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Date: Tue, 22 Sep 1998 11:12:39 -0500
To: tbt@onlineclass.com
From: OnlineClass
Subject: Antarctica Online - Press release

BLUE ICE: FOCUS ON ANTARCTICA READY FOR FOURTH ON-LINE SEASON


St. Paul, MN, September 21, 1998 -- A four-year veteran and pioneer of the on-line K-12 learning experience is set to launch its fourth season on the Internet.

In a seven-week adventure named one of the "top ten science products" by the California Technology Clearinghouse, Blue Ice: Focus on Antarctica takes students, grades 4-10, on a virtual field trip of the continent of Antarctica. Classrooms are provided with labs and hands-on activities areas of science, geography, language arts and social studies. On the Web, background material and interactive features are posted by e-mail, participating classrooms interact with world experts and explorers. All student work is circulated to the schools in a global classroom and published on the Web.

The on-line expert guest list for the first session includes:

* Dr. Paul Berkman, of the Byrd Polar Research Center. He will be reporting later from the Italian Terra Nova Bay station but first he'll do an e-mail Q&A from the warmth of his office in Ohio.

* Dr. Robert Wharton, director of the Desert Research Institute and a long-time visitor to the Antarctic Dry Valleys

* Explorer Geoff Somers, who has walked across Antarctica from west to east and on another expedition, from the Pole to Filchner Bay.

* Guy Guthridge, of the Polar Programs, National Science Foundation, to talk about governance of Antarctica

* Randall Davis, from McMurdo Station, seal expert.

Toward the end of the first session, Blue Ice will receive reports from Antarctica by three teachers who will be visiting the continent: Jerry Christy, Justin Mutrux and Elissa Elliott.

Blue Ice offers teachers two units to choose from during the interactive adventure: a unit on food webs and a unit on weather and climate change.

To preview the Blue Ice classroom, visit .

For those wishing to receive a week-by-week schedule of the program's activities, write to



Cathy de Moll, Producer, OnlineClass
cdemoll@onlineclass.com or
tbt@onlineclass.com