Microsoft Student Product Software...

A Message Forwarded by Annayya in an email..on Microsoft Student Product : 02/15/2006

"Team, I just had to share this with you….as anecdotal evidence of the difference our software can make.

It’s science project time at my kids’ school. My eldest, Elizabeth, was doing one on yeast and its reaction with water, milk, and vinegar solutions. She hypothesized that the vinegar solution would have the greatest effect due to previous experiments involving vinegar (can you see the vinegar and baking soda volcano in your head?) produced quite dramatic results. She was quite surprised to find the vinegar solution had almost no reaction. Ok, surprised was an overstatement. She was completely lackadaisical in the entire project and stated that she “hated science and math”. I got involved in the final stages of this as she was trying to complete the conclusion and synthesis phases. When I sat down with her she had her chin pressed down to her chest, a frown on her face, and said she “didn’t care about this stupid stuff”. I was trying to explain what yeast was and what happened (glucose – fermented by the yeast in a solution of water which produces carbon dioxide and ethyl alcohol). I didn’t seem to be doing all that great a job, and then I remembered that I had Student on my tablet. I fired it up and searched for yeast and voila! A complete article, with pictures of microscopic yeast cells and bread dough rising. This began to catch her interest. We read the article and then looked to the additional resources in the search that talked about brewing. We went there and found graphics that showed where and how yeast fit into the process. Then…..I saw a link for organic chemistry. I know, your thinking….Scott, she’s only in 5th grade! I was thinking the same thing too. I was hoping I’d be able to interest her as we talked about what was really happening. So, we clicked and not only was there an interesting article; there was an interactive exercise on the subject. The activity involved taking a carbon atom and dragging additional carbon, oxygen, and hydrogen atoms to build a molecule. The molecule was identified and its uses defined. She was captivated! All of a sudden you could see the light go on in her head! We had to create (in MS Paint) molecular models of all the components involved in her project. Through this, she really understood what was going on in her experiment at a fundamental level and was able to articulate it. She got it and as a result ended up with a great project display. Later on after the whole project was assembled, I learned from my wife that my daughter thinks I’m her hero and that math and science are really interesting and fun. WOW! So, Marcia, a new marketing angle for Student…. Microsoft Student, Building minds, building families, enabling the future….

Ok so maybe I’m a sap but I love my kids and I love technology so it’s a perfect match! "