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
This article highlights microbial communities in Lake Untersee, Antarctica and their connection with astrobiology. These communities are similiar to those in Lake Joyce in many ways.
Mount St. Mary's College in Los Angeles profiles one of its alumni, teacher Cristina Solis who also happens to be a PolarTREC alumnus. Read about her journey to become an educator and her participation in a PolarTREC study of microbial activity in thawing arctic permafrost near Barrow, Alaska.
Students will conduct a soil study by investigating pH and water absorption.
Objectives
Students will learn:
* How to describe the composition of soil and explain how it forms.
* That soil is made up of tiny particles of rock, plant, and animal matter.
* How to determine whether a solution is acidic, basic, or neutral.
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Students will investigate what a carbon footprint is and calculate their own personal carbon footprint. Finally, students will develop ways to reduce their carbon footprint.
Objectives
Students will know that the principles of chemistry underlie the functioning of biological systems.
Students will know that carbon, because of its ability to combine in many ways with
In mid-April 2012, five teachers from Denmark, Greenland, and the United States, were given the experience of a lifetime. The teachers lived, worked, and flew alongside airborne polar scientists in Greenland, and saw firsthand how remote data are collected on NASA’s Operation IceBridge. In the process, the experience provided the educators with better tools to teach students about science. Read