This is a STEM-based lesson that can be taught in class or online. Students will analyze Weddell seal pup growth data, collected by the Growing Up on Ice, B-030, research team. To use this lesson virtually, include the data cards and have students either construct graphs and upload an image of their graph, or construct a graph and share
This lesson investigates the effects of different insulators (fur and blubber) on maintaining the body temperature of polar animals. Water balloons filled with warm water simulate the marine mammal. The blubber insulator will be simulated by covering the balloon in vegetable shortening. The fur insulator will be simulated by placing another balloon over the “marine mammal” and adding an
Mass Live article coverage on Bridget Ward's expedition to Antarctica. The link to the story can be found here. A PDF of the story is also available for downloading.
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
This lesson was written for the 2012 Arctic Ocean Ecosystem Workshop and was inspired by the research work conducted off the coast of Barrow, Alaska by researchers Steve Okonnen and Patricia Yager with PolarTREC teachers Lollie Garay and Chantelle Rose. Students will engage in a series of exercises to investigate seasonal change in the Arctic ecosystem based on authentic
This article summarizes PolarTREC teacher Mark Buesing’s amazing and varied career as a cyclist, engineer, teacher, and now participant on NASA's airborne mission to map and measure ice in the Polar Regions.
Article describing the final stages of this year's Operation IceBridge, the NASA campaign to maintain and expand on Arctic ice measurements. Along with PolarTREC teacher Mark Buesing, the IceBridge team has successfully completed a variety of aerial measurements on sea ice, sub-ice bedrock and Greenland's glaciers.
Press release about the launch of Operation IceBridge's 2013 season of research activity and science flights over Arctic ice sheets and sea ice. Operation Icebridge will undertake survey flights over land and sea ice in and around Greenland and the Arctic Ocean through early May in order to maintain a continuous record of polar ice measurements.