As part of the Success, Experience and Inspiration (SEI) Roundtable, educator Jon Pazol gave his PolarConnect event to discuss the science and his experience as part of the Nansen and Amundsen Basins Observational System (NABOS) team. Jon spent 40 days aboard the Russian scientific research vessel Akademik Tryoshnikov in northern Arctic seas.
YouTube video about PolarTREC teacher Jon Pazol's experience in the Arctic. The video is part of a servies of "One Amazing Story" videos produced by Leyden High Schools District 212.
From September 9 - October 20, 2021, I participated in the 2021 NABOS (Nansen and Amundsen Basins Observational System) expedition on the RV Akademik Tryoshnikov. The Chief Scientist was Igor Polyakov from the University of Alaska Fairbanks (UAF) and the International Arctic Research Center (IARC), and my PolarTREC team consisted of Elena Sparrow, outreach coordinator and
Jon Pazol teaches AP science in Leyden Township High School District 212, and is embarking on a polar expedition to study climate change. As extreme weather events continue around the world - from Hurricane Ida, to extreme drought, to massive flash floods - one local science teacher is traveling to the Siberian Arctic to observe the impact of climate change
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.
PolarTREC has been an amazing experience, wow! The heart of the PolarTREC program is the field expedition, which allows the teacher to be embedded in a field research team. STEM educators are passionate about what they teach but often lack access to meaningful opportunities to participate in basic research. Programs like PolarTREC provide that missing
Teacher Josh Heward discusses research with the "Tough Tardigrades Team" in the McMurdo Dry Valleys in Antarctica where they search for tardigrades and other microorganisms that live in the soil.
Biodiversity is a central concept in understanding ecosystem functioning. Students explore how biodiversity is measured, impacted and can shift due to environmental changes to develop their understanding. Based off of the Microbial biogeography studies that Dr. Byron Crump is doing in the Arctic and around the world.
Objectives
* Understand the role and importance of biodiversity in