The Arctic Ocean Curriculum Unit was created by the Arctic Research Consortium of the United States with funding from the North Pacific Research Board. This project aimed to update and revise existing Arctic Ocean-related lesson plans originally created by PolarTREC program teacher alumni. The format used lends itself to the changes in education - providing student-facing slide decks that allow
Learn more about seasonal migrations of species around the world. These multidisciplinary hands-on activities focusing on art, observation, movement, and adventure. Resources can be used in formal and informal learning environments. All activities are designed to be possible as at-home/distanced activities.
Objectives
* Learners will understand the diverse forms of seasonal migration of animals.
* Learners will make connections
This lesson plan is designed to teach students about the importance of the benthic community in the shallow portions of the Arctic and how climate change may affect their respiration. One of the dominant benthic animals in the Arctic, the bivalve Macoma sp., is an important food source for higher trophic level organisms such as walrus and Spectacled Eiders
This lesson plan is designed to teach students about benthic biodiversity in the Arctic by analyzing data from the Distributed Biological Observatory (DBO). Although you can’t see them from the surface, the organisms found on the ocean floor are important indicators of ecosystem health and provide information about productivity. Students will explore sites throughout the Bering and Chukchi Seas
Article about Dr. Lauren Neitzke Adamo, co-director of the Rutgers University Geology Museum, and her upcoming expedition through PolarTREC, in the Swiss Alps to study the impact on glacier melting.
Students will collect soil samples and analyze them with some of the same procedures used by researchers in the McMurdo Dry Valleys, Antarctica. Soil microfauna (e.g. nematodes) will be extracted from the samples using a Baermann funnel. Students will compare their own data to published data from researchers working in Antarctica.
This mini exhibit explores the science behind climate change and introduces current climate change research to the public. Panels cover the topics of changing climate, ocean acidification and sea level rise, giving examples of how data is collected and current research in these fields. The exhibit also provides websites for further exploring climate change impacts.