A New (School) Year's Welcome to... LIVE FROM MARS

Dear Educators,

On behalf of Passport to Knowledge and the NASA Quest Project, we'd like
to welcome both newcomers and returning teachers to a new school year and
a new chance to experience LIVE FROM MARS. Our project has demonstrated
that it's flexible enough to be successfully implemented over the coming
months whether you and your students have never participated before and
don't know exactly what an "electronic field trip" might be, or whether
you've logged hundreds of thousands of "Passport Miles" by traveling with
us to Antarctica, up into the stratosphere, out to Neptune and Pluto, or
began your exploration of Mars with us in the last school year. We invite
you to spend a few minutes to find out what's new, what's been working for
educators like you, and a few ideas about how to participate.

WHAT'S NEW?
Most important and exciting was this summer's incredibly successful
landing of NASA's Pathfinder spacecraft on Mars, and this fall's arrival
of the Global Surveyor orbiter. Just about everyone, teachers and students
alike, witnessed the TV newscasts and front page stories on Pathfinder's
July 4 landing, the amazing color images and the travels of Sojourner, the
first robotic rover to explore another planet. Kids and adults followed
along with amusement and delight as scientists nicknamed the rocks they
were exploring "Barnacle Bill" and "Yogi."

Perhaps what's most exciting about the LIVE FROM MARS project is that it
gives you and your students many different ways to interact with the people
who were front page news this summer, and who will continue to explore Mars.
It also takes you behind the scenes at NASA to witness the inside story of
cutting-edge scientific research, and relates the exploration of Mars to
many of the scientific principles you'll want to cover in class, whatever
grade you teach.

WHAT IS "LIVE FROM MARS" (LFM)?
An integrated multimedia project, LFM is supported in part by both NASA
and the National Science Foundation, and directed by Passport to Knowledge,
an independent producer of prime time educational television and
instructional materials. LFM offers live TV and tapes, online materials and
opportunities, and hands-on activities. LFM is very flexible and we suggest
a "menu" of ways to participate below.

VIDEO
Two, 60-minute TV programs will be broadcast this fall on NASA-TV and on
participating PBS stations. "Destination Mars," to air October 30, will
background both missions, introduce Mars as perhaps the most exciting
planet to visit in our solar system, and summarize Pathfinder's summer
success and the findings of the first months on Mars.

"Today on Mars," to air November 13, will feature the arrival of Mars
Global Surveyor and its first results. It will showcase a national online
student collaboration to gather weather data from sites across North
America and compare and contrast it with a "weathercast" from Mars!

Both programs will contain student interaction with members of NASA's Mars
teams, demonstrations of how students have worked with hands-on science
projects simulating aspects of the missions, and suggestions for how to
get the most out of the project's online components.

ONLINE
You're just a few clicks away from exploring an abundance of resources.
Take the GUIDED TOUR. BIOGRAPHIES and JOURNALS bring your students closer
to the men and women of these challenging missions than is possible in any
textbook. These first-person, behind the scenes research diaries reveal what
it's like to work at NASA through revealing and memorable anecdotes.

The PHOTO GALLERY provides images of spacecraft and Mars, both from the
1976 Viking missions and the current Pathfinder and Surveyor explorations.

Soon to be added is a GUIDED TOUR OF ARES VALLIS. Imagine yourself on Mars
with Pathfinder (the ultimate field trip!), guided by insights by NASA's
brightest and best. Sound neat? That's something only our LIVE FROM MARS
site can offer, using Real Audio and Video to let Matt and Ron and Joy (see
how close LFM can make you feel?) speak directly to you and your students!

Also new, and coming soon, "MARS CONCENTRATION" and "RED PLANET SLIDERS,"
two sets of interactive online puzzlers that will challenge your visual
memory and knowledge of Mars, using some of Pathfinder's latest images.

Lastly, debuting 9/16, there's WEATHER WORLDS. In this online collaborative
activity, students are challenged to brainstorm what low-cost instruments it
would take to record weather near their schools, and to compare and contrast
their results with what Pathfinder has been discovering on Mars.

E-MAIL LISTS
If you're interested and you've not already done so, subscribe to one or
more of the e-mail lists. For all the latest news we offer a weekly online
newsletter: to subscribe send e-mail to:

listmanager@quest.arc.nasa.gov
and in the message field write only
subscribe updates-lfm

If you want to share ideas with other teachers, make suggestions to the
project, we invite you to subscribe to the special LIVE FROM MARS teacher
discussion forum. This moderated group provides a kind of "virtual faculty
lounge" with advice for teachers of just about every grade level and
subject. To get on this really great list, send e-mail to:

listmanager@quest.arc.nasa.gov
and in the message field write only
subscribe discuss-lfm