October 22, 2009
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
MEDIA CONTACT: Amy Lunday
(443) 287-9960
acl@jhu.edu
Cogito.org, a Web site produced by the Johns Hopkins Center for Talented Youth, has won a 2009 Gold Award from the Parents’ Choice Foundation.
Announced last month, the award honors Cogito as one of the highest quality Web sites geared toward children and young adults.
“This is a magnificent online connection for any intelligent kid who can’t get enough math and science — and who wants to expand his or her interests and academic horizons beyond the classroom rigors,” the foundation’s reviewer wrote.
Parents’ Choice was established in 1978 as a guide to quality children’s media and toys. The Gold Award is the foundation’s top prize, and Cogito shares the honor this year with Web sites from PBS and Disney. The foundation bestows annual awards on products for young people that, according to its Web site, “entertain and teach with flair, stimulate imagination and inspire creativity.” Parents’ Choice has become a resource for NPR, the Wall Street Journal and other outlets when addressing children’s media topics.
Cogito, which was launched three years ago, won a Silver Honor, the foundation’s second highest award, in 2008. “The site really is one of a kind,” said Linda Brody, co-director of the Cogito project. “Cogito is the only site I know of where talented kids can have high-level conversations with other kids like them and with working professionals from all math and science disciplines, from all over the world.”
Through Cogito’s online interviews and discussion forums, kids gather to talk to each other about black holes, extrasolar planets, epigenetics, and oceanography. They’ve also had the chance to talk with people like UCLA physicist David Saltzberg, who is a technical advisor to the CBS-TV comedy “The Big Bang Theory,” Fields Medalist Terry Tao, and teen cancer researcher Preya Shah, who was an Intel Science Talent Search finalist and a winner at the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair. Much of Cogito’s content is written by Cogito members and features the work of student scientists.
Most of the site is open to the public, but the forums, groups, and blog creation are limited to members. Membership is free, and students join by invitation or nomination by educators. So far, Cogito members come from more than 70 countries, and the site is looking to expand internationally. Parents’ Choice sees Cogito as an important means for kids with these kinds of interests to connect, no matter where they are: “For any teen fixated on math or science, this is a must-see site, potentially a regular hangout.”
About The Johns Hopkins University Center for Talented Youth:
CTY conducts the nation’s oldest and most extensive academic talent search and offers educational programming for students with exceptionally high academic ability. Since 1979, CTY has identified America’s top academic students in grades two through eight and provided challenging educational programs through their 10th grade year. Students who score at or above the 95th percentile on standardized tests normally taken in school are invited to participate in CTY’s Talent Search, during which they take an additional set of standardized tests used to measure mathematical and verbal reasoning. Qualifying students may choose to enroll in CTY programs including summer residential programs, online courses, and one-day family conferences on special topics. CTY also publishes Imagine, the award-winning periodical that is full of opportunities and resources for gifted students.
