INFORMATIONAL

The Virginia Department of Education and Prince William 
County public schools are pleased to announce the third 
major WorldNet: Virginia project, the International 
Space Olympics in Korolev, Russia, the center of the 
Russian space industry near Moscow.  From October 12-
24, eight Virginia high school students will compete in 
the Olympics by presenting an oral report of their 
research projects and participating in selected tests 
in physics, mathematics, and/or computer science.  
These students will share their experiences with 
teachers and students in Virginia through the Internet.  
The enclosed brochure provides information on this new 
resource that is available on October 12, 1999.

As you will recall, WorldNet: Virginia provides on-line 
resources for teachers and students supporting the 
Standards of Learning.  Worldnet: Virginia can be 
accessed through the Virginia Department of Education's 
website at: http://www.pen.k12.va.us under Standards 
of Learning: Instruction, Assessment, and Training 
Resources or directly at http://www.pwnet.org. 

Students competing in the International Space Olympics 
will provide daily logs of their experiences.  These 
logs will include pictures and journal entries 
describing the competition and their personal 
experiences.  Other resources housed on this website 
include background information on the students and 
their projects and links to related sites.

Thank you for your support of WorldNet: Virginia.  If 
you have questions regarding this website, please do 
not hesitate to contact Dr. Beverly Thurston, 
specialist in history, social sciences, and 
international education at (804) 225-2893.  You are 
also encouraged to use the First Lady's Commonwealth of 
Knowledge website to assist teachers in implementing 
the Virginia Standards of Learning. 

PDS/BT

Enclosure:      A hard copy of this memo and its
                attachment will be sent to the
                superintendent's office.