Elementary students in Forney ISD recently had the opportunity to participate in a distance learning classroom hosted by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and the National Archives Records and Administration (NARA) Southwest Region. Third grade students at Blackburn Elementary and second grade students at Rhea Elementary participated in the distance learning classroom event, Animals in Space and Cool NASA Stuff, on March 27, 2009.

Students at both schools had the opportunity to explore historical NASA documents held at the National Archives – Southwest Region to learn about the development of the space program through records that were created for the Mercury, Gemini and Apollo missions. Students also discovered that officials at NASA had originally planned to send a pig into space for their first mission.

“I can’t believe they wanted to send a pig into space,” said April Dominguez, a third grade student from Blackburn Elementary who thought that it was “cool” that animals went into space.

Forney ISD Distance Learning Events are often offered through Connect2Texas, a videoconferencing provider in the State of Texas.

“These distance learning events are exciting and often offer the students interactive learning opportunities outside the classroom that they normally wouldn’t get to experience,” said Reneé Setser, Instructional Technology Coordinator for Forney ISD. “Three of our elementary schools currently have their own Polycom video conferencing system and we have three additional units that can be used at any of the district campuses. One of the units is located at Forney High School which connects the Dual Credit Spanish class to professors at Trinity Valley Community College.”

For more information about the Forney ISD Distance Learning Program, contact Reneé Setser, Instructional Technology Coordinator for Forney ISD at 972-564-4055 or by e-mail at renee.setser@forneyisd.net.

For more information about the Forney Independent School District, contact Larry Coker, Director of Communications at larry.coker@forneyisd.net or by phone at 972-564-4055

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