enter careers in science and technology by showing them the excitement of scientific exploration, was established in Bermuda three years ago. Director of the Center for Marine Exploration at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution Dr. Robert Ballard launched the programme in 1989, after receiving thousands of letters from children who wanted to know how he had discovered the wreck of the Titanic . Dr. Ballard founded the JASON Foundation for Education in 1990 to administer the programme. And the JASON Project has since taken students and teachers on many exciting research expeditions via satellite. The JASON Project develops yearly programmes of science and technology curriculums to prepare students for two-week interactive electronic field trips during which students are participants in scientific expeditions, according to the Bermuda Biological Station JASON co-ordinator Miss Margaret Potts. Primary Interactive Network Sites (PINS) allow expeditions to be broadcast live through state-of-the-art technology, enabling students thousands of miles away to participate in real science as it is happening.

Fascinated by the programme, Bermuda Biological Station for Research director Dr. Tony Knap approached the Jason Foundation with the idea of setting up a PIN site in Bermuda. PINS were already located in research institutions, museums, schools and universities in the US and Canada. They have since been established in the UK and Mexico. And thanks to Cable & Wireless, which agreed to sponsor the project for three years with the option to continue, a Primary Interactive Network site was set up in Hansen Hall at the Bermuda Biological Station for Research in 1993. "We thought this was the ideal project to sponsor because of the satellite and fibre optic technology involved,'' said Cable & Wireless public relations officer Mr. John Instone. "We are good corporate citizens and wanted to sponsor this very worthwhile educational project.'' As well, Cable & Wireless depends on the local employment pool for its staff. It is therefore in the company's interest to encourage the advancement of scientific education. "It's likely that some students participating in JASON will be our engineers, technicians and managers of the future,'' noted Mr. Instone. In addition to financial backing, Cable & Wireless provides technical support in the form of equipment and technicians.

A large centre screen, flanked by two side screens comprise some of the stellar sound and audio-visual equipment, which enable Bermudian students to participate in the programme. Cable & Wireless purchased and installed all of the necessary equipment in the Biological Station viewing centre. Technical co-ordinator at Cable & Wireless Mr. Greg Woods said he goes abroad three times a year to meet with other scientists and technicians. "We plan for the next expedition and discuss the new technology being used for the project,'' he noted. When Bermudian students first became involved in the JASON Project, the JASON team went to two sites along Mexico's Baja, California Peninsula where they examined tubeworms and other organisms in the Sea of Cortez and migrating grey whales on the Pacific coast. Last year, the JASON Project voyage traveled to Belize to study two of the most fragile and threatened ecosystems on Earth -- the tropical rain forest and the coral reef. The JASON Project is developing new technology advances each year that participating scientists and students apply immediately. It helps to advance scientific research and distance learning, said Mr. Woods. Mr. Ballard describes the "experience'' which allows students thousands of miles away to see what Jason is seeing in mere seconds as a state-of-the-art technology called telepresence. Telepresence is made possible through systems integration. By connecting satellites, fibre optics, microwave transmission, computers and other multimedia tools, students and teachers can participate in live science research. Telepresence creates the setting at each PINS that simulates the Jason Project control room and allows the students to talk to scientists about what they are seeing as they are seeing it. It also gives students the opportunity to drive the Remotely Operated Vehicle (ROV) from thousands of miles away. "Telepresence allows Jason Project PINS to make the Jason Project as real as it can possibly be for students without their actually being at the site,'' said Miss Potts. Thirty student and teacher "Argonauts'' have been selected by the JASON Foundation for Education this year to join the JASON Project expedition team, travelling with scientists and the production team to Hawaii. Mount Saint Agnes student Kimberley Barnes and Sandy's Secondary Science teacher Mr. Owen Roberts were selected to participate from Bermuda after satisfying the requirements laid down by the JASON Foundation for JASON improves scientific education around the world in contact with others who are participating in the voyage,'' said Miss Potts.

The focus is on volcanoes and space as well as endangered species in Hawaii, she added, so they are preparing by talking to scientists at the Bio Station and at the Bermuda Astronomical Society. Students and teachers are required to arrive in Hawaii with a certain amount of background information,'' said Miss Potts. The JASON Project's leading mission this year is to learn why, just as Hawaii is an Island in the sea, the Earth is an oasis for life in our vast universe. Students at the primary interactive sites will have the opportunity to ask scientists in Hawaii questions, which will be broadcast live. They will also be able to use robot mechanisms to take samples from active flowing lava and drive the land-based ROV, Marsokhod, eventually bound for Mars, said Mr.

Woods. "Access to such a programme allows Bermudians first-hand experience in technological and scientific advancement,'' said Mr. Instone. Improving scientific education worldwide, the JASON Project is an interactive link for teachers, students, researchers and others, unparalleled to any other learning experience in science. And already, the Jason Project has succeeded in its goal of changing students attitudes about science. According to a 1990 Lehigh University study, students taking part in Jason become more positive about science. The same survey found the positive effects of Jason were true despite race or gender. In 1989, Jason's first year, Princeton Research and Consulting found that two-thirds of the students who took part in Jason found science more interesting than before. As well, 98 percent of the teachers who took part in the teacher training and who used the curriculum would do it again.

Live transmission of the JASON Project expedition will be available to students from February 27 to March 11, 1995. It will also be open to the public on Monday, Wednesday and Friday of both weeks at five p.m. as well as on Saturday, March 11 at 11 a.m., 12:30 p.m., 2 p.m. and 3:30 p.m. The JASON Project can also be accessed on-line through Internet and is supported by supplemental broadcast programming through the Mind Extension University Network. PHOTO TELEPRESENCE -- This interactive audio-visual system found in the Biological Station for Research allows students to participate in real science as it is happening. Pictured here, JASON Project founder Dr. Robert Ballard welcomed students to watch experiments as they progressed in Central America last year.

HAWAII BOUND -- (from left) Sandys Secondary science teacher Mr. Owen Roberts and Mount Saint Agnes student Kimberley Barnes pictured with Cable & Wireless technical coordinator Mr. Greg Woods in the C & W Technical Operations Centre.