More than 400 students from the Irvine and Tustin unified school districts showcased their own creative inventions and fielded questions from curious visitors during the 26th annual Astounding Inventions contest.

As we touched on in an earlier post, IUSD continues to explore new technologies in and out of the classroom, with the intent of leveraging the talents of its staff and engaging students.

A Venado Middle School teacher is the subject of a nice feature story on the Orange County Register’s website. Reporter Lauren Jow penned the profile on Brendan McBrien, who has taught music for more than 25 years and composed hundreds of original songs. Here’s a brief excerpt:

Sierra Vista Middle School will host its second annual “Night at the Museum” showcase this month, featuring scores of student projects created for this year’s National History Day competition.

“Will The Infrared Light Emitted By The Coronal Mass Ejection (CME) Affect The Color Sorting Sensors At Candy Factories?” “The Effect Of Transforming Ampicillin-Resistant And Kanamycin-Resistant Plasmids On The Percentage Of E.coli That Is Double Resistant To Ampicillin And Kanamycin” “Who Has More Bacteria In Their Mouth

IUSD Superintendent Terry Walker was among a handful of local education leaders to take part in a three-hour county presentation on the new Common Core instructional standards Thursday.

Some very cool student inventions will be showcased later this month at the 26th annual Astounding Inventions contest.

Our friends in the science department have asked us to pass along word of an opportunity for science-minded students in grades one through six.