Hamilton Reef
02-07-2005, 11:44 AM
Kids explore world of nature, from class
http://www.freep.com/money/tech/mwendland7e_20050207.htm
BY MIKE WENDLAND, FREE PRESS COLUMNIST
If you've ever wondered how far technology in education has come, you should have been in three Louisiana swamps last week.
That's where a high-tech expedition by one of the world's leading scientists was dodging lightning and watching out for water moccasins and gators while being beamed directly into classrooms across the country.
The folks at Electronic Data Systems Corp. who helped set up the live satellite and Internet-based system that made it all possible call it telepresence.
The kids who watched the live broadcasts as part of their science classes -- there were 1.7 million students, including 2,500 second- through eighth-graders in eight Oakland and Macomb county schools -- took it for granted as another part of the educational process.
That is exactly what the JASON Expedition has as its goal. The Louisiana broadcasts, integrated into the schools' science curriculum, examined the problem of shrinking wetlands.
Leading the expedition -- and teaching the students as if they were there with him, slogging through the swamps -- was famed explorer Robert Ballard, the guy who discovered the wreckage of the Titanic in 1985.
Ballard is the founder of the JASON Project (www.jasonproject.org), named after the Greek myth of Jason and the Argonauts. He started the nonprofit educational foundation after being deluged with letters from students all over the world who were fascinated by the Titanic discovery.
Ballard gathered up a host of corporate sponsors like EDS and began traveling the world, taking students -- through live in-classroom broadcasts -- to active volcanoes, coral seas, glaciers, deserts and the Florida Keys.
"The goal is to link students in real time to real-world expeditions," says Jeff Baum, an EDS vice president for community affairs. "We're hoping that all this inspires students to a lifelong passion for learning in science and technology."
The Louisiana expedition, which ended Saturday, was headquartered at the Jean Lafitte National Historic Park's Barataria Preserve, about a dozen miles southeast of New Orleans. It's a huge freshwater swamp that has been disappearing fast as dredging of the Mississippi River and saltwater infiltration from the Gulf of Mexico has drastically changed the environment.
"One of the things that this expedition projected," says Andy Allbee of EDS' digital-media group, "is that we're losing about an acre of swamp every day right now. And that will have a devastating effect on all sorts of things."
Like frogs.
Changes in frogs, says Allbee, are a sort of early warning signal for ecological problems. And on a JASON Expedition-related Web site set up by EDS called Frogs in Focus ( www.eds.com/about/community/ jason/wetlands/2005lab.aspx), students can participate in an interactive lesson that counts tadpoles and frogs and measures water levels.
But what makes all this become real for the students is the ability to watch and learn from Ballard and other real scientists directly in the swamp. And that's where EDS comes in.
Out on location, an EDS satellite truck and a high-tech shipping container served as a mobile laboratory and control room linked to two other Louisiana research sites, in the tidal marshland near the town of Cocodrie and adjacent to the gulf at Port Fourchon.
Scientists and field researchers answered questions, showed experiments and interacted with one another, with the satellite dish at the Barataria Preserve uplinking the signals to a director in Seattle, who then mixed everything together for a live feed to the schools.
"It's a huge undertaking in not exactly the most friendly settings," says Allbee. "But to the students watching in their classrooms, it's all seamless."
Baum estimates that EDS has spent millions over the years supporting JASON expeditions. But besides the good community relations such a project hopes to create, he sees another benefit.
"The kids watching ... are the scientists and engineers and technology workers of tomorrow, and it's in our interests to help them be all they can. Because someday, we're sure some of them will be working for us."
Contact MIKE WENDLAND at 313-222-8861 or mwendland@freepress.com.
http://www.freep.com/money/tech/mwendland7e_20050207.htm
BY MIKE WENDLAND, FREE PRESS COLUMNIST
If you've ever wondered how far technology in education has come, you should have been in three Louisiana swamps last week.
That's where a high-tech expedition by one of the world's leading scientists was dodging lightning and watching out for water moccasins and gators while being beamed directly into classrooms across the country.
The folks at Electronic Data Systems Corp. who helped set up the live satellite and Internet-based system that made it all possible call it telepresence.
The kids who watched the live broadcasts as part of their science classes -- there were 1.7 million students, including 2,500 second- through eighth-graders in eight Oakland and Macomb county schools -- took it for granted as another part of the educational process.
That is exactly what the JASON Expedition has as its goal. The Louisiana broadcasts, integrated into the schools' science curriculum, examined the problem of shrinking wetlands.
Leading the expedition -- and teaching the students as if they were there with him, slogging through the swamps -- was famed explorer Robert Ballard, the guy who discovered the wreckage of the Titanic in 1985.
Ballard is the founder of the JASON Project (www.jasonproject.org), named after the Greek myth of Jason and the Argonauts. He started the nonprofit educational foundation after being deluged with letters from students all over the world who were fascinated by the Titanic discovery.
Ballard gathered up a host of corporate sponsors like EDS and began traveling the world, taking students -- through live in-classroom broadcasts -- to active volcanoes, coral seas, glaciers, deserts and the Florida Keys.
"The goal is to link students in real time to real-world expeditions," says Jeff Baum, an EDS vice president for community affairs. "We're hoping that all this inspires students to a lifelong passion for learning in science and technology."
The Louisiana expedition, which ended Saturday, was headquartered at the Jean Lafitte National Historic Park's Barataria Preserve, about a dozen miles southeast of New Orleans. It's a huge freshwater swamp that has been disappearing fast as dredging of the Mississippi River and saltwater infiltration from the Gulf of Mexico has drastically changed the environment.
"One of the things that this expedition projected," says Andy Allbee of EDS' digital-media group, "is that we're losing about an acre of swamp every day right now. And that will have a devastating effect on all sorts of things."
Like frogs.
Changes in frogs, says Allbee, are a sort of early warning signal for ecological problems. And on a JASON Expedition-related Web site set up by EDS called Frogs in Focus ( www.eds.com/about/community/ jason/wetlands/2005lab.aspx), students can participate in an interactive lesson that counts tadpoles and frogs and measures water levels.
But what makes all this become real for the students is the ability to watch and learn from Ballard and other real scientists directly in the swamp. And that's where EDS comes in.
Out on location, an EDS satellite truck and a high-tech shipping container served as a mobile laboratory and control room linked to two other Louisiana research sites, in the tidal marshland near the town of Cocodrie and adjacent to the gulf at Port Fourchon.
Scientists and field researchers answered questions, showed experiments and interacted with one another, with the satellite dish at the Barataria Preserve uplinking the signals to a director in Seattle, who then mixed everything together for a live feed to the schools.
"It's a huge undertaking in not exactly the most friendly settings," says Allbee. "But to the students watching in their classrooms, it's all seamless."
Baum estimates that EDS has spent millions over the years supporting JASON expeditions. But besides the good community relations such a project hopes to create, he sees another benefit.
"The kids watching ... are the scientists and engineers and technology workers of tomorrow, and it's in our interests to help them be all they can. Because someday, we're sure some of them will be working for us."
Contact MIKE WENDLAND at 313-222-8861 or mwendland@freepress.com.