EAST® engages students in sophisticated service-learning projects using teamwork and cutting-edge technology. The EAST® Initiative, a non-profit organization, helps schools nationwide implement local EAST programs.
www.EASTinitiative.org
www.EASTinitiative.org
Information
- Founded:
- 1996
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Arkansas State Board of Education Meeting Dec. 14, 2009Created about 3 weeks ago
ELMA, Vision Building December 2-3, Har-Ber High, SpringdaleCreated about a month ago
www.texarkanagazette.com
Submitted photo College Hill Elementary Environmental and Spatial Technology students visit with Matt Dozier, EAST Initiative chief executive officer, before making their presentation to the Arkansas State Board of Education.
EAST Initiative
EAST Presents Research Results to Arkansas State Board of Education
EAST Initiative CEO Matt Dozier, accompanied by Alan Simon, Ph.D., of Metis Associates in New York, student representatives from the College Hill Elementary IB World School EAST program and the Harrisburg Middle and High School EAST program and Superin...tendent Tommy Tyler of Fouke, AR, made a 45-minute presentation to members of the State Board of Education at their meeting on Monday, December 14, 2009.
Mr. Dozier presented highlights of the latest research proving the effectiveness of the EAST model and Dr. Simon, whose firm conducted the research, detailed the methodologies and results. They were followed by College Hill EAST student Alyssa, who reported on current projects in the Texarkana school’s program, and student Haley of Harrisburg High School EAST, who described how EAST has benefited her personally. Mr. Tyler shared his experiences and perceptions of EAST as a school administrator in Arkansas.
Student teams from both schools presented projects to visitors and answered questions throughout the morning at booths set up in the lobby. Members of the Board were appreciative of the report and delighted to spend time with the students.
To read the research go to http://bit.ly/7EFJ8Q
bit.ly
The EAST model is grounded in solid pedagogical theory related to the use of technology as a catalyst for learning, collaborative learning, and performance-based learning. Research outcomes that support the EAST model show that the following can occur when using this model:
EAST Initiative
ELMA Training and Vision Building Workshop Hosted December 2 and 3 at Har-Ber High, Springdale
Matt Dozier, President and CEO of the EAST Initiative, and Tim Stephenson, Special Liaison for Program Support, conducted both events. Melanie Bradford of the Arkansas Department of Education presented startup funding opportun...ities at the Vision Building Workshop.
ELMA (EAST Logistics, Management, and Administration) is a one-day workshop to prepare and assist all levels of school staff to support their local EAST Programs. ELMA attendance is required for new EAST programs, Arkansas upgrade recipients, new building administration staff or career counselors.
The Vision Building Workshop is an overview of the EAST Initiative and a chance for prospective member schools to meet EAST students and projects face-to-face. Participants also learn about startup funding available from the Arkansas Department of Education; attendance is required for participation in the Grant Program.
Har-Ber EAST students greeted participants, documented the event through photos, and gave a tour of their classroom, sharing their projects with participants.
EAST Initiative
The holiday season is one where most families spend time together; reflecting on the year that has just passed and making resolutions about the year to come. However there are a number of Americans that aren’t able to spend time with their families this year because of their involvement in the armed services and being... stationed overseas.
Travis M., a Creston EAST student, decided to take it upon himself to help spread the holiday cheer and American pride with troops overseas with his involvement in Operation Gratitude. According to the Operation Gratitude website, “Operation Gratitude seeks to lift morale and put smiles on faces by sending care packages addressed to individual Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen and Marines deployed overseas. Operation Gratitude care packages contain food, hygiene products, entertainment items and personal letters of appreciation, all wrapped with good wishes of love and support. “ Travis contacted the Operation Gratitude offices to see how he could help with the cause. After finding out what could be done, he established a time table for collecting items, promoting the letter writing campaign and finding a means to get the collected items from Creston, Iowa, to the Middle East.
After promoting the cause in the local media (both print and radio), he helped to set up collection tables at a home basketball game, a home wrestling meet and at a local grocery store. He then contacted the local elementary school inviting them to write personal, heartfelt letters to the troops to relay the support and pride that the students felt toward the soldiers.
On the snowy morning of December 7th (the 68th year anniversary of the bombing of Pearl Harbor), Operation Gratitude had reached its culminating point. All together, Travis and the Creston EAST program had collected a staggering amount of items to be delivered to the troops including:
¬ 75 lbs of candy
¬ 73 lbs of food
¬ 42 lbs of toys and games
¬ 12 lbs of toiletries
¬ 458 Beanie babies (given to troops to give to Middle Eastern children)
¬ 185 heartfelt letters to the troops
Those items, as well many well wishes, were shipped to Van Nuys, California, and then off to the troops in the Middle East. All of the items are expected to reach the troops before the Christmas holiday.
EAST Initiative
Student Technical Training
Dr. Kwasi Boateng of the University of Arkansas at Little Rock taught Designing & Management of Web sites with Dreamweaver & Open Source at the EAST Training Center in Little Rock November 17-18, 2009.
Middle school and high school students from all over the state learned how to plan, design a...nd manage web sites using web
authoring software like Dreamweaver, and also how to install and
use Content Management Systems like Joomla and WordPress to run web
sites. They also learned how to use peripheral software for editing
images, encoding, sound and video for the web and an FTP Client (File
Transfer Protocol) for remote transfer of files.
5 new photos
EAST Initiative Happy GIS Day!
www.esri.com
ESRI is the world leader in GIS (geographic information system) modeling and mapping software and technology. This site features GIS mapping software, desktop GIS, server GIS, developer GIS, mobile GIS, ...
EAST Initiative
WCHS and WHHS EAST Day Out
Watson Chapel and White Hall High School EAST students joined to host EAST Day Out (EDO) 2009.
On October 13th WCHS and WHHS EAST students gathered at the Pine Bluff Country Club for EDO. EDO is the equivalent of EAST Night Out; however, it proceeds during the day. Both schools invited bu...siness leaders in their community to come during the hours of one-thirty to three-thirty and learn more about each school’s EAST Lab. The Country Club provided EDO with a friendly environment complete with refreshments! The separate schools set up tables with information about projects their EAST students have worked on. Some of the project tables at EDO were; The Letters for Troops, and The White Hall Toy Drive.
Letters for Troops is a continuous project Watson Chapel EAST students will be working on the entire 2009 - 2010 school year. The EAST students visit elementary children at their schools and offer a coloring sheet, suitable for the current season, asking them to color the sheet and write a note to a soldier. These letters will be sent overseas to American Troops defending our nation. At EDO samples from the elementary children were presented for viewing.
The White Hall Toy Drive table was set up with a Christmas tree representing their cause. The purpose of the toy drive was to collect and donate toys to Operation Christmas Child; an organization to help children in countries over taken by poverty. Toys are wrapped in gift boxes symbolizing a Christmas present then sent to less fortunate children across the world.
Simultaneously with the presentation of project tables, slide shows played to display information about other projects in short. Each slide gave the title of a project, the projects’ leaders, and a summary with pictures.
EAST Initiative Matt Dozier and EAST Students presented with others at the Hart Senate Office Building. We met with legislators, staffers, and others to share the power of EAST.
22 new photos
EAST Initiative
Nettleton students from the high school EAST program, Raiders Against Destructive Decisions, Student Council, Cheer, Dance, and Drumline and Flagline teamed up to promote a drug free life style at all the elementary schools during Red Ribbon Week. The theme for the pep rallies was Come With Me and Be Drug Free/ Hand-in...-Hand We Make A Stand. Skits, songs, cheers, and several drug free messages were shared with the younger students.
Tyler, EAST Drug Free Project Manager, enlisted several students in EAST to help with the creation and design of red ribbons, which were distributed to each school, and his ribbon design is featured on a local electronic billboard. Tyler used Photoshop and Fireworks to design the ribbon and he worked with Graphix Advertising Designs and Signs. Tyler was able to get the dimensions needed from the printing company before he began. He had to make several color changes because of the cost of printing multiple colors. EAST videographers and photographers recorded the event using the digital cameras and camcorder available in the classroom. Students will use Final Cut Pro to edit the footage for our archives.
Tyler stated that his goal was to connect high school students with the elementary students. "We want the elementary students to understand they have to make good choices." During the rally, EAST student Lauren told the audience "We are here representing the drug free students at the junior high and high school and we want you guys to be with us and to always make good decisions and we want you to be drug free like we are."
EAST Initiative Good News from our Iowa EAST students!
www.crestonnewsadvertiser.com
Approximately one-quarter of the high school’s student body will be involved in “Halloweenpalooza,” a myriad of games and activities to kick off the Halloween weekend. School is dismissed for the day following parent-teacher conferences on Thursday.
EAST Initiative
The 2009 EAST Night Out was a big success, with 99 events scheduled before the end of the school year, most of which were held on October 6. Brinkley Middle School, West Fork Middle School and Viola High School were the lucky winners of $100 gift certificates at amazon.com. All schools hosting an event on October 6 and... uploading post-event reports by October 23 were eligible for the drawing.
We look forward to next year’s events!
www.eastproject.org
EAST Initiative
Ricebird Robotics Team Takes Third
The Stuttgart EAST Ricebird Robotics Team traveled to the University of Arkansas at Little Rock on October 24, 2009, to compete in the Little Rock BEST Robotics Competition. The team had spent the six weeks prior to the competition date designing, building, and testing their robot. T...he team faced several mechanical issues during the competition and was not able to compete in three different rounds of the competition. Showing a resiliency commonly found in EAST students, the team rallied to reach the finals and finish third. The team also won the “Most Robust Machine” award.
The team was assisted throughout the six weeks by Robert Floyd (former SHS EAST student and Robotics Team member) and SHS EAST Facilitator, Jonathan Watson.
This is the second year Stuttgart EAST has competed in the BEST Robotics Competition.
EAST Initiative
Discovering the World Through GIS
Discover our world on GIS (Geographic Information Systems) Day at the Eureka Springs High School EAST Program on November 18, 2009, Wednesday, from 10:00 am to 2:00 pm. Come and find out about Eureka Springs EAST students' latest community-based mapping projects, play mapping games and... earn prizes, learn how to use a GPS rover, solve mapping puzzles, answer trivia mapping questions, and enjoy many more activities.
For more information, please contact EAST Program Facilitator Mila Lynne Floro at (479) 253-2936, or, at mlfloro@es.k12.ar.us.
Time:10:00AM Wednesday, November 18th
Location:Eureka Springs High School EAST Program
