Article in Polar Record written by ARCUS staff and PolarTREC alumni educators that shares impacts of participating in a Teacher Research Experience.
Abstract: PolarTREC-Teachers and Researchers Exploring and Collaborating (PolarTREC) has provided the opportunity for over 160 K-12 teachers and informal science educators from the USA to work directly with scientists in the Arctic and the Antarctic. As a Teacher
Humans hold special relationships with the natural resources by which they are surrounded. These connections are increasingly being challenged by changing climate patterns, availability of resources, and societal changes. In this activity students will investigate the cultural importance of an Arctic plant or animal. Each student will create a carving and research traditional uses, geographic range, and natural history
This lesson allows students to learn about the Arctic through a challenging question and answer game format. Inspired by experiences in the Hidden Ocean 2016: Chukchi Borderlands expedition, the game includes “careers”, “animals”, “equipment”, “climate change”, and “geography” components. The game may be used as a learning tool, a review tool, or an assessment tool.
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
This is a suite of labs created by Michigan State University and the Joint Institute for Nuclear Astrophysics (JINA). It provides a number of lessons and activities in nuclear physics. It can be used to demonstrate the types of reactions typical in cosmic ray interactions and the interactions that the CosRay neutron monitors depend on.
The Energetic Ray Global Observatory (ERGO) is a program that will provide students and teachers with a small detector that is capable of detecting the cosmic rays in a manner very similar to CosRAY and IceCube. The unit is small and will allow data to be exported automatically to Google Maps.
Plans for the Berkeley National Laboratory cosmic ray detector. This detector can be built by high school teachers and can be used to study cosmic rays in a method similar to the antarctic particle studies (CosRAY and IceCube).