There have been many messages posted to our DISCUSS lists and sent privately about the reactions of students to receiving an answer to their question from a scientist. There was the quiet student in the class who had little success all year and the smile on her face when she received a response to her question. Or the difficult, unmotivated class that came alive during this interaction with scientists.

These are just a few of the comments we have received about student reactions to participating in ON-AIR.

My students nearly fell out of their chairs when Shannon's question got answered on line. This was a really neat experience for this girl, as school hasn't always been the best experience for her. Today the county music teacher came up to me and told me he had watched it from home and was amazed to hear that a student from our county had a question answered by a scientist. It really brings the learning experience home.

Please also thank the scientists for answering the student's questions on-line.

I think that this is one of the key elements to the program- access to scientists that will work to help students find the answers to their questions. We discuss the questions and answers in class. One of the responses from Mr. Ireland was that they don't yet have the answer yet but with the help of SOHO, hope to discover the answer. I really appreciated the discussion that followed in my class about the "process" of discovery that is so important in science. I want my students to feel free to experience and experiment with science and to not expect every answer to be found in a text.

It was also neat for the students to "see" the scientist that they had read about in the Live from Sun Website. Each student was required to read about, write about and share information about one scientist. They were very pleased that "their scientist" was part of the broadcast.

Ginny Dexter, Hydesville School, Hydesville CA

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The broadcast yesterday was excellent. The children were impressed that their questions were answered so promptly. We are turning our room into a rain forest, researching animals, listening to tapes of rain forest sounds,... Thanks for all the hard work!!!!

Amanda Buice
Lamar Co. Elementary

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I loved this new format of submitting onair questions. My kids were excited to see responses so quick. They really felt connected to the scientists at the Smithsonian.

Marilyn

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The students submitted a lot of questions as they are each researching a rainforest animal and have been on-line looking up information. They were very excited about the panel of scientists available to answer their questions!

AND the answers are already in. You should of seen their faces when they realized that they had their answers already. What a great way to do an interactive show.

Thanks again for a job well done!!! It was beautifully done and we really appreciate all the hard work it took to get this program to us!

Ginny, Hydesville School, Hydesville, CA