131 Students from 15 Countries Take Top Honors for Showcasing 21st Century Skills
Redwood Shores, CA – June 24, 2011
News Facts
More than 33,000 participants from 52 countries tested their skills on a global stage in the largest ThinkQuest International Competition to date.
The global competition, sponsored by the Oracle Education Foundation (www.oraclefoundation.org/) (OEF), challenges students to solve a real problem using their critical thinking, communication and technology skills.
Participants presented solutions using a variety of technologies, including online applications and games, websites, photo essays, online blogs/journals, animations, and videos.
Prizes for the winners include laptop computers, school grants, and a trip to ThinkQuest Live, the inspirational awards event in the San Francisco Bay Area.
Competition Winners
The 27 winning teams were selected from among 7,603 teams. Countries represented by winners include China, Great Britain, Greece, India, Indonesia, Maldives, Moldova, Pakistan, Puerto Rico, Romania, Singapore, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Taiwan and the United States.
Winning entries, in the form of applications, online games, websites, and videos addressed a range of issues including childhood obesity, safeguarding cultural heritage and building adolescent self-esteem.
Teams had approximately eight months to define a problem and present a solution. An international panel of volunteer judges reviewed the entries and selected 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Place winners within three age divisions for each event.
A full list of the winning entries can be viewed at www.thinkquest.org.
Supporting Quotes
“The Oracle Education Foundation is proud to recognize the outstanding achievements of all the students who participated in the ThinkQuest International Competition,” said Clare Dolan, Vice President, Oracle Corporate Citizenship. “These students identified real-world problems and accepted the challenge to solve them through innovative, thought provoking solutions. Throughout the process, these students developed skills that will position them for success in the classroom and workplace.”
“The opportunity to see students from different cultures approach the same task from a variety of perspectives was a great experience,” said Neil MacDermott, Director, Valley Stream Teacher Center, and ThinkQuest judge. “The students were highly motivated and passionate about the problems they solved. They learned a great deal, were open-minded and committed. ThinkQuest enhanced my ability to work with students, and I was pleased to collaborate with other motivated educators who are dedicated to improving student learning.”
Supporting Resources
ThinkQuest (www.thinkquest.org/)
Oracle Education Foundation (www.oraclefoundation.org/)
About the Oracle Education Foundation
The Oracle Education Foundation is a nonprofit organization funded by Oracle. It delivers ThinkQuest, an online learning platform that helps students develop important 21st century skills, including communication, critical thinking, and technology skills. ThinkQuest includes a project environment that supports collaborative learning; technology competitions that challenge students to solve real problems; the award winning ThinkQuest Library, a learning resource visited by millions; and professional development for educators. ThinkQuest supports over 590,000 students in 58 countries. To learn more, visit www.oraclefoundation.org.
About Oracle
Oracle (NASDAQ: ORCL) is the world's most complete, open, and integrated business software and hardware systems company. For more information about Oracle, please visit oracle.com (oracle.com) .
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Contact
Kimberly Pineda
Oracle Corporate Communications
+1.650.506.8831
kimberly.pineda@oracle.com (mailto:kimberly.pineda@oracle.com)
