From: Jan Wee <jwee@mail.arc.nasa.gov>
Subject: What's Up: October 26-November 1
Date: Sun, 26 Oct 1997 14:48:56 -0600
Dear discuss-lfm members,
WEEK of October 26-November 1st UPDATE
LIVE FROM MARS
Discuss-lfm
>>>>>REMINDER: OCTOBER 30TH (THURSDAY) PROGRAM 4 "DESTINATION MARS" AIRING
ON NASA-TV (C BAND) & PBS (KU BAND), 13:00-14:00 Eastern
(1:00-2:00pm Eastern)
http://quest.arc.nasa.gov/mars/teachers/tg/program4/index.html
FOR FULL OVERVIEW OF "DESTINATION MARS"
Destination Mars is a one-hour taped program that will be available to
teachers on October 30, 1997. This edited compilation of previous programming
is intended to allow you either to:
!) Introduce an entirely new class of students to the unit by providing a
digest of the "story to date." Teachers may then implement the entire Live
>From Mars electronic field trip in fall '97 as one complete teaching unit,
culminating with the live broadcast of Program 5, "Today on Mars," on
November 13, 1997.
Or to:
2) Review the LFM Module begun in the 1996-1997 school year and re-engage
students to resume their roles as members of the Mars team before beginning
the activities suggested for Program 5, "Today on Mars," airing in November.
This would work, for example, for 5th graders who will enter 6th grade in
'97-98,
especially with a preplanned "hand-off" between 5th and 6th grade teachers.
--------> Satellite Coordinate Information
1) The October 30th and November 13th programs will be carried at
*13:00-14:00 Eastern*. PBS' GE-3 will run a test at 12:30-13:00
Eastern; NASA-TV does not run the test pattern, and in fact,
may be joining the LFM October 30th program 5 minutes late
due to a top of the hours newscast. Local PBS stations will not
show the "test". Be sure to check with local PBS stations regarding
their coverage plans.
>>>>>ACCESSING Live From Mars Program 4 "Destination Mars"
OPTION 1: PBS GE-3 satellite coordinates
GE-3, Ku-band
87 degrees West longitude
transponder 20, vertical polarity
12100 Mhz, audio on 6.2, 6.8 Mhz.
This will be the new PBS Adult Learning Services transponder.
It is analog (not digital) and not scrambled.
Please note that this is how the broadcasts are carried to
individual PBS stations for subsequent "over the air" carriage.
***You will still need to "Check local listings" to determine
what your local station*** has decided in terms of live or tape
delayed carriage. You are encouraged to call your local PBS
station if you are unsure of coverage.
2) OPTION 2: NASA-TV satellite coordinates
NASA-TV is carried on a C-band transponder on:
GE-2, C-band
85 degrees West longitude
transponder 9C, vertical polarity
3880 Mhz, audio is monaural on 6.8 Mhz.
So long as NASA-TV carries us live, Quest will also support live
RealVideo Internet distribution. Check the Live Video link
via the LFM web site for more info!
BE AWARE...NASA-TV may pre-empt/modify PTK programming schedule
due to NASA agency shuttle missions and other late breaking events.
>>>>>UPDATE: WEATHER WORLDS
Phase 2 (data collection) of the Weather Worlds project has been moved one
week to allow classes to debate the plans that have been submitted and to
test their plans to make sure they will work. The new timeline is:
Week of October 27th: Classes will revise their plans. The revised plans
must be submitted by 3:00 pm EST on October 30th. Plans may be submitted
by using the form at the Weather Worlds web site at
http://quest.arc.nasa.gov/mars/events/ptkwwone.html or by sending the
e-mail form to PTKWW@edc.org. DO NOT send your plans to the debate-lfm list.
Week of November 3: Classes will test their plans. A discussion of the
procedures for data collection will take place during this week on the
debate-lfm list. We need to reach a consensus on procedures by the end of
the week. All of the submitted plans will be placed at the Weather Worlds
web site.
Weeks of November 10 and November 17: Classes will collect their data.
Both a web site form and an e-mail version will be available for classes to
post their data. Even if you did not participate in Phase 1 you can still
participate in Phase 2.
We would really like to see additional schools participating in Phase 2 of
Weather Worlds. The more classes participating the more meaningful our
data will be.
Susan and Eileen, Co-Moderators of debate-lfm/Weather Watchers Activity
>>>>>WEB CHATS: UNMODERATED CHATS WITH STAFF
This is an opportunity for teachers to chat with other teachers and
with project staff on Thursdays as follows
Pacific time Eastern time
October 30 3:00pm 6:00pm
November 6 Noon 3:00pm
November 13 3:00pm 6:00pm
See: http://quest.arc.nasa.gov/mars/events/webchats/mars2.html
for more details about these chats with staff, other educators,
and interested folks.
The October 30th chat would be a good time to talk about such
topics as the viewing of "Destination Mars" & how you are
preparing your students for the LIVE program "Today on Mars"
(airing November 13th) or Weather Watchers or ??? <you name
a relevant topic>!
>>>>>WEB CHATS for HOME-SCHOOLERS
Also, a weekly web chat for home-schoolers will be held each Wednesday
at 11:00 am Pacific (2:00 pm Eastern). The forum will be hosted by
homeschooler Gayle Remisch, from London, Ontario, Canada
>>>>>A WORD OF THANKS...
Thanks to Pedro, Rafael, Stephanie, Mike R., Ginny D., and Dr. Edgett
for sharing online via the discuss-lfm forum this past week.
Jan Wee, moderator of discuss-lfm
Live From Mars
http://quest.arc.nasa.gov/mars