This PolarConnect event on Antarctica Day (December 1) 2022 was broadcast live from the Dry Valleys of Antarctica with teacher Lucy Coleman and researcher Rachel Morgan-Kiss.
Educator Allyson Woodard and the Permafrost & Community Team discuss permafrost and how members of the community of Telida are helping to collect data to study the science of permafrost in their Alaskan village. This presentation was broadcast live from the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry (OMSI) in Portland, Oregon on 28 March 2019.
PolarTREC, funded by ARCUS (Arctic Research Consortium of the United States) and NSF (the National Science Foundation), brings educators to Polar Regions for immersive field work with researchers. This professional development opportunity allows educators to share real world experience with polar science in their communities, in the form of outreach and education. As an exhibit developer who
In a “March Madness” game of survival of the fittest, will your microbe and its genes survive the test of changing conditions on Planet Earth and beyond? Students choose genes from a “toolbox” and pit their microbe against their classmates’, using critical thinking and argument writing to determine the microbe with the best chance of success. Based on PolarTREC
In this investigation, students will measure production of CO2 from surface water and consider the role of surface waters in the global carbon cycle and climate change. They will gather data on using Vernier CO2 sensors. This lesson presents a wonderful opportunity for student-designed experiments.
This is a good lesson to get students thinking about the complexity of the systems involved in providing our society with energy, the consequences of energy use and efficiency. Students are encouraged to explore the data sets on their own, ask their own questions about energy use and present their findings to each other.
Analogs are used in science investigations to better understand systems we can’t access ourselves. In this lesson, students explore the Dry Valleys of Antarctica to better understand microbial communities on early Earth and what might have been possible on ancient Mars. Students will examine photographs, written descriptions, and artistic renderings of early Earth, the Dry Valley lakes, and
This outreach piece in Nature describes the aspects of bringing various guests on field science expeditions. The PolarTREC program is a focus amongst the programs providing some best practices as the author offers advice to scientists considering the addition of guests on expeditions.
This lesson/project/lab has students predict via multiple drawings and time lapse photography predictive Flubber flow before the placement of barriers and other obstacles in front of the Flubber. Contour lines in two directions are drawn on both the paper prediction and the Flubber for comparison purposes.
Following predictive drawing completion glacier flow (Flubber flow), with obstacles in place
Ground penetrating radar is an important tool for studying glacier dynamics. Glacier scientists use GPR images to analyze attributes of glaciers. The following research activity will familiarize students with the basics of the different types of glaciers and their dynamics along with ground penetrating radar and its use in glacier studies.