22 Mar 2005
Longfellow Academy Team Previews Medical Technology Invention at Board Meeting
DALLAS–The invention of Longfellow Career Exploration Academy team, chosen as one of six regional winners in the international ExploraVision competition, will be previewed by Bob Richardson of Toshiba at the DISD Board of Trustees Committee of the Whole Meeting, 4 p.m., Wednesday, March 23.
Co-sponsored by the National Science Teachers Association and Toshiba, ExploraVision is a competition for all students in grades K-12. It is designed to encourage students to combine their imagination with their knowledge of science and technology to explore visions of the future.
The Longfellow team–four eighth-graders–developed a portable pump to help those who suffer from lymphedema, a disease that causes swelling of the soft tissues of the limbs. Currently, no such portable pump exists. Students wrote a paper and drew a series of Web page graphics to describe their idea. As regional winners, they are creating a prototype of their vision of innovation in medical technology.
Longfellow teacher Mary Jetton presented information about the contest to her advanced computer class and students Vanessa Alba, Armando Espinosa, Jennifer Martinez, and Jessica Alba volunteered for the team. Directions were simple: select a technology, research how it works and why it was invented, and project how that technology may change in the future, identifying what breakthroughs are required for their vision to become a reality and describe the positive and negative consequences of their technology on society.
In April, two of the six teams of regional winners will be chosen for first and second place, and in June they will fly to Washington DC. The first place team will receive savings bonds worth $10,000 each, and the second place team each will receive $5,000 in savings bonds.