New program combines Olympics and innovation to create educational tool - SGVTribune.com

New program combines Olympics and innovation to create educational tool - SGVTribune.com

California Superintendent of Schools Jack O'Connell, speaks to a Life Science class at Clifton Middle School in Monrovia, Friday February 26, 2010. (SGVN/Staff Photo by Walt Mancini)

MONROVIA - With their arms held behind their back as they glide over the ice, Olympic speed skaters make it look so easy.
But when 2006 Olympian Maria Garcia first crouched in that familiar speed skating position, her muscles gave out in about 15 seconds, she said.
It took strenuous muscle training, including crouching for hours at a time, before she was able to summon the muscle power to skate upwards of 30 miles per hour.
On Friday, State Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack O'Connell, Garcia and educators from the Silicon Valley Education Foundation gave students at Clifton Middle School a high-tech education about the physics of the human body.
The lesson was built around the NBC Learn and

Education

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The National Science Foundation's "Science of the Olympic Winter Games."The new program gives teachers free access to thousands of lesson plans.
"It's a win, win," O'Connell said. "Having the innovation and the fact it is free."
The Foundations "Lessonopoly" program helps teachers organize, plan and create educational activities and lessons.