The Willow Glen Resident

Photograph by Skye Dunlap

Under the Sea: Surrounded by paper replicas of fish and kelp, Willow Glen Middle School students enter the virtual ocean at Moffett Field.

Glen students plunge into a day of ocean exploration

Squid-dissection exhibit is the students' favorite

By Michelle Ku

Secrets of the oceans were revealed during the last two weeks at Hangar One at Moffett Field. Instead of housing aircraft or research equipment, Hangar One became the home of JASON City, a metropolis of hands-on experiments and informational booths on science and ocean exploration.

On March 23, 310 eighth-graders from Willow Glen Middle School toured the city at the NASA-Ames Research Center and viewed a live, one-hour broadcast from Monterey and Bermuda. It was all part of the two-week JASON Project IX: Oceans of Earth and Beyond, which focused on the structure of the ocean and how it supports diverse animal life.

Since the academic year began in September, the Willow Glen students have been learning about the ocean as part of their ocean science unit and in conjunction with JASON IX.

"[The students] had huge chapters on the kelp forests, ocean currents and tracking things in the ocean," said Kirsty Lubicz-Nawrocka, an eighth-grade ocean science teacher. "They had a lot of information on submersibles and deep water stuff. It just fit in well with our local curriculum. [JASON personnel] were in Bermuda and Monterey Bay, and our huge field trip was to the Monterey Bay Aquarium."

During live satellite feeds, students got to see scientists who were underwater, on boats or on land and conducting ocean research in Monterey Bay and Bermuda. The scientists answered students' taped questions, telling them about research being conducted in the coral reefs of Bermuda and the kelp forests of Monterey Bay.

After the broadcasts, the students took a trip to JASON City in Hangar One. Half of the hanger was transformed into a dining area, with various exhibits in the other end. A room equipped with computers was available for students to visit the JASON Web site and view information on the researchers, the equipment they use and their expedition journals as well as a virtual tour of the Monterey Bay and Bermuda areas.

The squid dissection was the exhibit that seemed to be the most popular with the students, said Thomas Clausen, education officer at NASA Ames. "The beaks of the squids were taken out, and students were shown the eyes and the blue blood. There's a lot to learn about invertebrates."

Two other popular exhibits were the kelp and coral rooms. The decor and ambiance of these two rooms were set up to simulate an ocean environment, with the floors covered in sand.

The kelp room featured a wall with murals of kelp and tables with different types of kelp the students could touch and identify. Tropical music and lighting filled the coral room, and paper replicas of fish and kelp hung from the ceiling in front of a display of coral with six different types for the students to analyze.

Other exhibits included posterboard information about Jacques Cousteau, underwater diving in Monterey Bay, the Marine Mammal Center and animals who live at different depths of the ocean.

Lubicz-Nawrocka said she was a bit disappointed with what was available at JASON City. "I expected a lot more hands-on things for the kids to be able to do. It was kind of an adult science fair with lots of posters and boards to read," she said. "But they did have a cute coral reef and kelp forest, and the squid dissection was really good."

Next year's JASON Project X will focus on rain forests, in particular a tropical rain forest in Peru and a temperate rain forest on the Olympic Peninsula in Washington. Teachers are already configuring their curricula with the JASON Project, Clausen says.

The JASON Project was created 10 years ago by Robert Ballard, the scientist who discovered the wreckage of the RMS Titanic in 1988. He named the project after Jason, the robotic vehicle he used in diving for the remains of the Titanic. The vehicle was named after the Jason of Greek myth, who was said to have led the Argonauts.

Overall, about two million students worldwide participated in the project, said Lisa Marie Gonzales, Northern California JASON coordinator at NASA Ames.

For more information on the JASON Project, visit the Web site.

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