Topics Education Goes Five for Five as Finalists for AEP Awards
Three projects are nominated in five different categories.
Charlotte, NC (PRWEB) May 11, 2007
The Association of Educational Publishers (AEP) has named three recent Topics Education projects as finalists in five different categories for its 2007 Awards. Topics Education's An Inconvenient Truth Classroom Curriculum, The Climate Code Interactive on weatherclassroom. com and the Lake County Explore the Fort curriculum package all have received nominations for Distinguished Achievement Awards. Explore the Fort is also one of four finalists for a Golden Lamp Award, the most esteemed of the AEP awards. The winners will be presented at the Annual Awards Banquet and Gala on June 13, 2007 at the Renaissance Hotel in Washington, D. C.
"We're excited about having our work recognized in this way," said Phelps Sprinkle, president and CEO of Topics Education. "These projects really demonstrate the value of engaging kids in the learning process by demonstrating a superior use of content and design. Being recognized as a Golden Lamp finalist as well as finalists in four other categories for Distinguished Achievement Awards is quite an honor," he continued.
Topics Education's work was nominated in the following categories:
Award: Golden Lamp Award
Category: Instructional Materials (one of four finalists in this category)
About the Award: The coveted Golden Lamp Awards are considered the most prestigious of the AEP Awards, honoring the "best of the best" in educational publishing. Finalists are defined by their superior use of content, design and fulfillment of a product's educational mission.
Project nominated: Lake County Explore the Fort
About the Project: The result of a multi-year partnership with the Lake County Forest Preserves and educators from around the Lake County, Ill., area. 'Explore the Fort' is an engaging multimedia curriculum focused on the ecological and historic significance of Fort Sheridan, a decommissioned Army base located on the North Shore of Chicago. Designed for middle-school classrooms, the curriculum includes an Educator's Guide with 15 cross-curricular lesson plans, historic photos, an ecosystems poster, a 40-minute DVD documentary, and its own web site: www. explorethefort. org.
Award: Distinguished Achievement Award
About the Award: The Distinguished Achievement Awards honor the top products within the categories of curriculum, periodicals, and professional development. They are evaluated on traits such as efficacy, usability and overall educational value and judged by an expert panel of educators, editors, designers and technology specialists.
Subject Area: Science Instruction
Category: Curriculum Packages (one of two finalists in this category)
Audience: Grades 9-12
Project Nominated: An Inconvenient Truth in the Classroom Curriculum
About the Project: Topics Education worked in collaboration with Participant Productions to produce classroom activities and projects that tie into specific chapters of Al Gore's An Inconvenient Truth DVD. These lessons provide students the ability to interact with the video, engage themselves in the content and be able to better understand the significance of global warming, therefore being inspired to take action.
Award: Distinguished Achievement Award
Subject Area: Science Instruction
Category: Teaching Resources (posters) (the only finalist in this category)
Audience: Grades 9-12
Project Nominated: An Inconvenient Truth Classroom Poster
About the Project: As part of the classroom activities and projects that Topics Education produced that tie into specific chapters of Al Gore's An Inconvenient Truth DVD, a poster was created. The poster provides students a colorful, constant reminder in the classroom of the importance of taking action against global warming.
Award: Distinguished Achievement Award
Subject Area: Science Instruction
Category: Technology (websites) (one of three finalists in this category)
Audience: Grades 9-12
Project Nominated: The Climate Code Interactive on weatherclassroom. com
About the Project: The Climate Code with Dr. Heidi Cullen attacks issues such as coral bleaching, melting glaciers and wildfires, and teaches students the effect these weather events have on our daily lives. The interactive exploration helps students understand these concerns, and react to them. They have the opportunity to read comments on weather events and interact with weather experts on these topics.
Award: Distinguished Achievement Award
Subject Area: Social Studies Instruction
Category: Curriculum Packages (one of three finalists in this category)
Audience: Grades 6-8
Project Nominated: Lake County Explore the Fort
About the Project: 'Explore the Fort' is an engaging multimedia curriculum focused on the ecological and historic significance of Fort Sheridan, a decommissioned Army base located on the North Shore of Chicago. Designed for middle-school classrooms, the curriculum includes an Educator's Guide with 15 cross-curricular lesson plans, historic photos, an ecosystems poster, a 40-minute DVD documentary, and its own web site: www. explorethefort. org.
This year's Annual AEP Awards celebrates its 40th anniversary, and Charlene Gaynor, the association's CEO, believes that innovative spirit is more evident and alive than ever. Recognizing the year's most outstanding materials in the field of teaching and learning, winners will be announced at the Awards Banquet and Gala in June. These winners will earn the right to display the Lamp of Learning seal, which is nationally recognized by educators and administrators as a mark of outstanding quality and achievement.
About Topics Education
Founded in 1995, Topics Education is a values-led education outreach and communications company based in Charlotte, NC. We design strategies and programs for organizations that want to support education while achieving measurable results. We help our clients help education through three core service areas, including: Youth Education Outreach Programs, Education Advocacy and Communications, and Print and New Media Curriculum. Topics Education is headquartered in Charlotte, NC. For more information, visit www. topicseducation. com.
About the Association of Educational Publishers
The Association of Educational Publishers (AEP) is a non-profit organization that serves and advances the industry of supplemental educational publishing. The membership of AEP represents the breadth of educational content developers delivering progressive educational products and services in both print and electronic formats to today's schools and colleges.
AEP's thought leadership and market insight have created ground-breaking opportunities for its members to collaborate, network, and partner with each other as well as to acquire a voice in the development of government education policy. Founded in 1895, AEP now assists its members in navigating the global realities of educational publishing in the 21st century. For more information, please visit www. AEPweb. org
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