Dear Readers,
My trip to the South Pole with Project IceCube is approaching in four months! It will be here before I know it. I hope that by November 17th I’ll be ready to go. I’ll know I’m ready when my students are excited for the trip as much as I am. By November they will not only know my cardinal rule, “Everything is Physics, “ but they will also have learned that research at the farthest extreme of the earth, the South Pole, is relevant and important to their lives.
In order to get my students to that point we’ll be learning about IceCube, the neutrino telescope that I’ll be working with directly at the South Pole. On the way to understanding Ice Cube we’ll talk about the South Pole in general, historical, and scientific terms. We will do investigations in class and plan experiments for the pole including some favorites from last school year. Ideally, my class will collaborate with other classes from around the world to compare initial results and polar ideas. (If you’re interested, please email me!)
This summer I’m working hard in preparation for next school year. I’m in River Falls, WI working with Upward Bound for the second year. Last year at Upward Bound our crack team of teachers created dozens of activities connecting IceCube to various classroom disciplines. This year we’re focusing on mapping to tie Upward Bound into the calibration of the IceTop Tanks (a part of IceCube.) But there will be another post on those activities to come soon. By next weekend, July 27th, I should have close to 40 lessons that are ready to share with other teachers at a national conference. Hopefully having lessons available and ready to go will encourage teachers to get involved in this year’s IceCube project.
So that’s what I hope to see in the near future and up to November. There will be many more posts from me, but you should feel free to comment back too. I’m happy to answer all of your questions. Please stay in touch!
Comments