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National Geographic Online is proud to host the award-winning JASON Project Web site.
The National Geographic Society sponsors Dr. Robert Ballard—geologist, explorer, discoverer of the wreck of the R.M.S. Titanic, and creator of the JASON Project—and his interdisciplinary team of scientists, teachers, and student Argonauts on their 1998 expedition Oceans of Earth and Beyond. Now in its ninth year, the JASON Project convened global conferences from Monterey Bay, Bermuda, and Mexico’s Sea of Cortez four times daily from March 16-27, 1998. Through the Internet and live broadcasts, students around the world joined scientists studying how the physical and chemical structures of different marine environments affect the varied structures of life in the oceans.
Using the latest research tools and techniques, students learned about shallow, mid-water, and deep-ocean environments by exploring kelp forests, coral reefs, deep-sea hot springs, and marine snow. This interdisciplinary endeavor also asked students to examine the interaction between human and ocean life, focusing on conservation and stewardship programs designed to preserve marine life and habitats. Building on their experience with Earth’s marine systems, students considered the ongoing work of NASA researchers, investigating the origins of Earth’s oceans as well as evidence of oceans beyond Earth, on Jupiter’s moon Europa.
Students conducted their own research projects locally and compared their findings with those of the Jason expedition sites. The JASON Project Web site has bulletin boards where students posted findings and read reports from other classes.
Other JASON Project expeditions took Ballard and his team to the exotic Galápagos Islands, a rain forest canopy in Belize, and the underwater research laboratory Aquarius off the Florida coast.
Each school year the JASON Project offers teachers a unique combination of tools:
- participation in the JASON global conference by attending one of the live one-hour broadcasts;
- attendance at a full-day professional development workshop, required before the broadcast;
- the acclaimed JASON Project curriculum, a rich resource of hands-on lessons;
- a year-round offering of activities and information from JASON Online Systems and JASON@School;
- the JASON Classroom Network, a series of video programs about the Project.
The National Geographic Society is a founding sponsor of the JASON Project. The Grosvenor Auditorium in Washington, D.C., is one of the Primary Interactive Network Sites (PINS) where broadcasts are held. If you teach in the Washington, D.C. area and want to bring your class to a broadcast, call +1 202 857 7700 for more information about the professional development workshops (held from October to January) as well as the broadcast schedule. A list of PINS around the world is available on the JASON Project Web site.
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