By the time students are back in school next year, they'll be able to take a sedimental journey via the Internet as NOAA's Classroom@Sea program gears up.

The finer points of sediment and plankton sampling - as well as investigations into the ocean's role in predicting weather, observing marine mammals, and monitoring fish populations -- are just some of the things this virtual learning community will include. Classroom@Sea is a pilot project, with a prototype Website being constructed by NOAA with help from Kentlake High School of Seattle.

Next year, students should be able to interact with the captain, crew and scientists of the NOAA research ship McArthur as well as other research vessels. This project during the International Year of the Ocean is a partnership between NOAA and the University of Washington. It's a work in progress, with guidance provided by the ships' crew, teachers who have done at-sea research on NOAA vessels, and National Marine Sanctuary scientists. The plan is for the project to be expanded next year to include more classrooms and NOAA research vessels.

Project planners hope that Classroom@Sea will plant a seed with students that may even lead them into ocean science careers.

UPCOMING EVENTS:
--May-September - EXPO 98: "Oceans, A Heritage for the Future," Lisbon, Portugal
--June 8 -OCEANS DAY
--June 11-12 - National Oceans Conference, Monterey
-- July 1-14 - THE GREAT AMERICAN FISH COUNT

Visit the web site at
http://www.yoto98.noaa.gov

Other web sites:
http://classroomatsea.noaa.gov