From antiques to pizza, see what went into making this year�s masterpieces for Doodle 4 Google

Last October, we kicked off our annual Doodle 4 Google art competition, asking students to create a doodle to tell the world �What makes me�me.� This time around, we added a little twist: for the first time in eight years of Doodle 4 Google, there were no restrictions on the medium or materials kids could use to create a doodle. Kids took us up on the challenge. A quarter of all finalists used some non-traditional media�from clay and wood to origami, photographs and sheets of music�in their submission.

Today, Googlers are hosting surprise assemblies at schools from Waterville, Maine to Waipahu, Hawaii to celebrate the winners of each state and thank the teachers and parents who have encouraged them along the way. And for the first time ever, we�re announcing winners for Washington, D.C., Guam and Puerto Rico. See all 53 State and Territory Winners on our website.

Now, our finalists need your votes for a shot at having their doodle make it onto the Google homepage. Starting today through Feb 22, head to the Doodle 4 Google site to vote for your favorite artwork for each grade group. On March 21, we�ll announce the winner and four runners-up�and you�ll see the winning doodle on google.com.

Check out this year�s talented set of finalists and vote for your favorite!

Posted by Ryan Germick, Doodler and non-traditional media enthusiast https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifyy2cLsl3DSZ-rmRmv2yp4uYTLKCUHinxxm2KXqeMLYd6YYIRV9MRiaCeyoYO-t64sUwsWDY4HBa3JyduLjTEdLyv8zizI-YQ-jg7t5lXhpEwywcmDLsYx-pWQuEAjzKdRTh4uzAj4fw/s1600/GOP-d4g_hero_1.jpg Ryan Germick Doodler

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Bring virtual reality field trips to your school with Google Expeditions

At the Bronx Latin School in New York City, teacher Katrina Roman says the topic of ancient history doesn�t usually set students abuzz. But this week, they took a field trip to ancient Mayan ruins using Google Expeditions, a virtual reality teaching tool built with Google Cardboard. Normally, their assignment would involve poring over photocopied photographs, but instead, they stood at the top of Chichen Itza, then examined detailed carvings at Tenochtitlan. Amid �oohs� and �aahhs,� the students shouted out details they noticed and shot hands up to answer Ms. Roman�s questions.

Katrina Roman�s class at the Bronx Latin School fills out their assignment after visiting Aztec ruins with Expeditions. The class is part of a history and geography pilot with New Visions for Public Schools.

Starting today, we�re bringing this experience to thousands of schools around the world with the new Expeditions Pioneer Program. During the 2015/2016 school year, we�ll be bringing �kits� containing everything a teacher needs to run a virtual trip for their class: ASUS smartphones, a tablet for the teacher to direct the tour, a router that allows Expeditions to run without an Internet connection, and Google Cardboard viewers or Mattel View-Masters that turn phones into virtual reality headsets. Although nothing replaces hopping on the bus for a field trip, there are some places that are just out of reach (hello, Chichen Itza!). Virtual reality gives teachers a tool to take students places a school bus can't.

To help teachers learn how to use Expeditions, we�ll be visiting thousands of schools around the world and bringing the kit for teachers to use in their classes for the day. Up first: Australia, Brazil, New Zealand, the U.K. and the U.S., followed by more locations as the school year progresses. At each school, our team will show teachers how Expeditions works and help set it up before class.

Right now, teachers can choose from a library of 100+ virtual trips to places like Mars, the Great Barrier Reef and the Great Wall of China. But we�re constantly adding more trips with the help of partners like PBS, educational publisher Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, British documentarian David Attenborough in collaboration with Alchemy VR, and the Wildlife Conservation Society. We�re also working with the Starfish Foundation to help students explore future careers by showing them a virtual day in the life of professionals including a veterinarian and computer scientist. And to help students achieve those career goals, we�re working with First Lady Michelle Obama to support her Reach Higher initiative by taking students on virtual college tours.

And if you see one of these cars on the road, that's us! The folks at Subaru, who invest in education as part of their Love Promise initiative, have created a fleet of Expedition Pioneer Program rides that we'll be using to bring kits to schools.

If visiting Mars, trekking on the Great Wall of China or exploring what it�s like to work at a veterinarian�s office sounds like something your class would be interested in, head to the Expeditions Pioneer Program site and sign up.

Posted by David Quaid, Software Engineer, Google Expeditions

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Supporting our young scientists through the Google Science Fair

Mariette DiChristina is the Editor in Chief and senior vice president of Scientific American�the first woman to hold the role in the magazine's 170-year history. She has been a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science since 2011 and served as president of the National Association of Science Writers in 2009 and 2010. She joins us here today to share her perspective on the Google Science Fair, which is in its fifth edition this year. -Ed.

This marks my fifth year with the Google Science Fair. In October 2010, when I had my first conversations with my friends at Google about their idea to create a global online science fair that any kid 13�18 could participate in, I thought it sounded pretty cool. But I couldn�t then imagine just how inspiring and powerful such a competition would turn out to be in reality.

At the time, I hadn�t even been editor in chief of Scientific American for a year, but I had real ambitions to try to do something to make a difference in educating our young people about science. You see, I believe that science is the engine of human prosperity�it�s the way we grapple with some of the world�s most challenging problems, from cures for diseases to living sustainably in a finite world. So I�ve always seen the idea of fostering evidence-based thinking in our next generation of global citizens as vital.

Now, five years later and working with partners LEGO Education, National Geographic and Virgin Galactic, the Google Science Fair has an impressive track record of enabling our world�s young scientists to shine. Over the years, they�ve tackled serious issues, like world hunger and the energy crisis. Their projects have worked on how to diagnose and treat diseases like cancer and Alzheimer�s. They�ve engineered flashlights powered by their hands and plastics made of banana peels. And to date, the fair has provided almost $1 million in scholarships, and sent four grand prize winners on trips around the world to further their scientific passions.

Tonight we added some new winners to that list as we recognized and celebrated the 2015 top 20 finalist projects and the bright young scientists behind them:

• The Grand Prize went to Olivia Hallisey for creating a novel way to detect Ebola.
• Girish Kumar won the Google Technologist Award for helping improve learning through auto-generated study questions.
• The National Geographic Explorer Award went to Deepika Kurup for her idea to use solar-powered silver to create clean drinking water.
• Krtin Nithiyanadam�s project focused on improved diagnosis and treatment of Alzheimer�s Disease and won him the Scientific American Innovator Award.
• Pranav Sivakumar's automated search for gravitationally lensed quasars earned him the Virgin Galactic Pioneer Award.
• And Anurudh Ganesan took home The LEGO Education Builder Award for his unique twist on effectively transporting vaccines.

If you didn�t get to tune in, you can still watch the Awards Show live stream and check out the complete list of impressive finalists and winners, including our first ever Inspiring Educator, Aydan Meydan from Bosnia and Herzegovina.

In all of these finalists and the thousands of submissions from students in 100+ countries, we see something common. These students are inventive, thoughtful, and determined to help make the world a better place. All they need is a chance and a platform to do so. And, unlike some of us adults, they are ready to try things that other people think are �impossible.� I find them inspiring.

It�s imperative for us to support and encourage our young people to explore and challenge the world around them through scientific discovery. So we�re especially glad that Ahmed Mohamed�the 14-year-old clock maker from Texas�took us up on our invite to attend this year�s event. Curious young scientists, inventors and builders like him should be encouraged and empowered.

The past decades have brought tremendous innovations and challenges, and none of us knows what the future of scientific discovery holds. But I can tell you one thing: it�s going to be better thanks to these kids. They will be part of building a brighter future for us all�and as they do, those of us at Scientific American, Google, LEGO Education, National Geographic and Virgin Galactic will be cheering them on.

So start thinking of your ideas for next year! We can�t wait to see what you�ll try next.

Posted by Mariette DiChristina, Editor in Chief of Scientific American and Chief Judge of the Google Science Fair

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