First-ever, Live Educational Broadcast from the Rim of the Grand Canyon

Ball State University kicks off its 2004-05 season of E3 Electronic Field Trips with “Into the Canyon”—the first-ever, live educational broadcast from the Grand Canyon’s South Rim.

The Electronic Field Trip, developed by Ball State’s Teachers College in partnership with the National Parks Foundation and the National Parks Service and sponsored by Best Buy Children’s Foundation, will air at 6:30 p.m. EST Nov. 8

As the sun sets over one of the greatest natural wonders of the world, Native Americans, through storytelling and performance, will share how they have lived in and around the canyon for more than 10,000 years.

Throughout the broadcast, viewers will be able to call in with questions or submit them online in a live discussion forum. Viewers can register to receive the Internet broadcast at www.bsu.edu/canyon or check local cable and PBS listings.

The evening show will be followed with two educational broadcasts at 10 a.m. and 1 p.m. EST Nov. 9. Students from Arizona, Florida, Indiana and New York will appear in these shows, which are geared toward classrooms, and will focus on activities and lesson plans that were developed by teachers who spent an intense week in the Grand Canyon earlier this year.

In fact, many of the activities are adapted from those used by park rangers when working with student groups who visit the park. Rather than share the information with small tour groups, however, each Electronic Field Trip is anticipated to reach more than 15 million viewers in 45 states.

The remainder of the E3 2004-05 season includes:

• “Where Are the Little Green Men?” Dec. 7, from Space Center Houston
• “The Holocaust Museum Experience: Exploring Our Daily Decision Making,” Feb. 15, from the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, Washington, D.C.
• “Sharing Perspectives at the National Museum of the American Indian,” March 22, from the National Museum of the American Indian, Washington, D.C.
• “Discovering Our American Spirit: Finding Common Ground in the National Pastime,” April 26, from the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum, Cooperstown, N.Y.
• “Biological Invasion: The Introduction of Nonnative Species,” May 10, San Francisco Bay

E3 Electronic Field Trip partners include the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum; Space Center Houston; NASA; the National Park Foundation; Garfield and PAWS, Inc.; the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum; and four Smithsonian entities?The Environmental Research Center, National Museum of the American Indian, National American History Museum and the National Air and Space Museum.