Connecting Math to Our Lives Math Report Virtual Field Trip to the High Chilean Desert Viaje a "San Pedro de Atacama" English Version CHILE: Local Project Report from Prof. Claudio Galindo and Félix Alvarez and their 14 year old students from the School "José Santos Ossa" in Antofagasta, Chile I. Hello! We are a group of students from Chile. From the north of Chile in the Atacama Desert, the driest place in the world. We live in Antofagasta, a coastal city and very related to the mining production of copper. We are building our web page and have planed a trip to San Pedro de Atacama on December and so gain some new experience and knowledge about this place and show, through the page, our activities and interchange experiences and images with other students. We are visiting the "Chungara Lake" near Bolivia and some cities of Peru next year. If any students with their teachers want to join us just tell and we will coordinate to make it possible. II Greetings again from Chile! We are very excited with the idea of working collaboratively in this project with other professors and students. We have invited two schools of the north of our country to join with us in a kind of local network in order to be able to involve more students in the project. We have been working to create our Web page, and our trip to San Pedro de Atacama is almost ready (San Pedro is a very old town with a great important history and archeology, on top of its natural wealth). Although San Pedro is within our region, we must climb from sea level to the high desert. We live in the desert of Atacama and it is very beautiful, although perhaps the dryest zone. The biological ecosystem is special and we want to show it to you. During our visit to this unique place, we will transmit via our Web page all the events that take place day to day during our trip. The students will show photos of the places they visit and will provide specialized information about what they are learning. We invite all of you to visit our Web page during our trip and to interact with us. We promise you a good time! We are sending you a picture of one of the reconnaissance trips we took near our city in search of places to harvest water from the fog of "camanchaca". Students from José Santos Ossa High School are trying to collect water from the camanchaca fog. The Atacama Desert is one of the driest places on Earth. Surprisingly, there are clouds on the coast. There is also a fog called "camanchaca". But neither the clouds nor the camanchaca fog get enough moisture to produce rain. On november 2002 students are installing an inventive system of collecting water on the slopes of the coastal mountains near the city of Antofagasta. This experience is not a new one among the inhabitants of the desert. Small nets are put across the slopes at about 1,000 mt. high in the path of the camanchaca fog as it comes from the coast. The nets look a little like volleyball nets and are made of polypropylene and each are 1.5 metre long and one metre high. The net is also one metre above the ground. The fog condenses on the nets and turn into water. Drops are formed and gravity collects them into a reservoir. This method provides a reliable supply of water and students are trying to figure out the ideal measure of the nets in order to get enough water for growing wild seeds left by ancient species. III Saludos desde Chile! Hello! We are trying to get ready our web page as soon as possible and will let you know when it happens. Hope within next week. Our trip is on December the 10th and will last to December the 12th. We would like to invite different school and clubs to visit our page during those day because we will be transmitting day by day what is going on with comments and pictures. The place we are going to visit is very interesting and amazing. You can find the mummies, ancient pottery, handcraft, geysers, huge volcanoes, salty lakes, foxes, llamas, flamingos, lagoons and all high near the Andes, in the middle of the desert. We are inviting students from clubs in Arica and La Serena, two cities to the north and south of Antofagasta. About our school year, we have holidays on December the 20th and get back on February but our club has regular meetings every Saturday no matters holidays or whatever. We never stop! Hope we can offer a lot about our culture and everyday life. Anything we can do, just ask! I have attached a picture of some of our students high in the mountain near our city trying to get to the fog zone to set some water collectors. Friendly "Southern Cross Mathematics Club" from Chile! Hello to Connecting math to our lives friends! It is a pleasure to meet you again and to have the opportunity to invite you to visit the web page http://www.grandesideas.cl which will be really outstanding this week. Math Club from Antofagasta - Chile will show on the page, their adventure through the driest desert of the World. You can´t miss it!   CHILE: Informe sobre el proyecto local de los profesores Claudio Galindo y Felix Alvarez y sus estudiantes de 14 años del Colegio "José Santos Ossa" de Antofagasta, Chile I. Estamos construyendo nuestra página web y hemos planeado un viaje a "San Pedro de Atacama" en diciembre para ganar experiencias y conocimiento acerca de este lugar y mostrar, a través de la página, nuestras actividades e intercambiar experiencias e imágenes con otros estudiantes. Disfrutamos mucho comunicándonos con otros clubes de estudiantes de otras ciudades en Chile y nos gustaría hacer lo mismo con estudiantes de todo el mundo. Estaremos visitando el Lago Chungará cerca de Bolivia y algunas ciudades del Perú el próximo año. Si algún grupo de estudiantes junto a su profesor desea unírsenos háganlo saber de manera de poder coordinar y hacerlo posible. II. Saludos nuevamente desde Chile! Estamos muy estusiasmados con la idea de trabajar coordinadamente en proyectos conjuntos con otros profesores y alumnos. Nosotros hemos invitado a dos escuelas del norte de nuestro pais a unirse en una especia de red para poder involucrar mas estudiantes a esta tarea que ustedes nos invitan a desarrollar. Hemos estado trabajando en la creacion de nuestra pagina web y nuestro viaje a San Pedro de Atacama esta casi listo (San Pedro es un antiquisimo pueblo con gran historia y arqueologia importante, ademas de sus riquezas naturales). Aunque San Pedro se encuentra dentro de nuestra region, debemos subir desde el nivel del mar hasta el desierto altiplanico. Nosotros vivimos en el desierto de Atacama y es muy hermoso aunque quizas el mas seco. Su biosistema es especial y queremos enseñarlo a todos ustedes. Durante nuestra visita a este lugar tan especial, transmitiremos via nuestra pagina web todo el acontecer que dia a dia suceda en lo que dura nuestro viaje. Los alumnos mostraran fotos de los lugares visitados y daremos informacion muy especializada de cada nuevo aprendizaje que ellos logren. Invitamos a todos a visitar nuestra pagina durante nuestro viaje e interactuar con nosotros. Les aseguramos que lo pasaremos bien. Adjuntamos fotografia de una de nuestras salidas de reconocimiento cerca de nuestra ciudad en busca de lugares para instalar recolectores de agua de neblina "camanchaca".   III. Saludos desde Chile! Hola! Estamos trabajando para activar nuestra pagina de web lo más pronto posible y los mantendremos al tanto cuando esté listo. Esperamos tenerla completa un una semana. Las fechas de nuestro viaje son: 10 - 12 de diciembre. Invitamos a diferentes escuelas y clubs a visitar nuestra página durante esos días porque vamos a transmitir cada día comentarios y fotos sobre nuestro viaje. El lugar que vamos a visitar es muy interesante e increible. En este lugar pueden encontrar momias, artesanías antiguas, géisers, volcanes inmensos, lagos salados, zorros, llamas, flamingos, lagunas y todo de los Andes, en el medio del desierto. Estamos invitando estudiantes en clubs en Arica y La Serena, dos ciudades al norte y al sur de Antofagasta. Incluimos fotografías de unos de los estudiantes en los montañas cerca de la ciudad tratando de alcanzar la nieblina para recolectar agua. Sus amigos del Club de Matemáticas "Cruz del Sur" desde Chile. Hola amigos de Conectando las Matemáticas a Nuestras Vidas! Es un placer saludarles y aprovechamos para invitarles a visitar la página http://www.grandesideas.cl que estará especialmente interesante durante esta semana. El club de matemáticas de Antofagasta - Chile mostrará su travesía por el desierto más seco del mundo. No se lo pierdan! English ranslat ion