Australian schools have been involved in the JASON Project since 1997 and in the 2001 Project, schools from NSW, QLD, South Australia and Western Australia joined this global research community. In NSW in particular, a collaboration has been forged between schools from each of the education sectors: state, Catholic and Independent, and also between the University of New South Wales, EDS NSW and the Australian Museum. This is an exciting initiative for educators, parents and students alike and has been designed for students of all ability levels in the middle years of schooling (Years 4 – 9). If you would like to know more about this project, please contact us. UNSW runs student event days, information evenings,teacher inservices and workshops as outlined below.

Once a year UNSW holds event days where students, teachers and parents participate in workshops, lectures, science shows and 'Meet a Scientist' activities.

In 2006 the Event Days will be as follows:

Primary School : 13th & 14th June
Secondary Schools : 15th & 16th June
Gifted Event Year 6 Half Day : 15th June

This year you can register online at : www.gatewayseducation.com.au/jason

Information evenings outline the history and philosophy of the JASON Project, the structure of the project, curriculum, practical applications of the curriculum and technology in the classroom, the theme of the current year. Open to teachers and parents.

These in-services are intended to provide background and advice on the current project (“Earth & Mars” for 2006) curriculum. Speakers from the Outreach Centre for Sciences will examine the content of the curriculum, identify the essential components in each topic and discuss ways in which the material can be presented. Particular attention will be paid to new areas within the curriculum and to the correlation to the NSW Outcomes Documents. Opportunities for hands-on experience with the science activities provided in the curriculum will be also offered.

Technology workshops are intended to provide background and advice on the technology involved with the current project. Instructors from the Outreach Centre for Sciences and EDS NSW will examine the content of the JASON Project website, the online teacher tools and the features of the JASON online learning community. These workshops will be hands-on, interactive workshops and will be of particular interest to those teachers who are new to the JASON Project.

For further information phone Outreach 9385 7307, fax 9385 7920 email: r.carritt@unsw.edu.au

The 2006 Annual JASON National Conference which was scheduled to be held in mid-September has been CANCELLED.

For any queries, contact Rachelle Carritt on (02) 9385 7307 or Aaron Seckold on 0405 228 676.

The JASON Project is an international interactive multimedia science education programme, for students in Years 4-9, with broad cross-curriculum applications, especially in Society and Environment, Technology and English, and, to a lesser extent, in the Arts and Languages other than English.

The JASON Project began in the United States in 1990. It was founded by Dr Robert Ballard, the discoverer of the Titanic and a scientist and researcher in his own right. After he discovered the Titanic, he received letters from thousands of schoolchildren, asking if they could accompany him on one of his expeditions. Of course this was not possible, but it got Dr Ballard thinking . . . and the JASON Project was the result. The JASON Project aims to take students on an adventure, on a quest in search of the golden fleece of knowledge (hence the name). The JASON mission is to inspire in students a lifelong passion to pursue learning through exploration and discovery.

Students interact with each other, using the medium of the Internet. They post enquires, solutions, thoughts and opinions on class and international message boards, join in chat sessions, exchange quilt squares with classes around the world, ask scientists questions, conduct simulated experiments in digital laboratories, utilise real-time data streams from research institutions and post their own local data on to global registries.

We all know that students (like ourselves) learn in many different ways. Some learn by reading, some by doing hands-on experiments or building models, some by visual media, some by working in teams, some via computers etc. JASON teachers are provided with a print curriculum, their very own website (http://www.jason.org), an Australian website (http://australia.jason.org), videos, maps, a novels programme, and support from the Technology School of the Future (if you’re in S.A.) which runs JASON programs for both teachers and students.

We all realise that this is the way to go – we just don’t have time to teach separate “subjects” any more. You can use the JASON Project in a thematic approach to address many different disciplines. JASON works in a variety of teaching situations: self-contained classrooms, subject specialists and/or team situations.