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GA JASON HOME

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This nation-wide project is sponsored in Georgia by the National Science Center Fort Discovery collaborating with the Georgia Educational Technology Training Centers. The project is directed by the ETTC at the National Science Center. 

Novel Connections:

• A good timeline for Shackleton's 22 month adventure 
• Research fashion and fads of 1909 - have a fashion show or create newspaper or magazine articles and advertisements of the fashions and fads of the early 1900's; link to a  good website for decade information
• Create multimedia presentations on the author; biographical information can be found at this link
• Create a drawing of the ship based on students' reading and attention to detail; label with correct terms which can be located at the back of the book or at this link
• Compare the voyage of The Mystery with that of the South Pole Skydiving Expedition
• Compare the voyage of The Mystery with that of others in the early 1900's
• Compare the crew of The Mystery with the crew involved in JASON XIII; Are their people with similar jobs involved in each? Are their people with differing jobs involved in each?
• Explore the analogy mentioned comparing the characters and the events to Roman Gladiators
• Introduce your kids to the Greek language
• Discuss the care of humans and animals in extreme cold and the fear of frostbite and hypothermia
• Vocabulary terms to explore before reading: inexorably, imperious, pious, acidly, pea coat, gossamer, ice shower, frozen mist, young ice, pack ice, vantage, yammer, shoddy, ice berg, ice floes, nor'easter, sextant lens, albatross, bellowing, shelf ice, snow storm, frost bite, gangrene
• Questions for sparking interest or web chats: Why is the blue whale blue? What color is ice? Is it really white?
• Additional Internet resources : Live from Antarctic 2

• Science and Children Journal, September 2001 issue has a good article titled "Leaders, Readers, and Science" by Arlene G. Terrell (Augusta State's Reese Library has it) that discusses an interdisciplinary, cooperative learning science experience and focuses on the importance of leadership skills as well as science concepts; ideas can easily be adapted for Antarctica: Journey to the Pole
  • Pre-reading Activity - Journal Entry (JASON journaling opportunity) Students write about the most dangerous situation they've ever endured, how they dealt with the situation, and what contributed to their survival.  Students can share small group and then whole group, modeling the InTech journal "processing" procedure. Teacher or student can record common themes on chart paper, board, overhead, or computer.
  • To provide background knowledge and continue the survival theme from the journal, students can read "Danger on the Ice" by Peter Tyson (on-line). Teachers can divide students into pairs, assign each pair one of the 14 topics discussed in the article, students read and become an expert on the topic and teach their classmates the importance of that topic as related to cold weather survival. As an extension, pairs can draw a the portion of the picture representing their topic and all pairs can merge their pictures for a bulletin board or wall display. Also, the teacher can enlarge the picture, and students can simply label their area as they present. You may need to supplement this with additional research so the kids are more informative when presenting. 
  • Vocabulary terms suggested above can be researched by individuals or pairs and teach the class the definition in "teen terminology" along with visual aids such as the board, computer, or overhead
  • As students read the novel, keep a running list of leadership skills exhibited in the novel; use Inspiration, a word processing program, or chart paper for this extension. 
  • Several ice experiments are provided as well.