Educational Olympics Helps Kids Learn How to Learn

ThinkQuest, the educational Olympics on the Web, motivates kids to create educational web sites and content for others to use as they learn. A passionate believer in the power of the Net to revolutionize learning and close the educational resources gap among students, I founded ThinkQuest® in 1995.

A philanthropic initiative designed as a competition, ThinkQuest honored its annual winners with up to $2,000,000 in scholarships and cash awards, and became the fastest growing Internet-based educational program in the world.

The most innovative idea in ThinkQuest is the ThinkQuest journey – the path the kids and their coaches take to participate in the program. Along this path, kids learn how to learn, they learn how to use and push the technology to make their sites fun and attractive, they learn the topic they are trying to teach others, they learn how to work with each other across economic and cultural boundaries, and they learn project management skills.

ThinkQuest participants have come from more than a hundred countries, and their journey is one of self-discovery, learning by doing and most of all learning how to work together. The power behind Thinkquest is the linking of all of these forces into one program that has been easy to adapt in schools systems around the world. ThinkQuest’s legacy comes in two parts – the impact it has on the kids and coaches that participate and the educational sites they build along the way.

First, over several hundred thousand kids in more than a hundred countries have participated in ThinkQuest. All of the participants are winners, even those that do not make the finals, for they learn much about their own abilities and in the process they help others to learn. Some have changed their lives forever because they have learned to master the tools necessary to succeed in the 21st century.

Second, The thousands of Web sites that the kids and their coaches build are made available to all learners around the world at no charge. The sites are organized and are easily searched by topic. The are used by schools, kids at home, industry and governments as a way of gaining new knowledge.

The best sites help to give an intuitive feel for the topic they are teaching because the kids that built them tried to teach others in the same manner that they themselves learn. The sites cover the arts and sciences as well as topics such as how kids view the violence around them in their every day life. Many of the sites are available in multiple languages, and are built so that others can add their views, experiences and ideas – they grow with use.

More importantly, the library, which has several millions users in over a hundred countries, is the first world curriculum for students and teachers. It is a cherished legacy in more than thirty-five languages that has harnessed the power of kids as an educational force in learning. The Oracle Education Foundation now manages ThinkQuest, and the student web sites are available at: http://www.thinkquest.org/en/

This is a guest post from Allan Weis, who's new book is “The Business of Changing Lives.”

[Photo credit: Mushroom and Rooster]