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SmallerMUNCIE, Ind. - The first pitch at Chicago's Wrigley Field will happen two weeks before this year's professional baseball season begins.
On March 18, the stadium will be transformed into one of the world's largest classrooms. And rather than pitch to the likes of Sammy Sosa, Ball State University's Electronic Field Trip will offer up servings of math, science and other subjects to more than 13 million students from schools across the nation.
"Dirt on Their Skirts," an interactive Internet and satellite broadcast, will air from the fabled Chicago stadium and focus on pioneering women baseball players from 1866 to today.
The event will honor the 60th anniversary of the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League (AAGPBL) and will be hosted by Phil Niekro, Hall of Fame inductee and former coach of the Colorado Silver Bullets, professional women's baseball team.
Accompanying Niekro will be nine players from the original AAGPBL and 33 students from Chicago and New York schools who will broadcast from the press box as well as take part in demonstrations on the field.
Wrigley was the site of the AAGPBL inaugural tryouts. Chicago Cubs owner Philip Wrigley founded the league in 1943 as a way to entertain Americans and to keep other ballparks full during World War II. The league operated until 1954 and allowed young women to play professional baseball, travel the country, and to aspire to careers beyond the traditional roles such as teacher, nurse or housewife.
"This broadcast will reveal the rich history of the AAGPBL," said Mark Kornmann, Ball State Teachers College outreach director. "It will also transport the national treasures, stories and artifacts of 150 years of women's baseball, Wrigley Field and
the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum to classrooms across the country."
The Electronic Field Trip Web site is an integral piece of the broadcast, Kornmann said. It provides related lesson plans for math, science, reading, writing, social studies, geography and more. As students learn more from the site, they will be able to ask in-depth questions that may throw a curve to the broadcast's producers, Kornmann said.
"We will treat the broadcast like a classroom," Kornmann said. "The show is live. So if we have calls that change the direction of the show we go with it."
Two broadcasts, at 10 a.m. and 1 p.m. EST, will have time for students to call in or e-mail questions. Kornmann said he expects to receive more than 500 e-mails during each broadcast.
Each field trip costs $75 per school and includes the broadcast, Web-based learning materials and free access to previous programs. Any K-12 school interested in registering for the broadcast can call toll free at (866) 279-8716, or log on to www.bsu.edu/eft.
Electronic Field Trips have been developed by Ball State University and sponsored by Best Buys Children's Foundation, the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum and Project VIEW, a U.S. Department of Education Technology Innovation Challenge Grant. Additional sponsors include the Chicago Cubs and the AAGPBL.
(Note to Editors: For more information, contact Kornmann at (765) 285-8106 or mkornmann@bsu.edu. For more stories, visit the Ball State University News Center at www.bsu.edu/news.)
By Layne Cameron, Media Relations ManagerOn March 18, the stadium will be transformed into one of the world's largest classrooms. And rather than pitch to the likes of Sammy Sosa, Ball State University's Electronic Field Trip will offer up servings of math, science and other subjects to more than 13 million students from schools across the nation.
"Dirt on Their Skirts," an interactive Internet and satellite broadcast, will air from the fabled Chicago stadium and focus on pioneering women baseball players from 1866 to today.
The event will honor the 60th anniversary of the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League (AAGPBL) and will be hosted by Phil Niekro, Hall of Fame inductee and former coach of the Colorado Silver Bullets, professional women's baseball team.
Accompanying Niekro will be nine players from the original AAGPBL and 33 students from Chicago and New York schools who will broadcast from the press box as well as take part in demonstrations on the field.
Wrigley was the site of the AAGPBL inaugural tryouts. Chicago Cubs owner Philip Wrigley founded the league in 1943 as a way to entertain Americans and to keep other ballparks full during World War II. The league operated until 1954 and allowed young women to play professional baseball, travel the country, and to aspire to careers beyond the traditional roles such as teacher, nurse or housewife.
"This broadcast will reveal the rich history of the AAGPBL," said Mark Kornmann, Ball State Teachers College outreach director. "It will also transport the national treasures, stories and artifacts of 150 years of women's baseball, Wrigley Field and
the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum to classrooms across the country."
The Electronic Field Trip Web site is an integral piece of the broadcast, Kornmann said. It provides related lesson plans for math, science, reading, writing, social studies, geography and more. As students learn more from the site, they will be able to ask in-depth questions that may throw a curve to the broadcast's producers, Kornmann said.
"We will treat the broadcast like a classroom," Kornmann said. "The show is live. So if we have calls that change the direction of the show we go with it."
Two broadcasts, at 10 a.m. and 1 p.m. EST, will have time for students to call in or e-mail questions. Kornmann said he expects to receive more than 500 e-mails during each broadcast.
Each field trip costs $75 per school and includes the broadcast, Web-based learning materials and free access to previous programs. Any K-12 school interested in registering for the broadcast can call toll free at (866) 279-8716, or log on to www.bsu.edu/eft.
Electronic Field Trips have been developed by Ball State University and sponsored by Best Buys Children's Foundation, the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum and Project VIEW, a U.S. Department of Education Technology Innovation Challenge Grant. Additional sponsors include the Chicago Cubs and the AAGPBL.
(Note to Editors: For more information, contact Kornmann at (765) 285-8106 or mkornmann@bsu.edu. For more stories, visit the Ball State University News Center at www.bsu.edu/news.)
