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.
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
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
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.
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
1) Why is it important to collect large quantities of research data?
2) How can photographing a subject be similar to scientific observation?
3) How can one plot photographic data on a map?
Introduction:
This lesson was written for a Photography I course, to be taught in a lab with access to either a darkroom or computers/printers. The
Antarctic educator, Mark Walsh, created this video for the PolarTREC 2013 spring online professional development course. This video uses the concept of Density to explore how mountains are built as well as how to throw a good Cinco de Mayo party at McMurdo Station Antarctica. He uses the Dr. Samantha Hansen's Transantarctic Mountains work as an example of mountain building.
Students will use the TAMMNET project and accompanying PolarTREC resources to learn about seismology in the Antarctic, culminating in the creation of an annotated map using google maps.
Objective:
Students will understand the different ways mountain ranges are formed, and appreciate the questions unanswered about the Transantarctic Mountains. Students will also appreciate the ingenuity required for doing research in