Your Scheduled Mission

• September 4th, 1996

Mission Priorities

• Save the lives of the residents of the Caribbean island of Montserrat. Last census figures from 1994 reported 13,000 residents, but recent evacuation efforts have brought that number much lower.
• Provide recommendations to the island authorities

Mission Directives

• Recruit Communications, Hurricane, Volcano, and Evacuation Teams
• Prepare teams for the predicted events

Your students will serve as science experts and participate in a unique learning experience. Linked via the Internet with Mission Control, they'll participate in a simulated "e-Mission," confronting real-life emergency events like hurricanes and volcanic eruptions.

Challenger Learning Center seeks to partner with teachers and their students who serve as Emergency Response Teams (ERTs). ERT members learn new science skills and explore an emerging science called Earth system science. The students have an opportunity to work under pressure, exercise leadership, initiative, and cooperation. Each mission's success depends upon partnership.

Students begin the simulation by selecting an area of expertise. They must decide which facet of Earth system science they are interested in and want to learn more about- the biosphere, lithosphere, atmosphere or hydrosphere. Then they are assigned to an ERT and complete a team application-with resumes. In the subsequent weeks they engage in preparatory activities during which they collect data about emergency events, analyze the data, and learn to make logical recommendations based upon scientific analysis. All of this leads to the culminating event: Mission Day.