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Touring Earth's Hot Spots- An Electronic Field Trip To Yellowstone

B Y D OROTHY E VANS

Grade Four science students at Middle Gate School will spend the day Friday,

May 9, in Norwalk at the Maritime Aquarium, participating in a live high-tech

JASON Project broadcast titled, "Journey From the Center of the Earth."

Their host will be Dr Robert Ballard, discoverer of the Titanic, who has been

speaking to student groups in Connecticut, New Jersey and New York via

satellite from a site in Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming.

The theme of this eighth JASON Project expedition is, "Journey from the Center

of the Earth." Students traveling to the Maritime Center will learn why

earth's "hot spots" are hot, and how those "hot spots" can affect animal

migrations.

Dr Ballard and his team of scientists will be examining geothermal features

(such as gushing geysers, boiling mudpots and the volcano that formed the park

land), and also glacial movement. They'll use computer links to compare what

they find in Yellowstone with current data in Iceland, another area with

active links to the earth's inner workings.

Keeping with this year's "journey" theme, the JASON team also will examine how

the flow of magma to the earth's surface affects the movement of humans and

animals, who historically have concentrated around the "hot spots" for food

and warmth.

Each broadcast will look at both the microscopic organisms that live in

sulfur-rich geyser pools and the larger animals that are drawn to hot springs,

from birds to bison to bears.

Thanks to two-way links, the JASON scientists can answer questions from the

global audience, including those submitted from Norwalk. (There are about 30

JASON sites in North America.) And, during several broadcasts, a member of the

Norwalk audience will be invited to use remote controls to operate a camera in

Yellowstone.

After the broadcast, Maritime Aquarium educators will answer Middle Gate

students' questions about this year's expedition.

A Unique Alliance

The JASON Project was created by Dr Ballard, who wanted to build on the huge

interest in his work that was expressed by students after his discovery of the

Titanic in 1985.

The JASON Foundation for Education is supported by a unique alliance of

public, private and non-profit organizations that are committed to the

improvement of science and technological education for all students. National

corporate sponsors include EDS Corporation, Bechtel, Eastman Kodak Company,

ICI Worldwide, the National Geographic Society, the National Science Center

Foundation, Sprint and SUN Microsystems.

Local sponsors who help some of the 8,000 students from the tri-state area

afford to participate in The JASON Project at The Maritime Aquarium include:

The Dibner Fund, Inc; The Kreitler Foundation; The Katharine Matthies

Foundation; The William and Alice Mortensen Foundation; Newman's Own, Inc; The

Overbrook Foundation; and The Carl and Lily Pforzheimer Foundation, Inc.

For more information about The JASON Project broadcasts, call The Maritime

Aquarium at 203/852-0700, ext 206.