From: kgh_donelson@K12.MEC.OHIO.GOV
Subject: Interactive Mars Activity (fwd)
Date: Mon, 11 Nov 1996 08:51:43 -0500 (EST)
---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Mon, 11 Nov 1996 08:10:03 Central Standard Time
From: Donelsonf <donelsonf@gahanna.k12.oh.us>
To: kgh_donelson@K12.MEC.OHIO.GOV
Subject: Interactive Mars Activity
Hi All!
I don't know about you, but sometimes the week before vactions, my kids get
a little "zoo-ey" and it is hard to get activities which have both substance
and catches their attention. Here is an interactive activity that we are
sponsering at our school that you might be interested in that I believe will
supply both and certainly fits in with the mars theme.
My Space Technology Class at Gahanna Lincoln High School will be setting up
a simulated Mars landscape and building remotely controlled rovers equipped
with cuseeme cameras and pneumatic arms for use on the Internet by
interested students. Our plan is to allow each school 1/2 hour of connect
time where they may use the chat window and/or microphone to communicate
where they would like the rover to travel. The view they will have will be
through the cuseeme camera on the rover. This activity will occur Tuesday,
November 26.
Rather than have a very specific language to worry about, we want students
to just tell us in simple language what they want the rover to do, and our
students on this end will try as best we can to do that.
Although we have not actually mapped out the sites yet, we will try to have
various things to study, grasp, zoom in on, adjust the contrast, etc.
Rocks/boulders will be present, with crystalline structures visible so that
guesses can be made about their origin. We might also throw in some rocks
containing fossils that could be "discovered". We will also try to do
something with fans so that wind direction might be observed.
The details will be worked out later, as well as some possible simple lesson
plans and/or ideas to expand on what is experienced via this cuseeme
activity. If you are interested in taking part in this activity, we would
love to have you.
What you need:
1) Cuseeme software - can be downloaded free from Cornell ... just type
"cuseeme" on your local search engine and look for the FTP site at
Cornell. There is a free version as well as an enhanced one called
White Pine. We use the free one ... "free is me!"
If you want us to see you as well, you need a camera that attaches to a
video card of some type. The cuseeme documentation tells you which ones
work. Here at GLHS, we use the Connectix Quick Cam camera. It gives us
great B$W images and hooks into the printer port of the computer. And best
of all, the price is very reasonable ... $99.00! In fact, one store had
them on sale for $75 last week! But this is not needed to do this activity.
We will be your camera on the rover. It should also be noted that cuseeme
does not work unless your machine has a specific IP address and gateway, so
check this out with your system administrator if you don't know what the
heck that is!!! :-)
My class is planning on actually having two rovers on two sites (A & B). I
am including the times we plan on connecting with students below. If you
would like to share in this activity with us, please email me which of the
times you would like to use. First come, first serve, so don't delay.
Please note that these times are EST, which is 5 hours behind GMT. If you
are east of us, please try to use the morning times so that western states
can use the later times.
Gahanna Lincoln High School
Cuseeme Mars Rover Interactive Project
Tuesday, November 26, 1996
Site A Site B
8:00-8:30
8:45-9:15
9:45-10:15
10:45-11:15
11:30-12:00
12:15-12:45
13:15-13:45
14:15-14:45
15:15-15:45
16:00-16:30
If you could email this to both of the following addresses, it would be
helpful to me in keeping track of things as well as trying to let the
students schedule this!
We are also considering haveing a mini cuseeme "conference" where each
school could present their "findings" to others, after which we could share
images of the actual sites and some of the things to be "discovered"! If
this sounds interesting to you, let me know as well. We might also use
Microsoft's new "Netmeeting" to supplement this activity.
We here at GLHS hope you will consider participating. We did a similar
project last year in the spring with Morningside Elementary in Texas and an
interesting and informative time was had by all.
Have a great week!
Fred
Fred Donelson
Project Orion Space Shuttle Simulation Coordinator
Gahanna Lincoln High School
140 South Hamilton Road
Gahanna, Ohio 43230
Phone: 614-478-5500
donelsonf@gahanna.k12.oh.us
kgh_donelson@k12.mec.ohio.gov
Gahanna Lincoln Science ... Where the Action Is!!!