Follow the Polar Expedition is a booklet designed for students to help them learn about the 2012 Chukchi Sea Offshort Monitoring in the Drilling Area (COMIDA) Hanna Shoal Ecosystem Study with PolarTREC teacher Deanna Wheeler. The expedition is August 5-25, 2012, aboard the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter.
The booklet has terms used on the ship as well as several activities
During Lesley Urasky’s expedition, “Glacial History in Antarctica”, the team collected rock samples which were taken back to the University of Washington to be dated using cosmogenic (exposure) dating. This method of radiometric dating measures the ratio of isotopes of Beryllium (9Be:10Be) produced by the interaction of cosmic rays with minerals in rocks. This lesson will introduce the student to
The Solar Oven Science activity was developed as a way to target conservation of energy. Some students understand that he sun can be used for heating and cooking but they mistakenly think that this can only work in deserts. Because of conservation of energy solar cooking and heating can work in temperate and even arctic environments. The linked
This activity is a way to create a cloud chamber in the classroom. A cloud chamber allows students to view "invisible" alpha particles emitted through nuclear decay. Alpha particles have a long history in nuclear physics--they are a helium nucleus and their emission during nuclear decay was one of the first ways we knew that atomic nuclei could