March 2005 - NASA's Center for Distance Learning and the Pok�mon Trading Card Game have developed an in-school program that incorporates science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) themes into activity units for K-6 students.

Since 1996, children have collected and traded over 13 billion Pok�mon Trading Cards worldwide. The recent release of the Pok�mon Trading Card Game: EX Deoxys and this collaboration with NASA provide an opportunity to teach kids about the real world science behind this Pok�mon.

Deoxys is a space virus with extraordinary origins. It came from space and mutated into a Pok�mon when exposed to a laser beam. Deoxys' name is derived from deoxyribonucleic acid or DNA, the genetic material of most living organisms, including viruses. The STEM learning units have been developed based on the new EX Deoxys Trading Card Game.

Posted on NASA's Kids Science News Network (KSNN) website, five interactive activities are accessible to students and teachers in the classroom. They can learn real science from the Pok�mon Trading Card Game and use free activities developed by NASA that teach them about extraterrestrials, viruses, meteorites, DNA, and the ozone layer.

As part of the program, Nintendo of America Inc. produced "awareness bracelets" and postcards that were distributed to educators nationwide.

NASA Langley's Center for Distance Learning produces a suite of award-winning television and web series, including NASA's KSNN, (grades K-5), NASA SCIence Files (grades 3-5), NASA CONNECT (grades 6-8) and NASA's Destination Tomorrow (adult).

The Pok�mon Trading Card Game, fueled by organized play programs around the world, has spurred global sales of more than 13 billion cards to date, while the Pok�mon animated series on Kids WB!, now in its seventh season, consistently ranks within the top three shows for boys 6-11 years old.

For more information on the NASA and Pok�mon Trading Card Game collaboration, visit the Kids Science News Network:
http://ksnn.larc.nasa.gov/pokemon

For more information on NASA Langley Center for Distance Learning programs, visit:
http://dlcenter.larc.nasa.gov