The Jason Project

Home

Teachers and Change

Teachers and Interdisciplinary Units

Teachers and Technology

Conclusions

Resources

What is the Jason Project?

Click on the video below to see a Jason trainer describe what the Jason Project is?

The JASON Project is a multi-disciplinary program that sparks the imagination of students and enhances the classroom experience. From oceans to rain forests, from polar regions to volcanoes, the JASON Project explores Planet Earth and exposes students to leading scientists who work with them to examine its biological and geological development. From the depths of dark oceans to the heights of wet rain forests, from icy Polar Regions to red-hot volcanoes, the JASON Project travels the world, taking students and teachers on an exciting educational adventure. The JASON Project brings adventure and the thrill of discovery into the classroom, exploring the following questions: What are nature's dynamic systems?       How do these systems affect life?       What technologies do we use to study these systems and why? The JASON Project began as the dream of Dr. Robert Ballard, the scientist and oceanographer who discovered the wreck of the RMS Titanic in 1986. Dr. Ballard believed that enabling students and their teachers to do field work from the classroom was a powerful concept. The JASON Project was born on the basis of this powerful idea and has since grown into the world's premier real-time science teaching and learning program. (Taken from the homepage of The Jason Project )

Why am I interested in the Jason Project?

The Jason Project is a curriculum that will be implemented into Burris Middle School in the Spring of 2003.  Although defined as a multi-disciplinary program, the Jason Project is predominantly science based.    But, what if you're not a science teacher? How will you fit into the curriculum? How do teachers react to this type of change in their curriculum? How will teachers try to make this multi-disciplinary within their schools? How will teachers use technology to support this innovative curriculum? With the help of Linda Yoder, Middle School Language Arts teacher at Burris Middle School, I will strive to answer the above questions.  Mrs. Yoder has allowed me to capture her story.  I have been able to follow Mrs. Yoder's progress throughout the semester preceding the introduction of the Jason Project to students.  During this semester, Mrs. Yoder, along with her colleagues, has gone through technology training, Jason Project training, a number of planning meetings (both with middle school faculty and Language Arts/ Social Studies teams) and has done individual research on her own.  She is now ready to introduce this to her students, but what I want to share is how she got to this point.  I want to share with you her aspirations and doubts going into this project and her frustrations and growth.  But, before we start on our adventure, who is Linda Yoder. Click on the video below to find out who Linda Yoder is.