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Published on 11/02/1998 All articles from this issue

Egan students cycle through the African countryside via the Net

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By Linda Taaffe / Town Crier Staff Writer

Schools Roundup

eventh graders at Egan Intermediate School in Los Altos have been cycling through Kenya and Tanzania observing animals and villagers through an interactive Internet program called Africa Quest. Sponsored by Classroom Connect, the program features live footage of eight scientists participating in a cycling tour while tracing the origins of human beings and studying animal behaviors.

Bailey Field, one of two Egan teachers who helped launch the program at the school, said about 220 Egan students are participating in the program as part of their science curriculum. The three-week program will continue through mid-November, she said.

Field said the students "are all completely enthusiastic. Everyday a kid comes in and is talking about it. They're even going home and studying about Africa on their own time."

Field said the student council voted to donate $100 to a 13-year-old Turkana villager whom they met online to put toward his education. The Kenyon student is in the top of his class but can't afford the $600 fee to go to high school.

Africa Quest can be found at www.classroom.com. Anyone may access the site, but only subscribers will be able to interact with the villagers and scientists.

Foothill space center to benefit from Prop 1A

The passage of Proposition 1A, the $9.2 billion school bond inititative, will provide Foothill College with significant funding support in its ongoing campaign to renovate its Space Science Center facililty, school officials said.

Through a combination of public and private funding, the college is quickly transforming the dormant building into the Center for Innovation in Education, an 18,000 square-foot interactive, multimedia computer laboratory and center for K-14 teacher training.

Foothill is expected to receive $1.4 million in construction funding and $800,000 in equipment for the center in 2000-'01.

The college has already invested $1.4 million in infrastructure improvements. A private fund-raising event raised $400,000. Proposition 1A will add significant momentum to the project, officials say.

Students campaign for teacher's race

Sixth graders at the King's Academy in Sunnyvale got a behind-the-scenes look at how a political campaign operates last month when their teacher, who was running for congress, held a conference at the school.

Chris Haugen, a teacher for the past 13 years, was a Republican candidate for congress.

By the end of the conference, students had banded together to help promote Haugen's campaign with handmade posters.

Haugen earned 28.5 percent of the vote Nov. 3, trailing only second to top vote-getter, Anna Eshoo.