Teacher, student to participate in Alaska expedition

Rebecca Malone

Friday, July 20, 2001 | 4:35 a.m.

Contact For more information on the JASON Project, call Joyce Woodhouse at 799-6560, or log onto www.jasonproject.org

After years of living in desert hot temperatures, one teacher and one student from Southern Nevada will participate in a weeklong exploration of the environment and wildlife that make up the frozen world.

Patricia Moore, a middle school science teacher at Laughlin High School, will be one of eight teacher "argonauts," as the Jason Project participants are called, and Rick Anderson, a Green Valley High School freshman, will be one of 24 student argonauts taking part in the JASON Project XIII: Frozen Worlds expedition to Alaska.

The JASON Project has been leading expeditions to different environments since 1989, which is the year scientist Robert Ballard founded the organization. He started the expeditions after receiving letters from students wanting to know how he discovered the R.M.S. Titanic.

"I love the idea of Dr. Ballard giving kids the opportunity to discover the world we live in," Anderson said. "I hope to learn all the types of environment and all about the lifestyles and cultures of the people and species that live in Alaska."

Teachers in Clark County attend about 10 days of training of three hours apiece between August and October, according to Joyce Woodhouse, who works with the Clark County School District's JASON Project.

After the training, teachers use the curriculum in their classrooms until the broadcast of the expedition.

During this year's broadcast, Jan. 28 to Feb. 8, classes throughout the school district will see Moore and Anderson's expedition live five hours a day. Afterward, those classes will use the material they saw in curriculum provided by the project, Woodhouse said.

The project makes teaching science easier for teachers who don't necessarily like teaching it, and learning the subject easier for science-phobic students.

"This system takes all of the curriculum in Clark County and melds it into the JASON Project," Moore said. "It makes my job more enjoyable, and kids who were struggling easily learned through JASON."

Moore, who has used the curriculum for seven years, said she is hooked on its ability to encompass all subjects, from reading to math. When she first started teaching, she said, she did not cover science because it was always difficult for her, but now it will be her main subject because JASON helped her understand it.

The JASON Project also helped open her students' eyes and minds to the outside world they would not normally see coming from a small town, she said. She wants her students to understand they can be anything they want in life if they apply themselves and work for it.

"JASON opens their vistas so they understand that this is a very large world with many opportunities," Moore said. "Students get to see how everything in life is really connected and it gives your kids a more rounded picture. It gives them a different viewpoint of school than they can get from textbooks."