The students already take field trips to Radnor Lake. Radnor Lake's wet laboratory features microscopes, remote video, and underwater cameras. For example, when students study microorganisms, a water sample can be placed under the microscope and the magnified image broadcast into the classroom. The underwater camera transmits video images of fish and other creatures over the network.
Naturalists can take the remote video camera into the woods to illustrate ecology lessons.
The naturalists at Radnor Lake are available to our students in an on-going way, not just for a one day special event. The pilot project was envisioned by Susan Kuner of Vanderbilt Virtual School to explore how technology can provide opportunities for all students in the state to participate in Advance Placement courses. The Metropolitan Nashville Public Education Foundation has given grants to Hillwood and Martin Luther King high schools to help support the costs. Vanderbilt donated computer equipment and Project Diane supplied the videoconference units.