Welcome to life-long learning

The Lewis and Clark Rediscovery Project: Life-Long Learning Online (L3) invites you to interactively experience the Lewis and Clark Expedition, the 200 years of change since the Expedition, and the Mars mission that expands upon the foundation created by the explorers of the past. Multiple perspectives are contained within the site, including Native American, historical, and scientific. We encourage you to review the philosophical foundations of these perspectives, and engage in one or more of the four main journeys.

About This Project

The University of Idaho (UI) as the lead institution of the Life-Long Learning Online (L3) Project, worked with its partners, Wheeling Jesuit University (WJU) in West Virginia, and the University of Montana in Missoula (UM), to design and build an online learning environment that offers an introspective look at our country, as we recognize the anniversary of the Lewis and Clark Corp of Discovery.

L3 is comprised of four main components: (1) The Lewis and Clark Rediscovery Project – a site dedicated to the Lewis and Clark expedition; (2) The GLOBE Connection – a site dedicated to displaying current day information about sites along the Lewis and Clark trail; (3) The Mars Discovery Project – a site dedicated to examining a future Mars mission, using the Lewis and Clark Expedition as a foundation; and (4) The Louise and Clark Mission to Mars – an interactive website that allows the user to serve as the third crew member on a simulated mission to Mars.

Each web environment constructed is populated with content developed at the UI, WJU, and UM. The UM, along with the UI, developed maps, images, GIS, and NASA visualizations that interact with the UI-developed Learning Environment Interface, and compliment the content developed by WJU. The web site serves individuals of all ages, but focuses on K-16. The site contains information from a variety of sources, including historians, American Indians, scientists, GLOBE, NASA, etc. The UI was responsible for the development of the scenario for future expeditions using the Lewis and Clark journey (as detailed by WJU and the UI, and substantiated with UM visual materials) as a base. Thus, the two Mars components of this project (Mars Discovery and Louise and Clark Mission to Mars) describe a future journey to Mars, contrasts and compares the Lewis and Clark expedition with a Mars exploration, allows the user to take an interactive journey to the red planet, and provides access to three online courses offered through the UI.

Overall, the L3 project’s mission is to demonstrate the 200 years of change since the Lewis and Clark expedition, and how this historical event impacts exploration into the future. Using multiple perspectives, including Euro-American and Native American, and collaborating with hundreds of entities, such as GLOBE and NASA, L3 strives to allow you, the user, to experience all you can about the Lewis and Clark expedition, continue to recognize the expedition in the present, and to experience the endless possibilities of expeditions in the future. Enjoy!