Dive in and learn more about life sciences at the polar regions.
Dive in and learn more about life sciences at the polar regions.

Welcome to the Life Science Collection, a library of resources for educators and the public interested in learning more about organisms in the Arctic and Antarctic regions. The field of life science includes but is not limited to understanding organisms, their organization, life processes, and relationships to each other and their environment.

The Collection includes individual activities, lesson plans, journal entries, videos, and presentations that will educate the next generation about this complex field of study. All materials are created and compiled by world-class educators participating in authentic scientific research in the polar regions through PolarTREC expeditions.

The Life Science Collection is utilized as class material in the Cyber-based Interdisciplinary Science Education Professional Development Courses offered through the University of Alaska- Fairbanks in conjunction with PolarTREC. The collection is funded by the Arctic Research Consortium of the United States and the National Science Foundation Office of Polar Programs.

National Science FoundationArctic Research Consortium of the United StatesUniversity of Alaska- Fairbanks


Displaying 101 - 125 of 209

This one hour live event is hosted by PolarTREC teacher Lisa Seff and her team studying the oceanographic conditions of bowhead whale habitat. The team is stationed in Barrow, Alaska.

Event
Arctic
About 1 period

Overview

Students will explain, both orally and in writing, a diagram used to illustrate a food web.

Objectives

  • Students will learn how language is used to communicate and is required to impart knowledge and sustain a healthy, traditional community in a modern world.
  • Students will learn strategies for communicating complex ideas to an audience.
  • Students
Lesson
Arctic
About 1 period
Middle School and Up
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Overview

Students discover how different organisms that live in the Arctic depend on each other and what might happen to the food web if one or more organisms disappears from it. Students will build an arctic food web.

Objectives

Students will learn that organisms are part of a global food web and linked to each other and their

Lesson
Arctic
About 1 period
Middle School and Up
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Overview

This First Grade unit on the bowhead whale has been created to support the knowledge of children living within a whaling community. The unit focuses on the basic components of understanding the bowhead in a more scientific manner. Although my students know the bowhead in a uniquely intimate way because of their environmental and subsistence circumstances, our goal

Lesson
Arctic
More than a week
Elementary and Up
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Overview

Elizabeth Eubanks M.Ed (working with Angela Gilmour, Anne Jensen, Danielle Dickson, Leslie Pierce, and Rachel Potter) connected with PolarTREC and NOAA TAS. This lesson is inspired by the need to share the importance of the Bowhead Whale in relation to the culture of arctic people. It is a portion of an entire collaborative unit to be utilized between

Lesson
Arctic
Less than a week
All Aged
n/a

Meet Michael Sheriff, Post-Doctoral Fellow at the Institute of Arctic Biology, University of Alaska Fairbanks. Learn more about Michael's work with Arctic Ground Squirrels at www.polartrec.com. Video by PolarTREC teacher Nick LaFave.

Polar Profile
Arctic

Overview

This engaging topic and active game is inspired by a long-term scientific study of Black Guillemots nesting on an island near Barrow, AK. It introduces the life cycle of the Black Guillemot, how it raises its young, and the adaptations it is making to adjust to life in a changing Arctic.

Objectives

By the end of this

Lesson
Arctic
Less than a week
Elementary and Up
Download and Share

Meet PolarTREC teacher Nick LaFave

Polar Profile
Arctic

In this one hour webinar, PolarTREC teacher Nick LaFave conducts live event for students and the public on his work at Toolik Field Station studying Predatory Spiders with researcher Amanda Koltz.

Event
Arctic
About 1 period

In this one hour webinar, PolarTREC teacher Nick LaFave conducts professional development for teachers on his work at Toolik Field Station studying Predatory Spiders with researcher Amanda Koltz.

Event
Arctic
About 1 period

Meet PhD student Amanda Koltz and learn about what motivated her to study science and research spiders in arctic food webs. Her fun fact might surprise you!

Polar Profile
Arctic

Meet research assistant Kiki Contreras who spent the summer of 2012 working on the Predatory Spiders in Arctic Food Webs project at Toolik Lake, Alaska. Video by PolarTREC teacher Nick LaFave.

Polar Profile
Arctic

Meet Toolik Field Station Naturalist Seth Beaudreault. Video by PolarTREC teacher Nick LaFave.

Polar Profile
Arctic

Display at Macon County Library while my expedition is ongoing. Also includes a few hundred bookmarks with expedition address on it

Image
Arctic
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The CIMSS/UW-Madison Global and Regional Climate Change course for G6-12 science teachers has been translated to Spanish and is now available online. The translation was done by Juan Botella, a native Spanish speaker who teaches high school science in Madison, WI and a former PolarTREC teacher. Read more about Juan here: http://www.polartrec.com/member/juan-botella

Web Link
Arctic
Middle School and Up

Arctic Research Mapping Application. ARMAP is a suite of online, interactive maps and services that support Arctic science. Learn more about research projects in your region of interest or scientific discipline. Explore available data or possible collaborations. Use the online mapping tools to meet your own project's specific goals.

Web Link
Arctic
High school and Up

Summit Station, Greenland Website. The station is located atop 3200 m of ice and is nearly 400 km from the nearest point of land. Summit supports a diversity of scientific research, including year-round measurements of air-snow interactions that provide crucial knowledge for interpreting data from deep ice cores drilled both at Summit and elsewhere.

Web Link
Arctic
High school and Up

Winthrop University announces Nick LaFave's PolarTREC expedition to study predatory spiders at Toolik Field Station in Alaska.

Article
Arctic
All Aged
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This article describes PolarTREC teacher Nick LaFave's upcoming expedition to Toolik Lake, Alaska where he will be studying wolf spider populations with Duke University researcher, Amanda Koltz.

Article
Arctic
All Aged
n/a

Dayton's News Program, Fox 45 in the Morning, talks with teacher Chantelle Rose directly from the Arctic about her oceanographic PolarTREC expedition and follow-up involvement with the 2012 Arctic Ocean Ecosystem Workshop in Barrow, Alaska.

Web Link
Arctic
All Aged

Environmental Science teacher Nick LaFave will put his hands-on teaching and researching skills into service while participating in a study of wolf spiders and their impact on the arctic environment. Read more about his upcoming PolarTREC expedition in this article from his community newspaper.

Article
Arctic
All Aged
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Interview with PolarTREC teacher Alex Eilers and Dr. Jennifer Burns' expedition studying Weddell seals in the Ross Sea.

Audio
Antarctic
n/a
All Aged
n/a

Article about PolarTREC teacher Alex Eilers’ expedition to study Weddell seals in the Ross Sea.

Article
Antarctic
All Aged
n/a

Article about PolarTREC teacher Alex Eilers’ expedition to study Weddell seals in the Ross Sea.

Article
All Aged
n/a

Article about PolarTREC teacher Alex Eilers’ expedition to study Weddell seals in the Ross Sea.

Article
Antarctic
All Aged
n/a