Students will be able to:
* Analyze graphical data to draw conclusions
* Compare and contrast the chemical structures of nitrous oxide and carbon dioxide
* Explain how differences in the structure of nitrous oxide and carbon dioxide lead to differences in their reactivity and functions as a greenhouse gas
* Argue how changing shrubbery impacts climate change
Students will be able to:
* Graph, analyze, and predict data
* Develop claim, evidence, and reasoning
* Explain how permafrost is made, current conditions, and its impacts on climate and humans
Preparation
* This lesson plan can be taught either in the classroom or virtually online. Instructions on how to teach both ways are given in the Procedure
It’s sometimes a common and depressing comment to hear from your students, “I’ll never use this in my life! Teach me something practical like how to pay my taxes!” As teachers, we strive to make learning relevant to student’s lives, but for a multitude of reasons sometimes your lessons just don’t have that
PolarTREC educator Kate Steeper and researcher Dr. Syndonia Bret-Harte discuss the 2019 fieldwork and research that is occurring on a project looking at shrubs, snow, and nitrogen in arctic Alaska. This event was broadcast live from Toolik Field Station, Alaska on 15 August 2019.
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.
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.
Over three months in Antarctica, PolarTREC teacher Juan Botella took hundreds of pictures a day. He will now display many of those photos in an art exhibit entitled, "ArtArctic Science" at the Overture Center in Madison, WI. The exhibit includes not only Botella’s pictures but artwork by four Monona Grove high school students and two recent graduates.
Cups decorated by students at the Monona Grove School District, Monona WI. Some of them will be shrunk by sending them to the bottom of the Ocean around Antarctica. during the 2011-2012 PolarTREC expedition "Sea water property changes in the Southern Ocean"
Trip to Scripps Institution of Oceanography, La Jolla, CA to meet Dr. Jim Swift and team members that will participate in the 2011-2012 PolarTREC expedition "Sea water property changes in the Southern Ocean" (www.polartrec.com