Mercedes: . . . . Thu, Sep 19, 2:52PM PDT (-0800 GMT)
Hi.

Duncan Atchison/SMORE Project: . . . . Thu, Sep 19, 2:56PM PDT (-0800 GMT)
Mercedes - what are the cultural topics for this month?

Duncan Atchison/SMORE Project: . . . . Thu, Sep 19, 3:02PM PDT
(-0800 GMT)
Anybody out there?

Duncan Atchison/SMORE Project: . . . . Thu, Sep 19, 3:05PM PDT
(-0800 GMT)
Mercedes and I will be here the next hour to try to answer any
questions you might have.

Mercedes: . . . . Thu, Sep 19, 3:09PM PDT (-0800 GMT)
The theme for this month is getting to know your neighbors around
the world. There are a variety of topics to spark disscusions. For
example students can talk about the country they live in and what type
of enviroment they live in. 

Duncan Atchison/SMORE Project: . . . . Thu, Sep 19, 3:11PM PDT
(-0800 GMT)
I look forward to hearing more about what its like attending school in
Russia.

Mercedes: . . . . Thu, Sep 19, 3:11PM PDT (-0800 GMT)
Every month there is a new theme and the topics for discussion pertain
to it. 

Kathy - Pacific Space Centre (Vancouver, Canada): . . . . Thu, Sep
19, 3:17PM PDT (-0800 GMT)
Hi! I am a teacher advocate for the Live From Mars project and just
heard about SMORE...could you give me some more information
about the project and what it entails, etc? 

Duncan Atchison/SMORE Project: . . . . Thu, Sep 19, 3:17PM PDT
(-0800 GMT)
I think there will be discussions also about out "Great Plant Box
Debate". Just as people around the world have ideas about how
gardens should look, people probably have opinions about how plants
should be grown in space.

Mercedes: . . . . Thu, Sep 19, 3:18PM PDT (-0800 GMT)
So do I Duncan, I also hope that teachers and students from all around
the globe participate in in all of the cultural activities. This is a
great
chance for students to learn about other cultures and science and have
fun at the same time. 

Duncan Atchison/SMORE Project: . . . . Thu, Sep 19, 3:19PM PDT
(-0800 GMT)
Hi Kathy, I saw that there were some people chatting earlier with
Marc, from the Pacific Space Centre. SMORE is designed to give
teachers and students a look behind the scenes at the people running
the science on the Shuttle/Mir project

Kathy - Pacific Space Centre (Vancouver, Canada): . . . . Thu, Sep
19, 3:20PM PDT (-0800 GMT)
When did this start? Are there teacher guides with lesson plan ideas?
What can I tell teachers at my workshops about this?

Duncan Atchison/SMORE Project: . . . . Thu, Sep 19, 3:23PM PDT
(-0800 GMT)
We started just two weeks ago, yes we have lessons online already,
(see the SMORE homepage), tell your teachers there are several ways
to participate. 1) Join our "great plant box debate", where we'll have
classrooms proposing what should be in a box to take into space to
grown plants, and defending their choices online. 2) Join our cultural
exchange program with Russian schools. 3) try out our lesson plans
4) ask an expert a question 5) join our discussion group 6) put ideas
up on our Science Fair area that's enough for now to give you a feel

Mercedes: . . . . Thu, Sep 19, 3:25PM PDT (-0800 GMT)
Hi Kathy. The main goal of the project is to link K-12 students from
around the globe together so that they can exchange information about
their various cultures and at the same time exchange ideas about
science and the space program. 

Kathy - Pacific Space Centre (Vancouver, Canada): . . . . Thu, Sep
19, 3:25PM PDT (-0800 GMT)
Duncan...thanks, that helps! The project sounds interesting...I guess I
should head to the homepage and do some reading! 

Duncan Atchison/SMORE Project: . . . . Thu, Sep 19, 3:26PM PDT
(-0800 GMT)
What is the Pacific Space Centre?

Kathy - Pacific Space Centre (Vancouver, Canada): . . . . Thu, Sep
19, 3:28PM PDT (-0800 GMT)
The Pacific Space Centre is a planetarium and observatory which is
going through an $8 million expansion...next October we will be a
space centre full of exhibits, hands-on workshops, demos, motion
simulator, etc, etc... I am the education coordinator here. 

Duncan Atchison/SMORE Project: . . . . Thu, Sep 19, 3:33PM PDT
(-0800 GMT)
Wow - someday I hope to visit, I've heard VAncouver is beautiful.

Mercedes: . . . . Thu, Sep 19, 3:33PM PDT (-0800 GMT)
I'm siging off......Bye!

Kathy - Pacific Space Centre (Vancouver, Canada): . . . . Thu, Sep
19, 3:34PM PDT (-0800 GMT)
Yes, it is! If you visit, make sure it's after October 1997 so everything
will be up and running! Where are you located?

Duncan Atchison/SMORE Project: . . . . Thu, Sep 19, 3:36PM PDT
(-0800 GMT)
I work as an engineer at the Ames Research Center in Mountain View,
California, yes we do have a mountain view, of Black Mountain, the
highest point locally in the Santa Cruz mountains

Kathy - Pacific Space Centre (Vancouver, Canada): . . . . Thu, Sep
19, 3:38PM PDT (-0800 GMT)
Is that the Ames Research Center at Moffat Field, or is that different?

Duncan Atchison/SMORE Project: . . . . Thu, Sep 19, 3:40PM PDT
(-0800 GMT)
Yes, Moffett Field is where both Marc and I work, I think you have
talked with Marc before. In fact I work in one of the old Navy
Barracks, my office is a former dorm room.

Duncan Atchison/SMORE Project: . . . . Thu, Sep 19, 3:45PM PDT
(-0800 GMT)
Anybody else out there?

Kathy - Pacific Space Centre (Vancouver, Canada): . . . . Thu, Sep
19, 3:45PM PDT (-0800 GMT)
I didn't know Marc was there too. I visited Moffet Field in June when
I was at a conference in Santa Clara for the Astronomical Society of
the Pacific. I raided the Teacher Resource Center at Moffet Field and
got all sorts of cool stuff! Nice area to live and work in!

Duncan Atchison/SMORE Project: . . . . Thu, Sep 19, 3:50PM PDT
(-0800 GMT)
How do you find that Weg pages help you and your visitors?

Kathy - Pacific Space Centre (Vancouver, Canada): . . . . Thu, Sep
19, 3:53PM PDT (-0800 GMT)
Most of the teachers around here don't have access to the internet so
as of yet they're only slightly helpful. We do have a Canadian Space
Agency Resource Centre here that is equipped with computers for
teachers to use. Through Live From Mars we have been convincing
some school districts to purchase the hardware to take advantage of
these great teaching tools! Slowly but surely.......

Duncan Atchison/SMORE Project: . . . . Thu, Sep 19, 3:58PM PDT
(-0800 GMT)
Yes, its still a problem, one school we are working with on SMORE
just has one computer in the library, so all the classes have to share.

Kathy - Pacific Space Centre (Vancouver, Canada): . . . . Thu, Sep
19, 4:03PM PDT (-0800 GMT)
Wow, that's pretty harsh! I think I'm going to go look at the
homepage now and see what you're all about. I have a Live From
Mars workshop coming up soon and this might be interesting to the
teachers as well. Is there any print materials I can get my hands on for
the purpose of giving a presentation on the project? 

Duncan Atchison/SMORE Project: . . . . Thu, Sep 19, 4:06PM PDT
(-0800 GMT)
I can send some things to you by email, if you wish