Presentation prepared for the Rochester Community Schools Board of Education related to the PolarTREC 2017 Neutron Monitors for Solar Study expedition.
Students will examine sunspots and track them at different latitudes on the Sun.
This activity is adapted from the Tracking Sunspots activity on NASA’s Solar and Heliocentric Observatory (SOHO) website (2009): https://soho.nascom.nasa.gov/classroom/for_students.html.
Objectives:
Students begin to familiarize themselves with solar activity by tracking sunspots at different latitudes on the Sun.
This activity is designed to get students thinking about
When radioactive elements decay they emit high-speed particles. These can be detected by use of a cloud chamber. The cloud chamber was invented by Charles Thomson Rees Wilson in 1911. The chamber works by saturating the air inside with alcohol vapor. Cooling the chamber with dry ice supersaturates the air. The energetic particles produced by the radioactive decay ionize
My high school has a Science Club whose members visit local elementary schools and run various “stations” that (elementary) students visit for 10-15 minutes before rotating to a different one. This lesson is designed to be one those – a quick hitting, but engaging look into polar science that will stir the kids’ inherent curiosity and get them
One of the most important indicators of our warming climate is the extent and thickness of polar sea ice. Currently satellites measure the extent of polar sea ice but it takes more sophisticated equipment aboard a low-flying plane to actually measure the thickness of sea ice. This lesson will show students how this is done.
PolarTREC expedition: Oceanographic Conditions of the Bowhead Whale Habitat. Dr. Steve Okkonen and educator Lisa Seff arrive in Prudhoe Bay where they meet up with the crew of the R/V Ukpik. They head to Barrow Alaska, deploying a mooring with oceanographic instruments along the way.
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.