Hundreds of students in K-12 across the country will participate in
distance-learning programs featuring satellite images of Earth and
information about the tropical rain forests.

On April 11 and 12 two webcasts, originating from the Cleveland Metroparks
Zoo’s Adventure Hall in the Education/Administration Building, will be
hosted by NASA Glenn Research Center and the OhioView Consortium. Scientists
from the University of Toledo, Cleveland State University and Kent State
University will interact with students at the zoo and students sitting in
classrooms throughout the country who preregistered for the webcasts.

Students will learn about and perform activities related to current remote
sensing research, the tropical rain forest, and how satellite information is
used daily. Zoo facts about the Earth and rain forests will also be
presented. A “Students as Scientists” project in which students collect and
record data on snow, clouds and the Earth’s surface temperatures that will
help validate satellite data will also be highlighted.

During the 1 p.m. EDT webcast on Friday, April 11, students from Central
Catholic High School in Toledo, Ohio, will be participating at the zoo. They
will interact with the presenters: Dr. Kevin Czajkowski from the University
of Toledo and Dr. Pete Clapham of Cleveland State University (CSU), who will
lead an interactive lesson utilizing LANDSAT-7 images video-streamed over
the Internet.

On Saturday, April 12, at noon EDT, SEMAA (Science, Engineering, Mathematics
and Aerospace Academy) students nationwide in grades K-12 will participate
in a similar webcast. During this webcast, SEMAA students from the Cleveland
area will participate at the zoo. Dr. Mandy Munro-Stasiuk from Kent State
University, Janet Struble of the University of Toledo and Dr. Pete Clapham
of CSU will be the presenters. The SEMAA program provides a greater
appreciation for science, engineering and mathematics to K-12 grade students
in a hands-on, inquiry-based, cooperative learning environment Saturday
mornings during the academic year.

In both webcasts the students and their teachers will learn how NASA
satellites observe Earth from space and what kind of remote sensing research
is currently being done. Students participating from schools throughout the
United States will be able to e-mail questions in and the scientists will
answer as many questions as possible during the webcast.

Note to Editors and News Directors: Media representatives interested in this
program are welcome to observe it at the zoo, at participating schools or
SEMAA sites. To arrange for coverage at a school or SEMAA site, please
contact the school directly. Please contact Sally Harrington at 216-433-2037
or by e-mail to learn of a school in your area that is participating.