Michigan State University Museum

The Michigan State University Museum will show how current technologies can be used to advance life science and earth science learning in middle school classrooms. Michigan State University museum's Virtual Outreach Program and Cranbook Institute of Science's Distance Learning Program bring scientific and educational expertise to the partnership; Michigan's Regional Educational Media Center brings curricular and media expertise. The technology for videoconferencing is available in every intermediate school district in Michigan, and in many districts is available in every school. Using the high-speed connection and multimedia capabilities of Internet and Intenet2, the technology brings students, museum educators, scientists, and science educators face to face in real time. The project will show how this technology can be used to develop support curriculum for life science and earth science for middle schools. The project will immerse students in inquiry exercise and enhance teachers' ability to use inquiry in science education. Results of this project will be shared through conferences, a Web site, and sample DVDs.