Tammy Jones								April. 9, 
1996
Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.  20771
(301) 286-5566
tammy.jones@ccmail.gsfc.nasa.gov

RELEASE: 96-020

STUDENTS COME TO GODDARD TO EXPLORE THE FLORIDA EVERGLADES
	
	NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. is temporarily converting 
a portion of its Visitor Center into a replica of the Florida Everglades.  Goddard is 
participating in the JASON Project as a Primary Interactive Network (PIN) site.  JASON 
is a high-tech learning adventure founded in 1989 by explorer Dr. Robert Ballard, who 
discovered the wreckage of the R.M.S. Titanic.  

	Students participating in the JASON Project at Goddard will join nearly half a 
million other students and teachers around the world in a televised expedition.  The 
students will interact with scientists and control remote operated vehicles.  The video, 
audio and data signals originate from the live broadcast in Florida, are converted to 
compressed digital video, and uplinked to a satellite.  The broadcasts are then 
downliked to the primary sites. 

	This year "JASON VII:  Adapting to a Changing Sea," explores several 
interconnected shallow water habitats in Southern Florida to learn about "natural" 
cycles, the cycles that would occur in the environment if there were no humans in that 
area.  The expedition takes place in Key Largo, Fla., April 15-26.  

	This is the third year Goddard has served as a PIN site, inviting hundreds of 
students throughout the metropolitan area to participate.  High Point High School 
students in Beltsville, Md., built the set.  

 	One teacher and one student from the Washington metropolitan area were 
selected as Argonauts and will embark on the ultimate field trip to Florida.  The 

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Argonauts were selected competitively from around the world. The Teacher Argonaut 
from this area, Martha Alexander, teaches biology at High Point High School.  She also 
teaches advanced placement biology and has been chair of the science department for 
14 years.  
  
	The Student Argonaut from this area, Billy Sarkis, attends DeMatha High School 
in Hyattsville, Md.  Sarkis, an active Boy Scout, earned an Environmental Merit Badge 
after observing nature for four days and writing an essay about his experience.  Both 
Alexander and Sarkis will leave for Florida April 10.  

	In past JASON Projects, viewers have excavated Maya cities, explored the rain 
forests and coral reefs of Belize, and visited the worlds most active volcano, Hawaii's Mt. 
Kilauea.  The JASON Project homepage provides information on current and past 
projects and features hypertext links, graphics, video and sound clips.  The URL for the 
homepage is: 

http://seawifs.gsfc.nasa.gov/JASON.html   

Media are invited to Goddard to see the students put together the set, to interview 
students and teachers, and to see them interact with others around the world.  Those 
wishing to interview the Argonauts before they leave for Florida should contact Tammy 
Jones immediately at 301-286-5566.  This portion of JASON starts on April 15 and runs 
through the 26.
 
  
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