ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Tuesday, August 20, 1996 TAG: 9608200029
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-2 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
COLUMN: class notes
SOURCE: HALE SHEIKERZ
MEMO: ***CORRECTION***
Published correction ran on August 21, 1996.
In Tuesday's Classnotes, Cheryl Heatwole's mother's name was
misspelled. Cheryl is the daughter of Conrad and Janie Heatwole of
Christiansburg.
Technology is no longer limited to people in higher education or technical fields, especially in the New River Valley, where Blacksburg is dubbed the Electronic Village and where other communities also are on line.
Technology also is widespread at area schools, from elementary to high school. Many students in the New River Valley are experimenting with the benefits of technology. Students at the elementary school level are using the Internet to do classroom research, and high school students are programming or designing their own World Wide Web sites.
Starting this fall, a monthly story on how technology is being used in education will run in Classnotes. Teachers, parents and students are encouraged to send information about any technology they are using in education - whether it's computer software or a Web site. Information can be sent to P.O. Box 540, Christiansburg 24073 or can be e-mailed to hales@infi.net.
Cheryl Heatwole, a rising sixth-grader at Christiansburg Middle School, was the winner of the national Student Technology Leader's competition for elementary school students. In June, Cheryl attended the National Educational Computing Conference in Minneapolis with her parents and received the award. She was recognized as the youngest recipient of the national award; awards also were given in the middle and high schools levels. She also participated in a panel discussion with other students.
Cheryl was recognized for her work at Christiansburg Elementary School, where she attended fifth-grade. At CES, Cheryl worked on a technology project involving the World Wide Web. She was one of six students selected to help design Web sites on the Internet.
The project, called Web Weavers, taught students how to apply technologies to strategies for problem-solving and critical thinking. The students selected and used technology, such as computers, software, the Internet, digital cameras and scanners, to design and maintain a Web site. Cheryl, who was the group's leader, also taught her classmates how to write HTML, a computer language, and design Web pages.
Cheryl was nominated for the award by her co-sponsors Heidi Bernard and Catherine Ney. As a result of her award, CES will receive a new Compaq Presario multimedia computer. Her entry to the competition was part of her Web Weavers project entitled "Building Web Pages: for and By Kids."
The Web Weavers site can be viewed at http://www.bev.net/education/schools/ces
Cheryl is the daughter of Conrad and Jeanie Heatwole of Christiansburg.
Catherine Ney recently received a $10,000 award from Education Unsung Heroes Award program. In June, Ney was selected as one of 80 national winners. She then was selected from that group as one of three teachers to receive a grant. The award recognizes teachers in K-12 who develop innovative approaches to teaching. Ney teaches fifth grade at Christiansburg Elementary.
Ney's project was selected as one of the top three, based on its ability to be implemented on a larger scale to benefit an entire school or district. Ney's project used children's literature to make connections among mathematics, science and technology. Students in her class worked on problem-solving activities that incorporated reading literature.
New River Valley World Wide Web sites:
Montgomery County Public Schools -
http://www.bev.net/education/schools
* Elementary & secondary schools in Montgomery County -
http://www.bev.net/education/schools/mcps.
html
* Radford Public Schools -
http://www.bev.net/radford/schools/public/
HAPPENINGS
The buildings and grounds committee of Margaret Beeks PTA will have a fall spruce-up Thursday and Friday from 3 to 7 p.m. Activities will include building a greenhouse, spreading mulch, planting mums and marigolds, trimming and weeding. Interested individuals should bring tools. To help with the costs of the project, the committee also seeks donations of mums and marigolds. For information, call Marjorie Macy at 951-3901.
Cheerleading tryouts start Monday for all interested seventh-and eighth-graders at Blacksburg Middle School. Tryouts will start after school at 2:30 p.m. For information, call Jennifer Boles at 951-5716.
LENGTH: Medium: 92 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: (headshot) Heatwoleby CNB