Web brings national parks closer to kids. "Tails from the Tetons"

Standing next to Jenny Lake, park ranger Diane McGee tells students about the plants and animals at Grand Teton National Park. "Very soon, we will have snow falling on the ground," she says. "Winters here are very long. We get up to 200 inches of snow here on the valley floor."

The children, however, can’t feel the crisp air or smell the sagebrush. They are hundreds, possibly thousands, of miles away, watching McGee by webcast.

Even as experts blame 21st-century technology for declining interest in national parks, the National Park Service has embraced so-called electronic field trips, an increasingly popular teaching tool in schools nationwide.

"The general thinking is that kids are spending more time indoors rather than outdoors," said Jackie Skaggs, a Grand Teton spokeswoman. "There was a concern that we need to reach out and touch children with the mediums that they are comfortable with already."

"Tails from the Tetons" http://www.bsu.edu/eft/tetons/

By Mead Gruver, Associated Press

Full Story: http://www.usatoday.com/tech/webguide/internetlife/2007-11-16-virtual-national-parks_N.htm