Two California high schools won 1st and 3rd place in the Oracle Education Foundation’s ThinkQuest international competition that challenged students to solve problems using technology.
"This is an amazing accomplishment because the winners were selected from among 7,603 teams and represented China, Great Britain, Greece, India, Indonesia, Maldives, Moldova, Pakistan, Puerto Rico, Romania, Singapore, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Taiwan and the United States," said Gary Page, IT consultant for the California Department of Education and author of Ed Synergy where an announcement was posted last Friday.
Mira Costa High School students won first place by developing a website, The Water Crises, which focused on the crisis faced by over one billion people who lack access to clean water. This website discusses the challenges faced by communities that lack clean water and possible solutions, such as education. Mira Costa High School is located in Manhattan Beach.
The Oak Ridge High School team took third place for the Locker Checkout Program, an application that matches students with school lockers based on gender and grade level, thus replacing the old manual matching processes. Oak Ridge High School is located in El Dorado Hills near Sacramento.
Teams were instructed to use their communications, technology, and critical thinking skills to define a problem and offer a solution. An international panel of volunteer judges selected the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place winners for three age divisions within each event.
