GREAT EXPLORERS
What kinds of people choose a life of exploration, adventure, and even danger, and where would we be without them? Your students will answer those questions as they meet these modern day discoverers and explorers (who have traveled to the far parts of the Earth and even out into Space) and determine their impact on our world.
The Great Explorers videoconference series will provide a window with special emphasis on not just what is known about our world and the Universe but how it has come to be known. This approach reveals the very personal means by which researchers ask questions of the world and empower themselves to create a pathway to an answer.
REGISTER Online for all Videoconferences: http://www.vanderbilt.edu/virtualschool/registration.htm
Target audience: students in grades 5-12
Times: 9:00 - 9:45 and 10:00 - 10:45 AM (CENTRAL time zone)
Format: 45-minutes formatted into 30-minute presentation, and then
15-20 minute Q & A
Cost: $75 per site
Questions: Chandra Allison, at (615) 322-6511 or email chandra.allison@vanderbilt.edu
ONLY 3 remain this semester, but we have already posted one for next October!
1)Thursday, March 18, 2010
Dr. Rick Chappell
"Mission To Mars"
Come and be part of this exciting videoconference as we discuss the challenges and realities of a manned mission to Mars with former NASA astronaut, Dr. Rick Chappell.
A manned mission to Mars will take 9 months to get to Mars, and there is only one launch window every 26 months. All in all, a trip to Mars would take about 21 months: 9 months to get there, 3 months on Mars, and 9 months to get back.
2)Thursday, April 1, 2010
Dr. Bob Schweikert
"What Time is It?: Sundial history, contemporary dials and Earth orbital dynamics"
This lesson and videoconference will help students understand the relationship between the Earth and the sun and how this relationship affects observable phenomena on Earth, such as the seasons and time. Students will reinforce their understanding by diagramming the Earth and sun during different seasons.
Have you ever wondered how people worked out their ideas of telling the time? They used the position of the Sun in the sky. They used sundials to tell the time by looking at the shadow cast by the Sun as it shines on the pointer of a sundial.
3)Thursday, April 22, 2010
Dr. James Crowe
"Nanotechnology, Nanomedicine & Nanobiotechnology"
Join this cutting-edge videoconference so your students can learn how “nano” applies to the real world and the scientific field of NANOTECHNOLOGY.
Students will learn to compare relative sizes to gain a tangible understanding of the size of a nanometer. They can think about the world on the scale of the nanometer using movies such as “Honey I Shrunk the Kids” or “Incredible Voyage” as a springboard for discussion.
With the presenter, students will explore current applications of nanotechnology in various industries, including medicine, space development, environmental protection, and defense.
4) Wednesday, October 6, 2010 - (YES! Next Fall semester!)
Dr. Tiffiny Tung
(Mummy Autopsy)
"Reading the Bones: Skeletons and Mummies of the Past"
Thanks to technology, history, and deductive reasoning, experts are able to access important scientific and cultural information about mummies. In turn, this information usually reveals much about the culture, religion, and daily lives of the members of a civilization. Come and join this videoconference and learn how scientists find out a mummy’s sex, age, diet, social standing, cause of death, or original appearance.
Using a skeletal model (loaned to participating schools), students will be challenged to explore and to learn the procedures, tools, and background knowledge necessary to understand mummies. Students will learn the different ways mummies are preserved, what can be learned from studying mummies, and some of the challenges faced by scientists who study mummies.
Register quickly! These videoconferences will fill up fast!
Patsy
Patsy Partin, M.Ed
Director, Virtual School
Vanderbilt University
2007 Terrace Place
Nashville, TN 37203
(615) 322-6384
www.vanderbilt.edu/virtualschool
