March 2, 2006
Electronic field trip
Millions of school students could “visit” the Wind River Canopy Crane this Tuesday.
As part of a special electronic field trip, they’ll go to the tops of 22-story trees using the crane in an old-growth forest in Southwest Washington, which is operated by the UW’s College of Forest Resources for scientists from across the nation.
Geared toward students in grades three to eight, the electronic field trip includes a Web site that students can explore, a Web site and curriculum materials for teachers and live broadcasts March 7 from the crane, at 8 and 10 a.m., Pacific Time.
Electronic field trips are the result of partnerships between Ball State University, Muncie, Ind., and museums or facilities like the Wind River Canopy Crane. Each of its electronic field trips has the potential to reach 15 million students, teachers and community members from 49 states, according to the producers.
Access to the “Tree-mendous Technology” Web site costs $75 but the fee is waived for everyone registering at www.bsu.edu/eft provided they click on “Best Buy Scholarship” at the part that says “Method of Payment.” It’s part of the support from the Best Buy Children’s Foundation, which provides financial and marketing support to the electronic field trip program.
Everyone with Quick Time on their computers can check out the 90-minute broadcasts via the Apple Learning Exchange, see http://www.bsu.edu/eft/home/64broadcast.htm.
The Wind River crane is the world’s second tallest and has the most extensive research program of any crane operating in the world today, according to UW’s Ken Bible, site director at the crane and one of the participants in the live broadcast. The crane, which is just like ones operating at construction sites in cities across the nation, was erected in 1995 in the Gifford Pinchot National Forest by the UW’s College of Forest Resources and the USDA Forest Service’s Pacific Northwest Research Station.
Other participants in the broadcasts include Rick Meinzer of the Forest Service and Jess Parker of Smithsonian Environmental Research Center, two of the researchers who have used the crane for their work. Researchers have access to 300 trees and nearly six acres of old-growth canopy. Projects range from how trees absorb the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide to how Pacific Northwest Forests compare to those in the tropics.
