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Published on 03/30/1998 All articles from this issue

Students venture underwater with NASA program

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By Linda Taaffe / Town Crier Staff Writer

Dana Saign never thought about pursuing a career in science until she plunged to the ocean's floor to look at sea life from a scientist's perspective last month. Now the St. Nicholas School seventh grader said she can't wait to become a scientist. Several of her classmates said they experienced a similar change of heart.

Through the JASON IX Project "Oceans of Earth and Beyond," students from 28 locations nationwide explored underwater volcanoes, kelp forests and coral reefs in Monterey Bay, Bermuda and Guaymas Basin via satellite during an 11-day expedition March 16-27. Dana and her classmates were among the approximately 12,500 fourth through ninth graders to participate in the expedition at NASA Ames in Mountain View.

Lisa Marie Gonzales, project coordinator, said the project is a way to excite students worldwide about science through hands-on activities. She said each year the science program brings students on virtual expeditions to different regions of the world.

"We want to interest kids in science in whatever shape or fashion that they can apply to their lives," Gonzales said. "The project is powerful. This is where a lot of the interest starts."

Gonzales said studies show that only half of all 13-17-year-olds said they thought science was useful in their everyday lives.

NASA surveys show that 60 percent of the students who have completed the program said they were more interested in science, and 61 percent said they were more interested in technology.

Debbie Curley, science teacher at St. Nicholas, said her class had been preparing for the March 19 field trip for five weeks through special classroom assignments.

"They're a very active group and want to really learn in depth," she said. Curley said the students were most interested in knowing if pollution has any positive impacts on the ocean's environment.

Robert Ballard, the scientist who discovered the wreckage of the R.M.S. Titanic, launched the JASON Project in 1989 in response to student inquiries about his work. Since its inception nine years ago, the program has included expeditions to the rain forests in Belize, the Galapagos Islands, Baja's coast and Iceland.

During this year's expedition, students at NASA viewed live broadcasts of the ocean on three giant screens, controlled remotely-operated underwater vehicles and cameras located in Monterey Bay and Bermuda, and spoke to scientists on location.

The field trip also included about 15 work stations where students could watch a squid dissection, learn about El Niño, look for different coral specimens in a mock coral reef.

Dana said some of the information didn't make sense in class, but "I could start to connect everything I learned. The (stations) tie everything together. It's cool."