STATEWIDE - NJN invites educators to take an electronic field trip to Colonial Williamsburg to explore early America and to experience our founding history - a history that continues to have an effect on our lives today. NJN will provide live broadcasts of seven field trips beginning October 9 through April 15 one Thursday each month at 10 am. Program titles and dates are listed below. Electronic Field Trips from Colonial Williamsburg has three components: a teacher's guide; a one-hour live, interactive TV program; and special internet activities.

The programs can be viewed on NJN, but to receive educational materials and to participate in the interactive program, educators must register with Colonial Williamsburg. They will then receive materials for the upcoming field trips directly from CW. For more information, please visit the NJN web site at www.njn.net or, to register a school, call (800) 761-8331 or visit the Colonial Williamsburg web site.

Colonial Williamsburg supports students, teachers, and educators across the country with rich interactive resources: live electronic field trips, on-line glossaries and maps, lesson plans, videos, hands-on activity kits and a week-long on-site teacher institute. Following are the program descriptions and broadcast dates for the seven field trips, which will be broadcast on NJN at 10 am on the dates below.

Soldier of Liberty - Thursday, October 9
Enlist in the 2nd Virginia Regiment with a young recruit, Nathaniel Hutcheson, and experience the everyday life of a soldier on the eve of the American Revolution. March with him into battle for his first encounter with the noise, confusion, and horrors of war.

Missions to America - Thursday, November 6
Travel to America's first English settlement, a French Great Lakes mission, and a Spanish ranch in the southwest to explore how different European nations colonized North America.

A Day in the Life - Thursday, December 4
Walk in the footsteps of an apprenticed boy, a well-to-do young lady and a slave. Enter their world and experience a day in colonial Williamsburg.

The Rare Breeds - Thursday, January 15, 2004
Discover how work animals were used in colonial Virginia and the importance Colonial Williamsburg places on preserving rare breeds in recreating the life and times of early America.

Flames of Freedom - Thursday, February 12
Examine how African Americans resisted slavery. Frederick Douglass narrates this history of rebellions from colonial times to John Brown's raid on Harper's Ferry.

"A Publick Education" - Thursday, March 11
A free, public education for all Americans was not always the standard. Horace Mann traces the methods of education from the colonial period to the one-room schoolhouses of the 1840s for the purpose of universal education.

Mr. Alderson's Farm - Thursday, April 15
In the 18th and 19th centuries, most Americans were farmers. Explore the rural traditions, self-reliance, economy and seasonal rhythms of farming life.