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Robert Erger is a science guy. Christine Voigt is a wordsmith. What do these two teachers have in common? -The planet Mars.

"It was our big dream that we could have a course that incorporated math, science and social studies," explains Voigt, who is developing the cultural side of a two-course vision that she and Erger are creating in their VHS training course, the Teachers Learning Conference (TLC). Erger is a science teacher and Voigt develops curriculum at the ACT Academy in McKinney, Texas. They plan to teach their classes next year in VHS.

"There is so much history in the space race," explains Erger, who came to teaching after 13 years as an engineer. His course, which he envisions running concurrently with Voigt's, covers the science side of the equation and is called "BLASTOFF." While his students are building model rockets and solar cars, Voigt's students will be studying our cultural fascination with space since the Renaissance in her class "From Earth to Mars." Occasionally their course content will overlap, such as when students read and discuss together the novel Contact. Both courses converge later in the year to plan the colonization of Mars, one from the math and science perspective, the other from the perspective of its impact on the prevailing social culture of art, music and literature.

"The hardest thing for me is planning a whole year ahead of time," explains Voigt. For Erger the biggest challenge is thinking up ways to engage kids who will be far away. "Some people, when they move to teaching in a virtual environment, think the same way. For me, it's a paradigm shift."

Voigt agrees. Asked if she could have designed her online course without taking the TLC, she says, "I probably would have thought that I could, but after being in it, I have the perspective of the student and what happens."

Even though the time commitment has been considerable and the technical challenges occasionally daunting, they are excited by teaching in VHS next year. Says Erger, "When I see other teachers developing things, I'm jealous. I wish I was a kid."

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