First a little video from yesterday's flight.

    Today was a planned day of no flying so I could connect with classes through Google+ Hangouts and Skype. But first a little mandatory exercise and a hike into the mountains on the edge of town …

    Quiet
    It was incredibly quiet up here.

    This was my attempt to be Les Stroud. Yeah, I don’t think it worked either, but left it in because it was really quiet up there.

    Russell Glacier
    The view from a mountain on the edge of Kangerlussuaq. Russell Glacier and the edge of the ice sheet can be seen in the upper left.

    Watson River
    The Watson River flowing out of the Russell Glacier. The ice sheet can just be seen on the horizon.

    Kangerlussuaq
    Looking down on Kangerlussuaq. There was nothing here until WWII when the Americans built Bluie West-8 later know as Sondrestrom Air Base, a common refueling point for shuttling planes to and from Europe during and after the war.

    I hiked back down into Kanger and had breakfast at the airport restaurant – one of only three restaurants in town. Then I did a little grocery and souvenir shopping before heading back to get on line and connect with some classes.

    Air Sign
    A popular photo spot at the Kangerlussuaq airport.

    JATO Rocket
    The town uses spent JATO rockets for cigarette butt disposal.

    Connecting with students was the highlight of my day. It felt good to interact with them and act like a teacher again! First up were two of my physics classes at Libertyville High School, where we used Google+ Hangout. The teacher, Duke Groebe, even lead them through some physics to answer a question I posed. I was impressed by both teacher and students.

    Then it was my two nephews’ school in Oregon. Becky Crawford had all 100 third graders in attendance to talk to me. Thanks Becky – the kids were incredibly well behaved. I was impressed by their questions and they easily answered some of mine.

    Oregon Hangout
    This was the view of the Hangout with students in Oregon from their end.

    Oregon Hangout
    This was the view of the Hangout with students in Oregon from my end.

    Then back to Libertyville HS to Hangout with my last AP Physics class and later Skyped my first-grade daughter’s class in Bristol, WI. Despite some technical difficulties (the P-3 had arrived home and the scientists were sucking up a lot of bandwidth) we had an e-mail chat session and I was able to ask and answer quite a few questions in the time we had. Special thanks to Connie Olsen and Erin Miner for pulling that off.

    I ended the day with Lynn Pusateri’s middle school science class in Libertyville, IL. Her students had been chatting with the IceBridge team in-flight much of the day. (E-mail e.schaller [at] nserc.und.edu if you would like to do that.) They ran the computer and asked a lot of good questions of me. I’ll be looking forward to having them in my physics class in a few years.

    Illinois Skype
    Middle school science students chatting with the IceBridge team in-flight.

    I was really fun connecting with about 200 students today. To go beyond the normal classroom walls and expend the kind of effort it takes to connect to Greenland during their busy days, speaks to the dedication of these teachers. If we inspired a few of those students to pursue careers in science, technology, engineering, or math; we will have done our jobs!

    P.S. The whole hike up the mountain was just so I could get this shakey shot of the P-3 taking off.

    .be

    Author
    Date
    Location
    Kangerlussuaq, Greenland
    Weather Summary
    sunny and mild
    Temperature
    40

    Comments