"Live From Antarctica": An Electronic Field Trip Passport to Knowledge projects use today's technology to enrich science education and excite students by bringing the real world into their classrooms. "Live From Antarctica" is a Passport to Knowledge Project designed to allow students and teachers the opportunity to experience what life is like in the coldest place on earth, Antarctica. Through the "Live from Antarctica" educational program, students interacted with scientists, weather forecasters, pilots, television production crew, teachers and other students via interactive television, computer networks, and classroom activities. All of this was made possible by collaborations between universities, public schools, businesses and scientific organizations. Four live interactive video programs, including the first-ever live broadcast from the South Pole, took place over a five week period from December 1994-January 1995. The interactive television component of "Live From Antarctica" allowed students to communicate live, via satellite communications, with explorers in Antarctica on topics from biology, astronomy, and geology to meteorology. Through the live teleconference, students all over the world could ask the explorers questions and get on-the-spot answers. Via computer networks, students kept up to date on the latest field journal entries the explorers posted daily. Students also asked questions and followed along with important scientific progress being made at the South Pole. Free Teacher's Guides, which contain a wealth of hands-on classroom activities and a resource guide that accompanied the four live interactive video programs, are available on-line from a variety of resources, including the the following: gopher site: gopher://quest.arc.nasa.gov:70/11/projects/Antarctica/teacherguide WWW site: http://quest.arc.nasa.gov/livefrom/teacherguide.html In the first "Live From Antarctica" program, "The Coldest, Windiest Place on Earth", students in Texas and Maryland were able to ask scientists what it is like to do research in such a hostile environment. For one third grade class from Virginia, program three, "Spaceship South Pole", was especially exciting. These students got the opportunity to see and talk to their teacher, April Lloyd, who was actually at the South Pole working for the Center for Astrophysical Research in Antarctica, as part of a grant from the National Science Foundation. While their teacher was at the Pole for over a month, the students communicated with her via electronic mail and kept up to date with her activities. On January 10, the third-graders got a glimpse of what life was like for their teacher in Antarctica during the first ever live broadcast from the South Pole. Camille Jennings, a NASA Distance Learning educator, hosted the Virginia site of the program from a University of Virginia elementary science teaching laboratory. From the teaching laboratory, the third graders were able to talk to their teacher over 10,000 miles away at the South Pole. Other sites for the program included Chicago and Hawaii. Bill Kurtis, host of the national PBS program, "The New Explorers" was the host for the Chicago location. Local high school students, involved in a science program called the Space Explorers, conducted by the University of Chicago, were able to ask astronomers questions about the ground-breaking scientific research being conducted at the South Pole. Elizabeth Felton, a recent Chicago high school graduate, was lucky enough to be chosen to travel to the South Pole with April Lloyd. Not only did Elizabeth talk with her classmates in Chicago via the satellite broadcast, she actually got to reposition the EarthUs geographical South Pole Marker, live on national television. Everyone, from the third grade students to the high school Space Explorers, to the teacher, April Lloyd and the lucky Elizabeth Felton, thought "Spaceship South Pole" was a great experience and one they will never forget. "Live From Antarctica" was the first special in a series of Passport to Knowledge "Live From..." adventures. Two progams that are planned for the near future are: "Live From the Stratosphere" Aboard one of NASA's high-flying aircraft at 45,000 feet, the Kuiper Flying Observatory, looking out to the furthest reaches of the Universe, the first-ever live video downlink from the Kuiper, in Fall 1995. The educational design of this activity would build on and advance the FOSTER project which has been flying individual teachers on the Kuiper, but extend the opportunity to every teacher and student in America via an electronic field trip; "Live From Hubble" From astonishing images of the planets of our own solar system, to spectacular pictures of galaxies, to the very edges of the known Universe, the newly refurbished Hubble Space Telescope provides a window on the most current understanding of the heavens. Students participate in targeting the Hubble Space Telescope on a new object; Future field trips will be more likely if teachers and students submit the evaluation forms to be found on line and in the back of the free teacher's guide. Possible themes for future Passport to Knowledge electronic field trips may include: "Live From Fermilab" This visit checks up on Einstein's dream of a final theory unifying all time, space and matter, with the most powerful machines ever built by humans. Students meet and talk with scientists recreating the energies and sub-atomic particles of the early Universe, who explain an ongoing experiment from the inside out; "Live From the Amazon Rainforest" An electronic field trip allows a first hand exploration of the animals and plants of the rainforest. Integration of "Mission to Planet Earth" science, showing the latest on global climate change. Also involving the indigenous peoples who live there and the intrepid researchers who explore the forest, and showing ways for mutually advantageous co-existence and sustainable development; "Live From Mars" When MESUR Pathfinder arrives at Mars in 1997, students see and talk with the scientists at JPL in Pasadena as the first data arrives back and the first Rover ever placed on Mars images its companion Lander spacecraft; "Live From the Outback and Beyond: Australia" From the dry wastes of the outback to the rich life of the Great Barrier Reef... from evidence of the oldest life-forms ever on Earth, the stromatolites found in the "North Pole" in the middle of the continent, to the "dream-time" of the aboriginal inhabitants. For more information contact: Live from Antarctica GEOFF HAINES-STILES PRODUCTIONS P.O. Box 1502 Summit, NJ, 0792-1502 Live From Antarctica Hotline: (800) 626-5483 Fax: (918) 277P9590 or visit the sites on-line at the following addresses: WWW site: http://quest.arc.nasa.gov/livefrom/livefrom.html Gopher site: gopher://quest.arc.nasa.gov:70/11/projects/Antarctica Videotapes of the "Live From Antarctic"S programs can be obtained from: NASA CORE- phone (216) 774-1051 .