[SustainableTompkins] Fwd: Students Take Aim at Global problems (CSMonitor.com)

[Patricia Haines]

an inspiring story about global youth cooperation in the interests of climate change - 

----- Forwarded Message -----
From: Steven Brant <trimtab at sprynet.com>
To: SteeringCommittee USPartnership <steercomm at list.ncseonline.org>, "[Excomm]"
<excomm at list.ncseonline.org>
Sent: Fri, 6 Oct 2006 13:15:28 -0400
Subject: [Excomm] Fwd: Students Take Aim at Global problems (CSMonitor.com)



Begin forwarded message:

> From: BBracey at aol.com
> Date: October 6, 2006 12:09:10 PM EDT
> To: undisclosed-recipients:;
> Subject: [TriumphOfContent] Students Take Aim at Global problems
>
> Students take aim at global problems
> http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/1005/p13s01-legn.htm
>
>
> The Global Challenge teams up US and Asian students to solve real- 
> life issues.
> By Christa Case | Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor  
> STOWE, VT.
> Not even old enough to drive, Michael Gibson already had his dream  
> car in mind. But the Stowe High School student wasn't thinking  
> about whether a Porsche or a BMW would better handle Vermont's  
> deliciously twisty back roads at unmentionable speeds. Nope, his  
> saucy set of wheels would have one purpose: to help mitigate global  
> climate change.
>
> To be fair, Michael had some added incentive. He, together with  
> three partners - one from the US and two from China - had entered  
> the Global Challenge contest, a locally founded initiative to  
> improve America's math and science capabilities.
>
> Over the course of the past school year, the group developed a 30- 
> page business proposal for a car with an engine on each wheel,  
> which would reduce friction and improve efficiency. The cross- 
> cultural effort paid off. In July, the team members were each  
> awarded a $2,500 college scholarship.
>
> "There were times when you were, like, uh, I don't know about this  
> - there's so much to do," Michael recalls. But then his team  
> learned that real engineers were working on a similar model. "We  
> thought, 'Hey, that wasn't so dumb!' "
>
> In a climate of troubling indicators foreshadowing a decline in US  
> competitiveness - from international testing comparisons to the low  
> cost of skilled labor in Asia - the Global Challenge stems from a  
> refreshing premise: America does have the tools to compete in an  
> increasingly borderless and competitive world. And one way to  
> cultivate those resources is to give high school students a more  
> compelling opportunity to engage with science and math than is  
> offered by, say, the boring chemistry teacher in the movie "Ferris  
> Bueller's Day Off."
>
> The need for that kind of program struck Vermont-based management  
> consultant Craig DeLuca in 2005. Over the course of a long weekend,  
> he read Tom Friedman's tome on globalization, "The World is Flat";  
> a client of his decided to outsource the manufacturing and design  
> components of its operation; and his local school board proposed  
> postponing the purchase of new science textbooks because of budget  
> constraints.
>
> "The stars aligned for Craig, and he had this epiphany," explains  
> David Rocchio, recounting his business partner's concern about  
> America's future prosperity when he came into the office the next  
> morning. "I, being as glib as I am, said, 'This is what we do for a  
> living - fix it.' "
> And so the Global Challenge was born.
>
> The project, which just completed its pilot year and was awarded an  
> $891,000 grant by the National Science Foundation (NSF) last month,  
> puts US, Chinese, and Indian high school students together in a  
> team problem-solving competition that deals with a science-related  
> issue. Top performers are each awarded college scholarships of up  
> to $5,000 once the recipients enroll in a science- or math-related  
> major.
>
> "Young people in America need to be excited about the challenges of  
> life, and not just the benefits of a good life," explains Mr.  
> DeLuca, his eyes intense with conviction.
>
> While America's strength in the postwar era is still yielding those  
> benefits, many fear that the country is in danger of losing that  
> "good life." In the most recent Programme for International Student  
> Assessment (PISA), American 15-year-olds ranked 24th among their  
> peers in 41 countries in mathematical literacy and problem-solving.
>
> A Congress-commissioned report released in February by the National  
> Academies pinpoints the consequent need for better-trained K-12  
> teachers, as well as a need to generate more student interest in  
> science, technology, engineering, and math - or STEM disciplines.
>
> But instead of trying to reform the whole US education system in  
> one fell swoop, DeLuca opted for starting an "insurgency" at its  
> fringes. As outlined in the NSF grant proposal, the Global  
> Challenge promises to work from outside the system to address  
> several issues raised by the National Academies and others. It  
> outlines an interdisciplinary, extracurricular opportunity geared  
> mainly toward disadvantaged students (who scored far worse on the  
> 2003 PISA) that would get them to engage with math and science  
> through problem-solving activities.
>
> "It's a totally unique approach," says Domenico Grasso, dean of the  
> University of Vermont's engineering school, who is the"principal  
> investigator," or project manager, on the NSF grant proposal - one  
> of numerous proposalshe's shepherded through the process over the  
> years.
>
> While the grant process was under way, DeLuca launched a pilot  
> program last fall, offered as an extracurricular activity for  
> sophomores at Stowe High School and People's Academy in nearby  
> Morrisville, Vt. The program initially attracted 13 two-person  
> teams, which were each responsible for finding an adult mentor and  
> two teammates in either China or India.
>
> That was tough, say Jake Schwartz and Mike Wood, two students who  
> contacted embassies and international schools in China and India in  
> a vain attempt to find partners for their plan to outfit homes with  
> solar nanocells - sheets of tiny solar panels - to drastically  
> improve efficiency. Many people thought it was a scam, because of  
> the college scholarship money promised. Eventually Jake and Mike  
> teamed up with two Indian students whose American students had  
> dropped out.
> In the end, Jake, Mike, Michael, and Michael's partner Ruth  
> McGovern were the only US participants who managed to complete the  
> proposal, which included sections on market analysis, manufacturing  
> and operations, feasibility, and key personnel. Sitting in the  
> Stowe High School library a few days before school got out last  
> spring, they said one of the toughest parts was having only one  
> real deadline and no regularly scheduled meetings.
>
> But Michael's dad, Dr. David Gibson, who served as the mentor for  
> his son's team and was the lead writer on the Global Challenge NSF  
> grant proposal, makes clear that challenge is a key component of  
> the program - even if it means a majority of participants will fail  
> to meet the program's standards.
> "We certainly want to be supportive, but we don't want to detract  
> from how rigorous and challenging going into these STEM careers can  
> be," says Dr. Gibson, who's on the board of the Global Challenge.  
> As the program looks to expand to 60 schools within Vermont, and 10  
> or 20 outside the state next year, Gibson says that it would be  
> "fantastic" to maintain the 15 percent rate of high-quality,  
> judgeable proposals that the pilot year saw.
>
> But Gibson, DeLuca, and the rest of the board plan to add more  
> structure to the program as well, with smaller interim goals  
> throughout the year. DeLuca has also hired two people in China who  
> will help coordinate the program there, including mentors for the  
> Chinese students involved.
> That cross-cultural cooperation is a key aspect of the program that  
> makes it socially relevant, says Dr. Grasso. It gets the students  
> to "look at working with our colleagues overseas, instead of seeing  
> them as a nemesis," he explains.
>
> Menglu Che, one of Michael and Ruth's Chinese partners, was  
> surprised by her partners' freedom to explore so many options. But  
> she was also impressed by how they worked together.
> "In the past, I felt that Americans were very independent, [that  
> they] had a strong feeling of 'self,' " she writes in an e-mail  
> from Qufu, China - the hometown of Confucius. But throughout the  
> project, her partners showed good teamwork, she says. "They did a  
> really good job in considering others' feelings, and sharing ideas  
> interactively."
> Though she thought she and her Chinese peers might have the upper  
> hand in solving problems "on papers," she said she thinks Americans  
> will do better in solving practical problems.
> "What I learned best [through the Global Challenge]," she  
> concludes, "is how to make my knowledge useful in a real project."
>
-------------------------------------
Steven G. Brant, Business Futurist
Founder and Principal
Trimtab Management Systems
sbrant at trimtab.com
http://www.trimtab.com
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/steven-g-brant/

"Human history becomes more and more
a race between education and catastrophe."
- H. G. Wells



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