Coolest Thing Ever

I'm a closet space-a-holic. I admit it. For those of you who don't know me well I do actually have every episode of Star Trek taped, with commercials edited out, on VHS tapes. My current can't miss show, when it returns this season, is Battlestar Galactica. How does this relate to my post you ask? A month ago Donna sent an e-mail about checking out Canadians in Space, a Yes I Can Science Project.

I went to the site and sent the link on to my science teacher colleagues but couldn't resist registering on the site, just to see if I could use it my Computer classes in some little way. Then I sort of forgot about it until I got an e-mail asking if my school was interested in being part of a web cast with a NASA Astronaut. "Don't wait," the e-mail said "space is limited" so I fired back a "Yes!" What followed was a frustrating, but ultimately delightful experience.

First, I had to set up my projector and do a little test for my web cam, microphone, and so on with Ontario. Due to all the web casts we've done in our iSITs group, "No problem," I thought. It turned out to be one problem after another. First the projector at school refused to work off my laptop. I even went as far as installing the security software. No luck so I FAMED a help request. I LOVE out tech guys. I learned you can use a projector with your laptop and the magic combination of the Fn button and the F5 button. I was ready to go.

I had planned to set up the projector, etc. in the Music Room as I was planning to have two classes participate and we don't have enough room in the Computer lab to accommodate everyone. I set up my laptop and did a run through and everything worked beautifully. I was ready for my little test with the Ontario people when I discovered the wireless, which had worked beautifully two hours earlier no longer worked. I FAMED again thinking it was a temporary shut down of service. "No, wireless is 24-7," they told me.

Okay, no problem I'd do my little test in the Computer lab and then worry about the wireless network later. I was set to go when I got a phone call from Ontario. I'd missed my test time. Embarrassing as it is to admit I messed up the time change and was thinking it was an hour later here rather than an hour earlier. No problem we could still do the test the next day and be ready for Monday.

Finally, I got set up and did the test, which actually only took 15 minutes. By this point I'd spent about 3 hours trying various configurations and different rooms in the school, but the test itself went smoothly. So I had a new brainwave, where else in the school could I hook everything up to the network and have two classes fit. The Student Success Room, no problem.

So I plugged in my laptop and tried to go on the Internet. The first plug in, which was marked as being turned on, did not give me Internet, neither did the second one, nor even the third one, which was not marked as turned on, but I had tried in desperation. I was really frustrated and starting to panic at this point. I'd sent notes home, I'd had the students all submit questions, two of which I'd picked and sent to the Yes I Can group. So I carefully tried the first marked plug in, one more time, and it worked. Yeah!!!!

On Monday I got ready before school started and made sure everything was working. The Internet took two tries but then it was connected and I was set to go. The students came in and for about an hour, from Houston, Texas; NASA Colonel Alvin Drew answered our questions "What do astronauts do when not on a mission?" and "What do astronauts eat in space?" and those posed by seven other schools in Ontario, Saskatchewan, Alberta, and British Columbia.
IT WAS THE COOLEST THING EVER!

I think back to when I was a kid and remember having to stay inside the gym, which had no windows, because there was an eclipse. It was so exciting. In my wildest dreams I don't think I ever thought I'd be sitting in a room with my grade three and six students talking to an honest to goodness astronaut, who's last mission was taking the space shuttle up to the Space Station. Life is good! If you are interested in the answers to the questions or the web cast set-up or wish to see the difficulties other people had with their technology during the presentation you can view a replay of the entire presentation by clicking here.