11绘色瓷砖添学习动力RyanMartinezknowshowtoencouragehisstudents.Ifthere'ssilence,thereisanopportunityformusic.Ifthere'sawhitesurface,thereisanopportunityforcolor.MartinezteachesFrenchatWalterJohnsonHighSchoolinBethesda,Maryland,outsideWashington.Hisclassroomisdecoratedwithcolorfulceilingtiles.Asateacher,youwanttomakeyourclassroomspaceonethatreflectsyourownapproachtoteaching.Andwhenyoumakethataninviting,stimulatingtypeofatmosphere,itmakesitamorepleasurablelearningexperience.Itstartedwithonetileayearago.IbroughtithomeandIjusthadsomebluepaintandsortofjustcovereditandthenIinstalledit.Thestudentsnoticedthat.Imean,immediately,itjumpedoutbecause,inanotherwisewhiteceiling,allofasuddenwhenyouhavesomecolored.Martinezpaintsathomefortenhourseachweekendandbringsthetilesbacktoschool.Hehasexpandedtheprojecttootherclassrooms.MaggieMesorlyteachesmath.Studentsoftenthinkthatmathisboring,buttheycomeandtheyseethisartandtheythink,'Ah,maybemathisn'tgonnabesoboring.'Itcaninspirecreativityintheirproblemsolving.瑞安•马丁内斯知道如何激励学生们。“若有沉默,那么将是播放音乐的时机。若有一块白色表面,那么色彩将派上用场。”马丁内斯在位于华盛顿外的马里兰州贝塞斯达市的华特•强森高中教法语。他的教室装饰着色彩斑斓的天花板。“作为一名教师,你希望你的教室空间是能够反应自己的教学方法的地方。当你将它赋予一种引人注目且令人兴奋的气氛时,它也使得学习经历变得更加愉悦美好。”这都因一年前的一块瓷砖而起。“我将它带回家。当时我只有一些蓝色油漆。我涂了一些在瓷砖上,随后将它安装。学生们注意到了这件事。我觉得,它之所以立即就显得突出,是因为在其他白色天花板的映衬下,大家出乎意料地拥有了一些其他色彩。”马丁内斯每周末要花费10小时在家喷涂瓷砖并将它们带回学校。他还将这项工程扩展到了其他教室。玛吉•麦索丽教数学。“学生们经常认为数学枯燥,但是他们过来看到这项艺术行为后会想:‘啊,也许数学并不会如此无聊。’它能够激发他们在解决问题中的创造性。”2电玩或成美外交新手段TraceEffectsisanonlinegamegearedtowardchildrenandyoungteensfarfromU.S.shores.IttakesthemaincharacteronavirtualadventureacrosstheUnitedStates,fromtheGrandCanyontoNewYorkCityandbeyond.ButwhatistheStateDepartmentdoingwithavideogame?Wewannagowhereyoungpeopleare.Moreandmoreyoungpeopleareonline.Onlineandreadytoengage,shehopes.WetookthegametoSandraCalvert,directoroftheChildren'sDigitalMediaCenteratGeorgetownUniversity.Shestudiestheimpactofvideogamesonchildren.Ithinktheplanitselfisamarvelousidea.Ithinktryingtoengagechildreninthekindsofactivitiestheydoisjustthewaytoapproachthem.CalvertlikeshowthegamehasgirlandboycharacterstobroadentheappealwhileplayersarelearningEnglish.Butshesayskidsareusedtoaction-orientedgamesandthisoneisfullofverbalactivitiesthatcanslowthegamer.Oneofthethingsthatcanhappenisthattheoverallplotlinecangetlost.Calvertsayswithalittletweakingandsomeinputfromyounggamers,thisnewwaveofpublicdiplomacycanbecomeaninvitingwaytoshareAmericanculturewiththeworld.美国英语学习视频游戏是专门为非美国本土儿童和19岁以下青少年创立的一款在线游戏。它带领游戏人物在全美范围内进行虚拟冒险,从美国大峡谷到纽约或更远的地方。但是美国国务院要用这款视频游戏做什么呢?“我们想去年轻人所在的地方。越来越多的年轻人玩线上游戏。”她希望能保持在线并准备参与其中。我们就这个游戏询问了一直致力于研究电子2游戏对儿童的影响的桑德拉.卡尔弗特,她是乔治敦大学儿童数字媒体中心的主管。“我想这一计划本身就是个非凡的想法。我认为,试着让孩子们忙于他们现在所从事的种种活动,正是接近他们的一种方式。”卡尔弗特喜欢的是,当玩家在学习英语的时候,这款游戏利用男女角色来提升吸引力。但是她说道,儿童更喜欢动作类的游戏,这款游戏充斥着言语方面的活动,这会使得玩家的游戏进程放缓。“所以玩家有可能会忽略故事的主要剧情。”卡尔弗特表示,只要这些年轻玩家稍微改变一下或者稍稍投入一些精力,这股公众外交的新浪潮就能名正言顺地把美国文化推向全世界。3拯救剩余食物大学生们在行动(1/2)UniversityofMarylandstudentBenSimonandhisfriendscouldn'tstandtoseegoodfoodthrownoutontheircampus.Webasicallynoticedthatsomeoftheextrafoodfromourdininghallwasgoingtowasteattheendoftheday.Andwemetwithourdiningservicesandaskedthemwhetheritwouldbeokayifweinsteadofthrowingoutfoodawaydonatedit.Andtheywereonboard.So18monthsago,thestudentsbeganwhattheycalltheFoodRecoveryNetwork.Eachnight,volunteerswouldshowupatacampusdininghalltopickupleftoversanddeliverthemtoareasheltersandfoodbanks.Whenwestarted,wecollected,Iwouldsay,alittlebitmorethanwecurrentlydonow,somaybebetween100poundsand200poundsoffoodpernight.Sofar,they'vedonatedmorethan23,000kilosoffoodthatwouldotherwisehavebeenthrownout.Theamountofwastedfoodwasalsoreducedwhenschoolofficialsremovedtraysfromthedininghall.RobFaheyisthechef.Wedonotusetraysbecauseit'sproventhatthestudentsfillupatray.Andthiswaytheyonlypickuptheirplatesandtheycanonlygrabsomuchfood.Andthentheycangobackinlinetogetmorefoodiftheywant.Thatpreventswastageforthat.马里兰大学的学生本•西蒙和他的朋友们不想放任校园里的食物浪费现象大行其道:“我们注意到食堂的剩饭剩菜在一天结束后就浪费掉了。于是我们约见了食堂的工作人员,问他们是否可以让我们捐赠这些原本要被扔进垃圾桶的食物。他们答应了。”于是18个月前,学生们就开始了被称作“食物回收网络”的行动。每天晚上,学校的食堂都会有志愿者来整理剩饭剩菜,并把这些剩饭剩菜送到当地的收容所和食品发放救济中心。“刚开始那阵子,我们每天晚上大概要整理100磅到200磅的食物,比现在的要多一些。”迄今为止,他们已经捐赠了超过23,000公斤的食物。要不是有他们,这些食物就被白白浪费了。自从校领导决定食堂不再提供托盘之后,剩菜剩饭的数量也减少了。对此,厨师罗伯•费伊说:“我们之所以不再提供托盘是因为学生们买饭菜时总喜欢把托盘盛满。现在没有托盘了,他们就只能用盘子,盛的食物就少了。如果吃不饱的话,他们可以回来重新排队买饭。如此一来就减少了浪费。”4拯救剩余食物大学生们在行动(2/2)Nationwide,$165billionworthoffoodiswastedeachyear,accordingtotheNationalResourcesDefenseCouncil.SpokesmanBobKeefesaysthat'sabout40%ofthecountry'sentirefoodproduction.Ifwecouldreduceourwasteinthiscountryby15%,wecouldfeed25millionhungryAmericans.That'sahugebenefit.Andthat'swhatprogramsliketheFoodRecoveryNetworkaredoing.ChristianLifeCenterisoneofthebeneficiariesofthestudents'efforts.BenSlyeistheseniorpastor.It'sjustbeenamazingtoseethesestudentstaketheirowntime,theirownvehiclesandowngas,moneyandbeabletotakeaneffortlikethis.Eachweekweareablewiththisfoodtoprobablyfeedover100people.TheUniversityofMaryland'sFoodRecoveryNetworknowhas200volunteersandtheprogramhasexpandedto18schoolsacrossthecountry.Andwewannagrowour18chaptersto1,000chapterswithinfiveyears.Andonceweg