Zine the Science

Imagine a mini-magaZine you make yourself. Now make it smaller – from a single 8 ½ x 11 sheet of paper to make an 8 page booklet that fits in the palm of your hand. You'll be amazed how much entertaining science can be packed into a zine and shared with the world! After three rounds of reading, laughing, and learning a lot of science, a panel of six judges selected the winners of the Year of Science 2009 Science Zine contest –a contest sponsored by the Coalition on the Public Understanding of Science (COPUS) and the Small Science Collective. More than 250 submissions were received from all over the world. The contest grand prize winner was Chen Dou (age group 13-17) from Gaithersburg, MD with the zine “Meeting a Giant Octopus.”

Want to start a zine project at your school? The basic steps are:
1. Choose a topic/theme.
2. Design it! (here's a template)
3. Fold it! (easy instructions)
4. (Optional) Combine the zine with technology. Because these are standard one-page works, they are easy to post to the class blog or wiki. Or, use the zine as a prep for a digital story project using applications such as iMovie.

Examples of student-made zines can be found on the Small Science blog.

SPILL: Learning by Avatar

SPILL is a Business Simulation that takes place in a 3D world that teaches students how to apply business skills to environmental remediation. In the 3D city there has been an oil spill. Students design avatars and collaborate in teams inside the Virtual World to apply business skills, learn, clean up the spill, and win. Underwritten by Deloitte and provided to teachers at no cost, this new curriculum uses videogames and avatars as futuristic teaching tools in the classroom. Log into the Deloitte Virtual Team Challenge to use this game and win cash prizes.