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Advanced Technologies Boost Teacher Training Initiatives
Intel® Teach to the Future was incorporated into the top 16 teacher-training universities in the United Kingdom. Intel collaborated with Oxford University to modify the program and tailor it to support innovative uses of technology in the arts and humanities. Standard business technologies are being used in innovative ways to create art, write poetry, and solve problems that students find relevant and interesting.
Oxford professor Dr. Chris Davis has students create "spreadsheet poetry" using spreadsheet and mail merge functions. Students are also using technology to make business and nutritional recommendations based on scenarios such as "You're a disaster relief worker with a fixed budget. Which cereal (wheat, corn, rice, oats, etc.) provides the best nutrition at the lowest cost per unit?" Students go to the market and purchase cereals, input the nutritional and cost per unit data into spreadsheets, and then perform analyses to work through different scenarios.
Intel International Science and Engineering Fair (Intel ISEF)
Intel supports the annual British Youth Science Fair (BYSF) held in London. This year's BYSF winners, Elizabeth Harper-Clark and Nick Hayward, competed in the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair 2002. Nick's pharmacology project Investigating Catalytic Amide Reduction Using Silanes won third prize in the chemistry section. "Science fairs like the British Youth Science Fair and Intel ISEF are a great way to inspire today's youth to entertain new ideas, create new technologies and bring a fresh perspective to the world," says Ian Halpin, Northern Europe Education Manager at Intel.
Intel Computer Challenge
Intel UK sponsors computer innovation within its local community with a yearly Intel Computer Challenge. Each year, 300-400 Swindon-area students participate in the challenge, which poses a task or project that must be completed in a set period of time. Students produce a piece of original work such as a Web page, a musical composition, or original art. Intel employees judge the entrants and also serve as mentors to the students.
Higher Education/University Partnerships
Intel works closely with Oxford and Cambridge universities, and has relationships with Exeter and Southampton Universities. Intel provides equipment donations, supports research partnerships, and engages in curriculum collaboration to increase the use of information technologies within classrooms.
- 20,000 teachers have been trained in the UK through the Intel Teach to the Future program.
- 29,500 computer microscopes were donated to UK schools during Science Year.
- 42 percent of UK survey respondents are likely to look for a career in science and engineering, compared with 53 percent of respondents in Europe. The report Opening Doors, Closing the Gap: Gender and Career Choice in Science and Engineering surveyed young people aged 16-20, either pursuing or likely to pursue higher education in the UK, France, Germany, Italy, or Spain.
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As part of a program to increase the profile and perception of science and engineering in the UK, the Department for Education and Skills (DfES) launched a campaign called Science Year. Intel has supported Science Year by donating 29,500 computer microscopes to UK schools. The new equipment enables students to conduct time-lapse digital photography. They use the results to monitor and study algae growth, conduct original research of microscopic marine life at pond's edge, and transmit and share findings and images directly from the microscope. "As an official Friend of Science Year, Intel has worked hard to ensure that young people receive the encouragement they need," said Chris Parr, Education Manager for Intel EMEA.
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