Aquatic Field Investigation
Putting Yourself on the Map
Instructions

1. As a class, compose a message to introduce yourselves and provide information about your local aquatic field study. Begin by providing the following information:
   • The name of your school
   • The location of your school: city, state or province, country
   • The location of your school: latitude and longitude
   • The name of your class or team
   • Your grade level
   • Your JASONnet Primary Interactive Network Site (PINS) (This is where you will go to participate in the live telepresence.
   • The type of aquatic area you are studying (e.g., bog, marsh, river, swamp, or stream)

2. As a class, continue composing an introductory message by writing a few paragraphs about yourselves and your aquatic field-study site:
   • Add to your description of the location of your school and aquatic field-study site by describing prominent local landmarks, famous historical events, or unique characteristics of the local area. Be as elaborate and clear as possible to ensure that students from other parts of the country can locate you and your aquatic field-study site on a map.
   • Describe your aquatic field-study site in detail. Explain what the area looks like, what type of water (fresh, brackish, salt, etc.) is present at the site, what plants and animals live there, what the surrounding area is like, and what characteristics make the site different from other aquatic sites. Use words to "paint a picture" of the area for the reader.
   • Describe the history of your aquatic field-study site. Historical information helps people determine, understand, and evaluate past events to gain a better understanding of why things are the way they are now-which helps people plan for the future. Understanding the history of your site will help you predict its future. By sharing historical information online, you may discover common trends and patterns of changes in aquatic environments that will help you predict the future of your own site.
   • Describe past and current problems that have affected your site, and solutions that have been tried. Include local residents' opinions about the problems and solutions.

3. As a class, develop a plan for continuing your local field study. How often will you visit the site to make observations? What measurements will you take? What types of tools will you use? What Internet tools will you use to share information online? After developing your plan, add a description of it to your introductory message.

4. Look at the protocols that you and other research teams in the class developed during the Game earlier in this Investigation. Are there other questions, criteria, or statements you think you should add to your introductory message? If so, add them.

5. Review Master 6a, which shows a sample introductory e-mail message and the proper form for e-mail correspondence. Use e-mail to send your introductory message to the JASON Online Student Discussion Group. See Master 6c for information about how to begin participating in this discussion group.

6. Read the introductory messages that other JASON Project participants have posted to the JASON Online Student Discussion Group. Find out who the participants are, where they are located, and what aquatic sites they are studying.

7. Do you have questions about other participants or their study sites? Through the JASON Online Student Discussion Group, ask these participants your questions. Start a correspondence with them-they might have questions for you, too!

8. Develop a filing system to organize the information that you obtain by reading other JASON Project participants' e-mail messages. Color-code the types of aquatic environment (e.g., marsh, swamp, bog, stream, river, estuary, bay, or ocean) being studied on a state, U. S., or world map. (For example, mark the location of all the marsh study sites with a yellow marker, the rivers with blue, and so on.) As you continue your Internet correspondence, add any new information you obtain to your filing system and map.

Return to the Aquatic Field Investigation

JASON VII Home Page

JASON Project Homepage || Teachers' Guide || Students' Corner || Search

Gene Carl Feldman (gene@seawifs.gsfc.nasa.gov) (301) 286-9428
Todd Carlo Viola, JASON Foundation for Education (todd@jason.org)
Revised: 3 Nov 1995