Jason Project gets students excited about discovery, science

Published: 2006-08-04

WASHINGTON (CNS) -- "He's got your question! He's going to answer your question!" said a sixth-grade student excited that NASA researcher Jack Farmer was answering another student's question during an online discussion. "What they're inquiring about, they're learning about," said Allison Carney, the sixth-grader's teacher at Holy Cross School in Overland Park, Kan., about the question-and-answer session. Asking questions of NASA scientists and implementing real research into classroom experiments is all part of the Jason Project, a program in its 18th year that incorporates hands-on learning with curricula that meet school standards. The program, founded by Robert Ballard, an oceanographer known for finding the sunken Titanic, aims to excite middle-school students about math and science. Carney related the story about her students in an interview with Catholic News Service during a July 18-20 conference sponsored by the Jason Project in Washington. The annual gathering, called the Jason Action Summit, is for teachers who are using or want to use the program in their classrooms.

Copyright (c) 2006 Catholic News Service /U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. The CNS news report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed, including but not limited to such means as framing or any other digital copying or distribution method, in whole or in part without the prior written authority of Catholic News Service .