Applications sought for Toshiba program

Staff report

Arlington, Va.

For the past 21 years, the Toshiba/NSTA Explora- Vision Program has motivated thousands of students across the U.S. and Canada to excel and have fun at science.

The world’s largest kindergarten through 12th-grade student science competition, Toshiba/NSTA ExploraVision is a hands-on program that has evolved over the years and continues to inspire young people to tap into their creativity, use critical thinking and combine it with the tools of science and technology to come up with ideas and inventions that could make the world a better place in the future.

Applications for the 2013 competition are available online at www.exploravision.org. The deadline for all projects is Jan. 31.

Underwritten by Toshiba and administered by the National Science Teachers Association, Explora-Vision challenges students to work in a team of two to four to research scientific principles and current technologies as the basis for designing innovative technologies that could exist in 20 years.

Throughout its history, Toshiba/NSTA Explora- Vision has always remained true to its core mission, to encourage excellence and motivate students in science, technology, engineering and math.

This year, Explora- Vision is unveiling several key changes that align the program more closely with the National Research Council’s Framework for K-12 Science Education, which will help define science education for the next 20 years and become a foundation for the development of the Next Generation Science Standards. Toshiba/NSTA ExploraVision is one of the first national competitions to align its efforts with this new initiative.

Among the changes to this year’s program is a requirement that as students provide an overview of their project idea for a new technology, they also must define a key challenge or limitation of the present technology upon which their idea is based.

Additionally, students must describe a research project that would have to be planned and carried out in order to test their ExploraVision project, including, if possible, the type of data or measurements that would be used in the assessment.

Teachers can learn more about ExploraVision and how to use it as a tool in the classroom through a series of Web seminars at http://learningcenter.nsta.org/products/symposia_seminars/ExploraVision/Webseminar.aspx.

For information or an application for 2013, visit www.exploravision.org.