Date:  January 6, 2003
Contact: Irene Cromer
(703) 791-8720

James Amaral and Arlene Strack, teachers at Bennett Gifted Center, in conjunction with Damon Cerrone, Assistant Principal of Bennett Elementary School in Prince William County, Virginia, have been awarded a 2003 Fulbright Memorial Fund (FMF) Master Teacher Program (MTP) grant from the Japan-United States Educational Commission (JUSEC), Tokyo, Japan.  The grant will enable Bennett Gifted Center students and Japanese school students to design and develop joint projects and help students attending the Bennett Gifted Center and Bennett Elementary School develop a broader appreciation of Japanese education, culture, and society. 
Bennett Gifted Center's proposed project focuses on air quality and its environmental effects in Prince William County.  Students from ten area elementary schools who attend Bennett Gifted Center will use scientific equipment to collect data and design experiments to determine the acidity of the rain, water, and soil in the area.  Using on-line internet communications and conferences, the data Bennett Gifted Center students collect will be analyzed and compared with results collected and analyzed by Japanese students.  Local weather and climate will be considered when gathering and analyzing data regarding air, water, plants, and buildings in the U.S. and Japanese school communities.  

In June and July 2003, Amaral will travel to Japan, where he will work directly with the participating staff and students of Bennett's Japanese counterpart.  This is Amaral's second trip to Japan.  He received a Fulbright Memorial Fund grant to travel to Japan for three weeks in November 2000 to study Japanese culture.  

Japanese educators will visit Prince William County during the last two weeks of March 2003, to learn more about Bennett Gifted Center, Bennett Elementary School, Prince William County Schools, U.S. education, and the Commonwealth of Virginia.  Previous Japanese participants of the Fulbright program visited Bennett Gifted Center, Bennett Elementary School, and Marsteller Middle School in March 2001.

This is the fifth year that The Fulbright Memorial Fund Master Teacher Program has sponsored an exchange program that emphasizes information technology and environmental education.  After completing a unifying biodiversity project, U.S. and Japanese partner-schools implement a project that they collaboratively develop.  One of the program's goals is to create a sustainable system of learning combining off-line exploratory learning with on-line educational 
information exchanges. 

  As part of their project, participating schools are expected to maintain an attractive and effective web page sharing information about their schools and projects.  Support and training is 
provided during program workshops to enhance skills as needed.  The schools are expected to have the equipment, software, and requisite skills necessary to effectively participate in on-line exchanges and in web-page development.