The objectives of this lesson are:
* Students will know that climate change is happening most quickly in Arctic regions.
* Students will know that a warming climate is causing permafrost to thaw.
* Students will know that thawing permafrost is impacting infrastructure in Alaska, including roads and buildings.
* Students will design an engineering solution to create stable
Students will use a model to explore the relationships between sunlight and release of carbon dioxide (CO2) from thawing Arctic watersheds.
After studying the carbon cycle, students are asked to reflect on how natural phenomena – thawing of permafrost, interactions of soil microbes on dissolved carbon, and amount of sunlight – interconnect and influence the release of CO2
The report is written by teacher participants upon return from their field expedition portion of the PolarTREC program. It summarizes the benefit of the expedition to the teacher, a description of activities, and a summary of how teachers plan to link this experience in classrooms and communities. This is a public document that will be posted in teacher portfolios and
This one hour webinar is a great look at the PolarTREC 2014 Arctic expeditions. Each teacher presents a little about the research projects, implementation in the classroom, and outreach into communities.
Article in regional newspaper describes Regina Brinker's PolarConnect event and invites readers to participate at home or as the event is projected at the main public library branch.
This one hour webinar is hosted by PolarTREC teacher Regina Brinker who studied interactions of sunlight and microbes at Toolik Field Station in northern Alaska.
How can the ocean be colder than 0 degrees C, the temperature at which water freezes? As it turns out, the concentration of the particles (in this case, the ions from the salt) in ocean water lowers the temperature at which the saltwater will freeze. Students will learn how ocean water freezes at a lower temperature than freshwater by
Newsday reporter Jennifer Smith blogs dispatches from Toolik Lake, Alaska about science underway at the research station, including the work of researcher Amanda Koltz on predatory spiders.
In this one hour webinar, PolarTREC teacher Nick LaFave conducts live event for students and the public on his work at Toolik Field Station studying Predatory Spiders with researcher Amanda Koltz.
In the field with Michael Sheriff of the Institute of Arctic Biology, University of Alaska Fairbanks. Tagging squirrels near the Atigun River, North Slope, Alaska. Video by Nick LaFave.