The JASON Project: Out of the Classroom into the Real World

We caught up with New Horizons' Board Member Gray Thompson this month to ask about his work with the JASON Project. Gray, shown here transmitting information from a JASON Project outpost in the rainforest last year, has worked for three years on the JASON Project, bringing award-winning, live, interactive learning experiences to students and teachers worldwide. In addition to his technical involvement, he works closely with the JASON Foundation to design and develop the curriculum and cyclical themes that will be addressed each year.

The Project was started by scientist Dr. Robert Ballard after his discovery of the wreck of the R.M.S. Titanic prompted students all over the world to write to him and ask how became an explorer. He responded by starting the JASON Foundation for Education, hoping to bring the excitement of exploration and research to classrooms, naming the Project after the mythical Greek hero who sought the Golden Fleece. More than a million students and teachers participated in the program in 1997.
Gray is enthusiastic about the program and the opportunity kids have to participate in real research and exploration that will help endangered environments. "There's an attitude among many young people today that the world is trashed," he said. "We need to give them a sense that they can affect change and contribute, that they have a choice."
Thompson envisions an educational system that teaches people learning and thinking skills rather than what they should know. A system that excites, engages and instructs students not only in hard science but about the world at large. He favors non-passive instructional techniques and is particularly excited about the way JASON's live interactive television emotionally involves students in their own education.
With the help of a world-class assembly of scientists and a team of technology experts, the JASON Project enables students and teachers in in grades 4 through 8 to take advantage of a complex web of websites, video and audio communications centers, virtual reality, and other technologies designed to make it possible for ordinary schools to interact with the project's scientific explorations year-round. Workshops and training modules, supplemented by handbooks and classroom kits help participants take part in this sophisticated international information network, communicating with people around the globe who are involved with them in real-time scientific explorations.
Every year JASON brings a different expedition to classrooms. Students might witness the discovery of ancient ships, study the rainforest of Belize from a walkway 100 feet above the jungle floor, or find themselves on site for the real-time eruption of a volcano in Hawaii. These are not passive experiences, students are gathering and returning their own data, sometimes operating science equipment live, via remote control.
As the expeditions get underway, students and teachers can participate in a Classroom Network , chatting with other children and sharing their learning. Classes also have a "window on the world" at the JASON website, and can view 55 hours of pre-produced broadcasts of the expeditions. A growing number of students in connected areas will also have the chance to participate in live expedition broadcasts, joining a few teachers and approximately 30 students each year who have applied and been accepted to be Argonauts. They will meet and work on site with the exploration team, returning data from the field to be shared with colleagues in the classroom.
To make the most of these opportunities, The JASON Project provides teachers and students with a supporting curriculum that integrates science, mathematics, literature and history throughout the school year. The Project also makes professional development opportunities available for teachers who want to learn more about new technologies while using them in their classrooms.
Gray points out that the JASON Project is not merely an exercise in using new technologies, but a fully integrated program that supports real, experiential learning. "The beauty of the JASON Project is that after studying the curriculum, the broadcast becomes an integrated conclusion to their studies. Live TV is especially compelling because students are able to really feel like they are along for the expedition."
Technology is expanding classrooms and turning young people into explorers who are experiencing and interacting with the world. The JASON Project is an innovative multimedia distance learning opportunity that successfully uses "telepresence" technology to bring exotic locations around the world.
For more information, visit the JASON Project's website at http://www.jasonproject.org.