1998 ThinkQuest USA Winners

Best of Contest - Science and Mathematics

J.J.'s Adventure: A Baby Gray Whale's Rescue and Release

"J. J.'s Adventure: A Baby Gray Whale's Rescue and Release" is designed primarily to: 1. Provide general background information about gray whales, including feeding, mating and reproductive habits, migratory patterns, . 2. Provide insight into the rescue, rehabilitation and release of a specific gray whale named "J.J.", which was found as a newborn near death last year and was rescued by Sea World. The details of J. J.'s rescue, the process involved in nursing her back to health, and the tasks required for preparing J.J. to be released again into the wild offer a fascinating backdrop for learning about gray whales on a personal level. 3. Offer visitors a glimpse into the often unpredictable world of marine biology and veterinary science. A one-on-one interview with J. J.'s primary keeper, Dr. Tom Reidarson, includes comments from the veterinarian on why he chose his profession and what he likes about it. For students who have often dreamed of becoming a veterinarian, this interview can be the catalyst for further study. We want to encourage students to become acquainted with whale facts through hands-on activities, games, quizzes, and using the whale resources on the Internet to solve a puzzle. We also provide children with a way to interact with the site to add comments, poetry, and art.

Visit Site About

First Place - Science and Mathematics

Online Math Applications

We designed our web page to meet three educational objectives: To apply math to real-life situations; To make math interesting and stimulating; To share interactive math experiences over the Internet. We show that math is part of our daily life by applying it to driving a car, listening to music, using a computer and saving and investing for college funds. The mathematical concepts in each of our topics are defined with simple equations at elementary and junior high math levels. When students realize that they can use simple math to understand and solve problems relevant to their lives, they will discover that math is stimulating. We take away fear of learning math by using simple equations for complicated real-life application. We ask users to submit a quiz to share in the hope of stimulating their imagination in the real world. As more users submit their quizzes, we will build up a database of interesting real-world math applications

Visit Site About

First Place - Social Sciences

Birth of the Nation

The purpose of this web page is to teach about the people, places and events at the Battles of Lexington and Concord at the start of the Revolutionary War, April 19th, 1775. We tried to make the Revolution come to life for children. We wanted the site to be fun as well as informative. We also wanted other children to think about history in their own towns.

Visit Site About

First Place - Social Sciences

Ancient Egypt

This Entry provides information on Egyptian pyramids, hieroglyphics, mummies, and more.Through our ThinkQuest Junior Entry we hoped to provide a site that would be a contribution to the educational community geared toward other 6th graders. We wanted to develop a vehicle to enable children to learn about an cient Egypt in an active format.

Visit Site About

First Place - Sports and Health

The Real Truth About Fast Food And Nutrition

The Real Truth About Fast Food And Nutrition provides a general overview of nutrition (calories, RDA, fats, etc.). The site also focuses on the nutritional value of fast food restaurant items and how these restaurants get you to buy the food, The Real Truth About Fast Food helps you to find more healthy selections when you go out to eat.

Visit Site About

First Place - Interdisciplinary

Tracking Creativity

Tracking Creativity lets you use your creativity . The site gives you a chance to explore the world of imagination through odes, idioms, and ideas for future inventions.

Visit Site About

First Place - Interdisciplinary

Down Syndrome

Welcome to our project about Down syndrome. We decided to pick this topic because one of the members of our group -Elijah - has Down syndrome. We wanted to learn more about what causes it.

Visit Site About

Second Place - Arts and Literature

Middle School Book Review Website

Our site is a many-faceted book resource for middle school students. We have over 120 book reviews from several countries and various parts of the USA. Included is information on different kinds of books, authors, and links to Internet book and writing resources. We hope that our site can inform students about literature and help them find books they want to read. We hope to make our site even more international in scope (reviews and pages in Spanish, for example) in the years to come!

Visit Site About

Second Place - Science and Mathematics

The Arctic & Its Animals

The world has many different animals. In the Arctic we have many animals that are unique to the north that we would like to tell you about. We have chosen some of the most unique arctic animals there are. We have stories to read, great pictures of the animals, interesting facts to share, and some fun activities to do.

Visit Site About

Second Place - Social Sciences

World War II: An American Scrapbook

World War II: An American Scrapbook uses the stories of four children's elderly relatives to start an inquiry into the War. The visitors to the site should T become more aware of the World War II experience through the family histories The site will also show fhow the study of World War II is relevant to them today.

Visit Site About

Second Place - Sports and Health

Jump Into Snowboarding

Snowboarding is fun! It is also hard work. We would like to get people to try snowboarding and learn more about it. We included the history of snowboarding, geometry of snowboarding, interviews with a snowboarder and a sports salesman on our site. We also described the kinds of equipment to make it easier for someone to understand what snowboarders use.

Visit Site About

Second Place - Interdisciplinary

The Nest: Nick and Sam's Bird Page

Anyone, from a child too young to read to a highly educated scientist, can learn from observing birds in their natural surroundings: Birds offer insight into geography, habitats, and adaptability; the food chain, predators and prey, and competitors; and the relationships among people, the environment, and animals. "Birding" is a hobby that can be enjoyed anywhere in the world, at any time, and that requires little or no investment. We hope that anyone visiting our web site will become interested in birds and become more aware of environmental issues. We picked links to other bird sites around the world that we think will make readers want to learn more about the birds and their environment somewhere away from home.

Visit Site About

Third Place - Arts and Literature

Chinese Calligraphy: Language as Art

Learn all about the ancient form of art known as Calligraphy as it originated from the world's oldest ongoing civilization, China.The web site was created to introduce other young people to the art of Chinese calligraphy. It deals with the tools, stroke order, and the meaning of several characters. We hope this leads to an insight into the Chinese culture.

Visit Site About

Third Place - Science and Mathematics

Bay Kids' Weather Page

We want others who visit Bay Kids' Weather page to learn about weather and natural disasters, including facts, safety tips and some funny things like jokes. People could also use our map to find daily reports when they are planning trips. Another educational part of this web site is having people test their knowledge using the weather quiz. We hope they learn from other people's weather experiences, some of them outrageous.

Visit Site About

Third Place - Social Sciences

Architecture Through the Ages

Our district sponsors an architectural exposition each year. Students need an historical perspective when studying architecture. This site will give them some of the background they will need to get them started on their project. We hope to further develop this site so it will help them in all the design aspects. Architecture Through the Ages is designed: --to learn and share the elements of architectural design --to search and find appropriate sites on the Internet dealing with the topic of architecture. --to learn and practice the steps in the research process --to research the history of architecture through the ages. We also wanted to build an interactive web site that would encourage our peers to better to understand the historical implications of architectural design.

Visit Site About

Third Place - Sports and Health

KidFit

The KidFit team wanted to provide a guide for physical fitness. The National Physical Fitness requirements are identified on the site. The personal training circuit lists exercises, explains how to do them and identifies the purpose for each exercise. Individuals can work with both resources to determine their personal requrements and set personal goals. Many team and individual sports are described to guide students as to their interests and abilities. Suggestions for healthy eating bahits and ways to stay in shape are included. A personal interview from a U.S. soccer player is included.

Visit Site About

Third Place - Interdisciplinary

Kid's Consumer Corner

The world of finance is not just for adults, kids can take part in it also. We tried to create a fun way of looking at the world of finance for kids between the ages of 8-12, The steps to learning finance and business are not as hard for children to learn as they are for adults, but they are challenging. We hoped that once kids got involved in their own finances, that they would find that learning about business, when you are a kid, could become a valuable resource when you become an adult. The world of finance is not just doing paper work. It can be very fun to learn, and once you get the hang of it, it will become second nature.

Visit Site About

Fourth Place - Arts and Literature

Pegasus' Paradise

We saw a great need for elementary level materials on the Web about Greek Mythology. We wanted to introduce Greek Mythology to children in a fun and exciting way.This site includes the correct pronunciation of some of the more difficult names, since many other Greek mythology sites don't have pronunciation guides.

Visit Site About

Fourth Place - Science and Mathematics

Plants and Our Environment

Visitors to "Plants and Our Environment" will learn that plants are the basis of life on earth. Students made the web site to explain that (1) roots, stems and leaves help plants live and grow;(2) flowers form seeds that can produce new plants; (3) germination, growth, and formation of new seeds are stages in the life cycle of a plant. The students describe pollination and explained how plants with flowers form seeds. Students will describe how pollen can be scattered . Visitors will learn about photosynthesis, monocots and zygotes, how seeds travel and how a seed germinates to produce a new plant. Visitors will understand how plants are used by people for food, clothing and other useful products.

Visit Site About

Fourth Place - Social Sciences

Explorers of the Millennium

Our web site, "Explorers of the Millennium," will provide students with a wealth of information about the most important explorers of the past thousand years in a simple, easy-to-use format. We included reports on nineteen explorers, chosen by members of our team. We organized the explorers on separate "Hall of Fame" and "Timeline" web pages, so that users can look for a particular explorer by name or by century. We have a links page to help students find other helpful Web sites that relate to the explorers selected. A quiz section gives visitors a chance to see what they know about some of our explorers. A feedback page invites visitors to submit their own nominations for our Explorers' Hall of Fame. We hope that a visit to "Explorers of the Millennium" will answer students' questions about explorers, lead them to new sources of information, and encourage them to think critically about which explorers were the "greatest" and why.

Visit Site About

Fourth Place - Sports and Health

Nutrition for Kids

Our team's educational objectives were to help kids learn about nutrition and still have fun. Since a lot of kids are not eating right, we decided to help kids lead better, healthier lives. We wanted to help kids interact with us and other people about good nutrition. We hope that other kids will like our web site and learn from it.

Visit Site About

Fourth Place - Interdisciplinary

Ahupua'a Adventure--From the Mountains to the Sea

The Ahupua'a Adventure game is designed to have people around the world learn more about Kaua'i and its history and culture. Featured topics are medicinal plants, surfing, legends, beliefs, animal life, and ways to prepare some Hawaiian foods. Historical topics include how Hawaiians separated the land into divisions which were known as Ahupua'a. The site contains geographical, cultural, and historical information about Hawaii including an interactive game where you can try your hand at surviving the Kukui Trail to learn survival skills while having fun. The interactive parts involve providing people with the chance to learn to make smart choices in tough situations. Some of the smart choices you would have to make were to decide what to eat, what to wear, and how to stay alive in the night. All of these decisions are similar to the choices you must make when you grow up.

Visit Site About

Fourth Place - Interdisciplinary

Aviation Through the Ages

Aviation Through the Ages is built to be an interesting and interactive web site for others to explore pointing them in directions that will lead them in to their own independent study of aviation.. Leonardo da Vinci will guide you through the study of aviation. Our goals as a TQ team were: --to research the history of aviation and contributions of famous aviators --to learn and share the principles of flight --to search and find appropriate sites on the internet dealing with the topic of aviation. --to build an interactive web site that would encourage our peers to explore the world of aviation and learn and share from their experiences.

Visit Site About

Fifth Place - Science and Mathematics

Click on Bricks: Multiplication Facts 1 to 4

Click on Bricks is meant to be an additional way for younger elementary school students to practice their basic multiplication facts (from 1 to 4). The relationship between addition and multiplication is outlined, a process for duplicating the activities in the classroom using "Bricks" is included, and sample problems are given. If the answer is incorrect, a visual clue and the chance to try again is offered. A list of links to related math sites is included to offer visitors more fun and interesting sites.

Visit Site About

Fifth Place - Social Sciences

Roanoke: A Mystery in History

The entry "Roanoke - a Mystery in History provided students with a familiarity and better understanding of the Renaissance time period, focusing on people, places and chronological happenings in the early settlement of Roanoke.. The settling of Roanoke and its fate are described. The mysterious disappearance of the lost colony leave students with questions to ponder further.

Visit Site About

Fifth Place - Interdisciplinary

Snowtastic Snow

We are trying to teach people about snow. For the people who live in an area that has snow, it is important to learn how to live with the snow safely, and things to do in snow that are fun. For people who live in an area without snow, we are trying to teach them different things about snow that they might not have known. There are many different things related to snow, like glaciers, the water cycle, sports, books, etc., which we include. Hopefully people will learn that there is more to snow than just flakes falling down!

Visit Site About

Fifth Place - Interdisciplinary

The Iditarod Trail

This site teaches about the Iditarod dogsled race with historical information, trail information, and an interview with an Iditarod vet. Our project has team members from Anchorage, Alaska and Eugene, Oregon.

Visit Site About