THINKQUEST.ORG

By: Madisyn Portorreal

ThinkQuest was created in 1996 by Allan H. Weis under his nonprofit Advanced Network and Services. The service was acquired by the Oracle Education Foundation in 2002, which has operated the competition ever since. The Oracle Education Foundation is a nonprofit organization funded by Oracle Corporation.

Who & when was ThinkQuest created?

What is the Oracle Foundation

What does ThinkQuest look like?

ThinkQuest is an online learning platform that helps students develop important 21st century skills, including communication, critical thinking, and technology skills.

It includes: ThinkQuest Projects:

A project environment that supports collaborative learning

ThinkQuest Competition: Technology competitions that challenge students to solve real-world problems

ThinkQuest Library: The world's largest online repository of student-developed learning projects, visited by

millions of web learners each month

ThinkQuest Professional Development: Professional development for educators 

The Oracle Education Foundation (OEF) provides ThinkQuest as a free service to K-12 schools globally. No advertising or spam is allowed (learn more about OEF).

What is ThinkQuest?

All of the websites were created by young people from around the world.

Websites are organized into educational categories, including Books & Literature, History & Government, and Science & Technology. In addition, content that is inappropriate or commercial in nature is prohibited.

Teachers and students can use the ThinkQuest Library for school projects, assignments, or personal research. Many sites include lesson plans, multimedia resources, and educational games and activities.

Why use ThinkQuest?

What do students and teachers gain by participating in the ThinkQuest International Competition?

Experience participating in a highly structured, hands-on learning project that challenges students to apply critical thinking, communication, and technology skills as they solve a real-world problem.

A fun and engaging learning opportunity that helps students hone important 21st century skills. Learn more about 21st century skills

The chance for students to present a solution to a problem in a unique and innovative way, using their choice of technology.

Access to a friendly step-by-step tutorial to help students best apply their critical thinking, communication, and technology skills as they develop their entries.

The chance for students/teachers to compete against their peers from all over the world.

The chance for students/teachers to meet and collaborate with their peers in other schools, states, or countries.

Resources and information to help students be successful in the competition will be made available upon the launch of the competition.

International Competition

21st Century Skills

Our global society has become much more reliant on creative thinking, innovation, and new technology. Employers in the 21st century need employees armed with the knowledge and skills that will enable them to be successful in this society.

The Oracle Education Foundation has identified seven core skills that students need to develop to be successful in the 21st century. By participating in ThinkQuest, students will develop each of these important skills:

Critical thinking: Ability to use multiple perspectives to analyze an issue or problem, create an intervention plan, and evaluate the results of the intervention Creativity: Ability to demonstrate the process of generating new ideas or concepts Teamwork: Ability to work cooperatively with others to achieve a shared goal Cross-cultural understanding: Ability to recognize and correctly react to people or situations that

are open to misunderstanding due to cultural differences Communication: Ability to demonstrate the process of exchanging information and ideas Technology: Ability to use a range of technologies to create, store, analyze, and transmit information Self-direction: Ability to demonstrate work behavior characterized as self-starting and proactive   For information on using ThinkQuest Projects to develop students' 21st century skills, visit the

Project Setup section.

Benefits of using ThinkQuest

Enroll your school Explore school settings Create accounts Create a student list Students first personal page Simple project Monitor students ThinkQuest Competition

Steps to start

The tabs along the top of each page are the primary way to navigate within ThinkQuest, once logged in:Messages (ThinkQuest Projects): Click this tab, which is marked with a megaphone icon, to view messages from other members.My Home (ThinkQuest Projects): This tab houses your personal website within ThinkQuest Projects. Go here to create personal web pages (learn more) and to view lists of your projects and messages.My School (ThinkQuest Projects): View people and projects in your school (learn more). Schools Administrators and teachers can also create accounts, access school settings, create student lists, and review student content.World (ThinkQuest Projects): View people and projects outside your school, and discover opportunities for global collaboration (learn more).Competition: Access the ThinkQuest Competition space.Library: Visit the ThinkQuest Library, the world's largest online repository of student-developed learning projects (learn more).Help: Access support information and the Support Forums (learn more). Located above the tabs, the My Account link allows you to manage your account information and change your password (learn more).

Basic Navigation

Project navigation screen

Project Highlights

What is the Library? The ThinkQuest Library provides innovative learning

resources for students of all ages on a wide range of educational topics. Featuring over 8,000 websites created by students for students, the ThinkQuest Library is visited by over 30 million web learners each year.

All of the websites in the ThinkQuest Library were created for the ThinkQuest Competition. Use of the resources in the ThinkQuest Library is free, and advertising is not allowed.

The Library

How to Use the Library

The ThinkQuest Library is a learning resource for students of all ages. Educators are encouraged to make use of ThinkQuest Library resources for school projects and assignments. Many sites include lesson plans, multimedia resources, and educational games and activities.

  Access the ThinkQuest Library by going to http://thinkquest.org and clicking the Library tab.   There are several different ways to locate resources within the ThinkQuest Library:

Keyword: Enter one or more keywords in the search field at the top of the page and click Search.

Category: Click any of the categories (such as "Arts & Entertainment" or "Books & Literature") in the center of the page to see a list of related sites. The number next to the category indicates how many sites are in that category.

Age Division: Click an age icon under "Browse by Age" to display sites created by teams in a specific age division.

Country: Choose a country from the "Browse by Country" menu to display sites created by teams with members from that country.

Spotlight: The upper right corner of the page features spotlights that link to exemplary sites.

The Library

Library view

When visiting a ThinkQuest Library site, a ThinkQuest banner will load in the upper right corner. The banner includes links to site information, Library FAQ, and other important policies and information. You can minimize or close the banner at any time.

Use RestrictionsPlease review the following restrictions on use of ThinkQuest Library content:

Research or Personal Education:You are free to use ThinkQuest Library sites for your own personal education or research for assignments, reports, or other learning projects. No permission or notification is required, but we remind you to cite your sources and include a reference to the site in your bibliography. You may download, copy, and use materials provided that they are for personal and non-commercial use and are not distributed. You may link to the site, and make ThinkQuest one of your bookmarks.

School or Classroom Use:You may download, copy, or transmit materials in the ThinkQuest Library for informational and non-commercial purposes only. The material may be used in a classroom for teaching or on a school intranet, but not in any publication for profit. See the Terms of Use for more details.If you wish to link to a ThinkQuest Library site from your school or classroom site, please contact us and select "Library Linking Notification" as the subject.

Publication or Commercial Use:If you wish to excerpt text or images from a site for commercial use or publication outside the classroom, please review the site for original sources of the material and contact the original authors for permission. If you are unable to locate information on the original source, please contact us for assistance.

Commercial organizations (for example, subscription or membership-based websites) that wish to provide their clients with a link to ThinkQuest sites must contact us and choose "Library Commercial Linking Notification" as the subject.  

Additional library info

View of Competition screen

Competition Instructions

Register to Compete

You can be a judge

How to Use Help

There are several ways to get help with using ThinkQuest: Online Help: Click the Help tab at the top of any page. By default, you are taken to the section that is most relevant to your current task (for example, if you click the Help tab while you are on the Project Settings page, you are automatically taken to the section about project settings). You can also use the search field at the top of the page to locate information on a specific topic, or browse the menu of topics on the left side of the page.

Forums (only available to ThinkQuest Projects members): If you can't find the answer to your question, post it in the forums. You can also contribute answers to fellow members' questions. To access the forums for a particular topic, navigate to the topic within Help and click Ask a Question. Contact Us: If you can't find the answer to your question in Help or the forums, you can always contact us for support. Click the Contact Us link at the bottom of the Help menu.

Help Tab

View of help screen