"Just Where Is That Zero-G Room?" will air at 10 a.m. (EST) and 1 p.m. (EST) Dec. 6 from NASA's C-9. Better known as the Vomit Comet, NASA's training plane is able to duplicate a zero-gravity environment by taking its passengers on a roller-coaster ride in the sky.

The program is being developed by Ball State's Teachers College in partnership with Space Center Houston, the World Year of Physics and NASA and funded by Best Buy Children's Foundation.

During the live, interactive broadcast, viewers will see how astronauts train and conduct experiments in the C-9. They'll also be able to explore the plane as it soars miles above the earth as well as its hangar at Johnson Space Center.

"We're inviting students to zip up their flight suits and leave behind their preconceived notions of weightlessness and microgravity," said Mark Kornmann, director of Teachers College outreach services. "What better way to celebrate the 100th anniversary of Einstein's revolutionary discoveries than by being able to take an inside peek at weightless research — a journey granted to only a select few."

The virtual field trip will allow more than 15 million students, teachers and community members from 49 states to bring the weightless world into their classrooms and ask questions of astronauts, engineers and scientists. Viewers can register to receive the broadcast at www.bsu.edu/eft.

As an added bonus, Zero Gravity Corporation, headquartered in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., has given Ball State three seats on an upcoming weightless flight. Teachers can register for the giveaway on the EFT Web site, and winners will be announced during the broadcasts.

The Electronic Field Trip Web site, which was recently honored by the Center for Digital Education with a Best of the Web award, is an integral part of these broadcasts. It provides standards-based curriculum developed by teachers participating in the broadcast. The lesson plans cover geography, math, writing, art and more.

Here's the remainder of the 2005-06 Electronic Field Trip lineup:

• "Tree-mendous Technology" — The Smithsonian Environmental Research Center will take students to the leafy heights of a forest canopy to show how the green ceiling absorbs sunlight and rain, provides habitat for many organisms and houses the machinery of photosynthesis. Carson, Wash., March 7, 2006
• "Exploring Nature's Plumbing System: Caves of the National Park System" — Caves are much more than nature's plumbing system. They are sites of exploration, adventure, shelter and cutting-edge research. The National Park Service will show off a handful of caves, including Carlsbad Caverns — the deepest limestone cave in the United States — and answer questions about stalactites, stalagmites and even cave bacon. Carlsbad, N.M., April 25, 2006

Electronic Field Trip partners include the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum; Space Center Houston/NASA; the National Park Foundation; Garfield and PAWS, Inc.; the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum; and five Smithsonian entities — The Environmental Research Center, National Museum of the American Indian, National Museum of American History, National Air and Space Museum, and National Museum of Natural History.

(Note to editors: For more information, contact Kornmann at (765) 285-8106 or mkornmann@bsu.edu.)