sitesALIVE!
Frequently Asked Questions
1. How does the sitesALIVE! series work?
Student researchers in locations around the world transmit their Journals, answers to your questions, photographs, and audio via satellite and the Internet to Ocean Challenge headquarters in Boston, Massachusetts, USA. This timely information is then delivered to you through the World Wide Web. With this link, students in classrooms can see the world through the eyes of students living out adventures around the world. For home subscribers, this gives you and your family the chance to experience real research and life in countries all over the world!
2. What kind of things can I see and learn from the website?
You can learn about coral reefs, rainforests, going to school on a tall ship, the lives of students in foreign places, the victories and defeats in scientific research, foreign cultures, and much more. The wonderful thing about our program is that you'll be hearing and learning about these things almost as they happen!
3. How can I subscribe to the program?
If you are a teacher, you can subscribe by contacting Tom Snyder Productions at 1-800-342-0236 (U.S. and Canadian customers), Mon-Fri, 9am-5pm, EST. International customers please call 1-617-926-6000. If you are a home subscriber, you can subscribe to the program by logging on to the sitesALIVE! web page, accessing the Families at Home link and completing the required information.
4. When did Ocean Challenge team up with Tom Snyder Productions?
Just this past June. It's a terrific alliance, since they have been leaders in technology in education for many years and have created a terrific product line for the classroom. We are extremely pleased that they have recognized our programs as not only innovative in the use of adventures as the focal point for learning, and innovative in the use of technology, but also, most importantly, as being effective in the classroom. We couldn't ask for a better partner to bring our programs to a wider and more credible reach.
5. Is Ocean Challenge planning on creating further linkage programs?
Yes, definitely! We added two new programs to our website in the Fall of 1997, and we are currently planning to add more programs to sitesALIVE! in cooperation with the School for Field Studies. Possible research sites include Mexico, British Columbia, and Kenya. We are also currently reviewing a Canadian program dealing with endangered species research as an addition to our program.
6. How does this program work?
The scientific research centers and the ship Concordia, all of which are a part of the sitesALIVE! program, are run by career scientists, seamen, and teachers. In addition, the answers to research questions and cultural queries are discovered by students and staff, alike. Thus, sitesALIVE! demonstrates the active application of subjects which might be dry in a textbook, but which, when used in the real world, come alive. The program encourages students to think beyond the walls of their homes, classrooms, and local communities. Kids love the fact that this program is a real event with real people, happening right now! You and your students will find sitesALIVE! to be a great out-of-textbook experience!
7. What subjects and skills does sitesALIVE! emphasize?
Oceans Live! and Rainforest Live! tend to favor the sciences, emphasizing earth science, oceanography, and environmental conservation. We also include social aspects of the students' lives and local cultural influences on the students' lives, making the experience more personal for our subscribers. Research skills, deductive thinking, creative thinking and mathematics are just some of the skills that are used in the programs.
You have the option to sign up for either the Full Year, the Fall Semester, or the Spring Semester.
9. If I sign up late will my students miss crucial parts of the program?
Ideally, it is best to subscribe as soon as possible, because the research projects and classroom
lessons progress together. Each lesson tends to build on previous lessons, but they can also be
used individually if you choose to incorporate one of the sitesALIVE! programs into your
already-existing curriculum.
10. What's in the Teacher's Guide?
The Teacher's Guide contains a series of lessons and activities designed specifically for the Oceans Live!, Rainforest Live!, and Class Afloat web pages.
Here are some helpful hints for using this web site.
1. This site is best used with either Netscape 3.0 or Internet Explorer 3.0. It is friendly to both. Other browsers, or versions may not precisely read all of our intended formatting.
2. We have included streaming audio that is playable by the free, downloadable Real Audio player. For Netscape 3.0, Real Audio is fairly easily downloaded and plugged in. Internet Explorer 3.0 comes with Real Audio already installed in the software.
3. IMPORTANT!! Your web browser, to save time, looks in its CACHE where it stores pages that have previously been downloaded to see if the particular page that you're clicking to is there, and, so to speak, CACHED. If it has been, it pulls that page out of your hard drive, INSTEAD of pulling a new page down from our server.
For sites that are rarely updated, that works fine, BUT, since we update parts of the site daily, and journals and Q&A weekly, you may not be getting the latest information, but may be getting an old copy of our page that has been CACHED on your hard drive. THEREFORE, you must EMPTY your cache OFTEN or RELOAD or REFRESH pages often to make sure you're staying current with the program.
Ocean Challenge / e-mail: ocean@oceanchallenge.com / Class Afloat '96-'97