a fascinating interactive educational quest. Working with one photo at a time, this quest will show you how to research, write, and save your photo-stories. A photo-story can be as simple as an informative caption, poem or short story, or as complete as a biography. It can include portions of a diary, notes, or a log. By exploring the windows of your past you will find some of the most exciting stories that are yet unwritten. Through old photos you can discover personal connections to world history along with fascinating love, horror, and mystery stories that link the past into your life. Participating in this quest will help you have a better understanding of who you are by exploring your past. Most photo-stories are unwritten and in great danger of being lost forever. As the "The UnWritten" team our quest has only begun, yet it has already taken us back many decades through great adventures, horrid tragedies, ghost stories, and natural disasters which we will share as examples. During the search for our old family photo stories our team met our third team member through the web. We are three girls and all cousins, yet there are thousands of miles and over 100 years of family history between us. Who knows, maybe you too could find a lost cousin.

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Silver - Arts and Literature

Musically Inclined

There are many aspects to the art we call music. Using the ability of the web to teach, Musically Inclined tries to make music education as enjoyable as music entertainment. A complete library hosts a collection of interesting and informative articles, including interviews with world famous musicians and detailed information on every modern orchestral instrument and its international relatives. Our unique concert hall area contains musical performances of composers like Chopin and Beethoven, but also jazz performances by world famous musicians, and even works submitted by users. In the interactive pages, users find themselves using the web as a true means of education. With games where you can test your ?good ear?, and a forum where you discuss the latest in the music world. Musically Inclined is nicknamed, ?the ultimate music resource?, but it?s also the ultimate music classroom.

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Silver - Science and Mathematics

Carbon is 4 Ever

Carbon is 4 Ever is an interactive site that explores different aspects of Organic Chemistry. While giving a brief overview of the main areas of Chemistry, the site focuses on the unique bonding capabilities of the carbon atom and a range of organic compounds (alcohols, alkanes, aldehydes and carboxylic acids). The significance of "4" in the title is a reference to carbon's valency number. To make the lesson interactive and fun, the popular theme of James Bond is used as a metaphor for the site in relation to carbon bonding. The learner must take on the persona of Bond,?: Carbon Bond. They must battle to save the world through five interactive missions and are motivated to learn and apply their knowledge by entertainment, success and a scoring system. The final challenge tests information learned while going through the site.

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Silver - Science and Mathematics

Forces of Nature

Forces of Nature strives to educate users on the workings of our dynamic planet, Earth. From aurora borealis to Heiligenschein to the elusive Fata Morgana, the site provides interesting facts about natural phenomena that encompass our world.

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Silver - Science and Mathematics

Greatest Inventions - The Evolution of Man Through History

Greatest Inventions - The Evolution of Man Through History is a Web site developed with purpose of acquainting the Internet surfer with the greatest minds of all times and the greatest inventions they have invented to improve life for all mankind.

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Silver - Social Sciences

Epsychlopedia

This site provides resources geared towards introductory psychology students and educators. If you are a student, you will benefit from the interesting, easy-to-read lessons and many other powerful features of the site. The lessons cover the main concepts in psychology, history and research methods in psychology, as well as important case studies. The powerful features include streaming-video interviews with experts, activities for you to try at home, online quizzes, user-rated links to more resources, and a chat forum and message-board for you to share knowledge with each other!

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Silver - Social Sciences

World Mail

Take a fascinating whirlwind tour through the various postal systems in the world. Covering more than 60 postal systems around the globe, we will explore the colors and contrasts of international postal systems from the breezy isles of the Faroes to the exotic heartland of South Africa. See how unity in diversity exists as the vastly different postal systems worldwide cooperate together to form an international network, with air and sea-mail routes functioning as arteries and veins of this global mail circulatory system.

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Silver - Social Sciences

Products of our Environment?

Many aspects affect a person's attitude and behavior. However, a person's social environment has a particularly profound influence. Your views on certain issues, the way you act in certain situations, and other aspects of your life are largely shaped by the people around you. This site will provide you with information and let you discuss you ideas with others, in the hopes that you will be able to answer the question: Are you a product of your social environment?

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Silver - Sports and Health

Human Genome & Leukemia

Visitors to the site will learn the triumph and difficulties facing the leukemia patients and the hope that the Human Genome project offers. The site offers educational activity such as interactive quizzes and games. In the ?Test Your Knowledge? section visitors are invited to take a mini-quiz on leukemia and the genome project. Visitors are offered two Flash animation games designed by the members. The site offers a rich educational experience for visitors of all ages.

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Silver - Interdisciplinary

iFairground

iFairground is an interactive site using the theme of a fairground to educate students about history, science, safety, and business. The site also experiments new ways of teaching math and physics problems and encouraging art and creative writing not only in the classroom but on the internet as well.

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Silver - Interdisciplinary

The Learning Curve

"The Learning Curve" explores one of mankind's fundamental processes: learning. No matter what age, race, gender, or nationality, everyone learns. Learning is topic that affects us every second of every day from the moment we are born onward. Our site is divided into six main sections: How We Learn, Learning Theories, Teaching, Learning Ability, the History of Learning, and Exceptional Learning. Other features include a learning simulation, an effective learning tutorial, a memory game, quizzes, a forum, and surveys.

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ABILITY Magazine Award - Social Sciences

the ableDisabled -- Living Through Learning

"the ableDisabled" is an ambitious site with a multi-faceted goal. Besides being a resource on many types of learning disabilities, the site aims to become a meeting place and public forum where those with disabilities can meet others with disabilities. This site aims to become a one-stop answer to specific questions, general curiosity, and the casual web surfer.

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