Produced by the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI), Project Haystack presents scenarios that depict various aspects of the search for extraterrestrial intelligence. Students conduct hands-on and minds-on activities while exploring what it means to send and receive a message across interstellar distances. Students explore and map vast reaches of the Milky Way galaxy; build, test, and experiment with spectroscopes and a radio receiver while learning the importance of these tools to astronomers; find a simulated signal that has been sent through space from somewhere in the cosmic "haystack"; and decipher the meaning of the message they received. In a final mission, students imagine the impact on our culture of receiving a message from extraterrestrial intelligence by role-playing various special interests in a mock conference. Throughout the curriculum and its activities, students work in cooperative teams and build on the knowledge of previous missions to help them understand the complexity of sending and receiving interstellar radio signals. (DDR)