Educator Kim Young and Researcher Christina Minions from the Winter Respiration in the Arctic Team discuss permafrost in Alaska and what climate factors are affecting it. This presentation was broadcast live from Weston, Massachusetts on 8 April 2019.
This resource is a 2-minute immersive video that takes students inside the Permafrost Research Tunnel outside of Fairbanks, Alaska. It includes footage of both the new and old sections of the tunnel.
Objectives
Through watching this video, students will get to see what permafrost looks like from the inside, identifying typical features geological features (ex. ice wedges). Through the
This lesson plan transports students to two field sites outside of Fairbanks, Alaska to investigate the interconnected relationships between climate change and permafrost. Students will use authentic field data from site photographs, soil temperature, and thaw depth measurements to draw inferences. An ESRI StoryMap, faux field journal, and 360 site images are used to engage students in the inquiry
PolarTREC is a teacher professional development program funded through the Arctic Research Consortium of the United States (ARCUS) and National Science Foundation (NSF). PolarTREC pairs middle and high school teachers with scientific research teams to allow them to “study-abroad” as a scientific team member authentically integrated into polar (Arctic or Antarctic) field science. The PolarTREC experience facilitates
In this activity, students will use IB-style data-based questions centered around graphs made from data collected about arctic ground squirrels by researchers at Toolik Field Station in northern Alaska. Activity levels of ground squirrels are analyzed in relation to solar radiation and ambient temperature. Students work individually or in pairs to answer the questions.
In this activity, students will use data collected about two male arctic ground squirrels by researchers at Toolik Field Station in northern Alaska. Each squirrel had a lightlogger to record light intensity (lux) and an implanted data logger to record internal body temperature (°C). Students work individually or in pairs to analyze the data sets and interpret the results
Alicia Gillean discusses her 2013 Arctic Ground Squirrel Studies expedition at Toolik Field Station, Alaska, and how it impacted her personally and professionally.
Researcher Elizabeth Webb discusses her experiences working in the field with a PolarTREC teacher. She worked with John Wood in 2011 and 2012, and Tom Lane in 2013, on the Carbon Balance in Warming and Drying Tundra expedition near Healy, Alaska. (She primarily discusses her time with John Wood since this interview was taken in 2013, before Tom Lane's expedition.)
Soil decomposers, such as some bacteria and fungi, obtain energy needed for life from dead and decomposing plant and animal remains, known as soil organic matter. Soil organic matter is important to local ecosystems because it affects soil structure, regulates soil moisture and temperature, and provides energy and nutrients to soil organisms. It is also important globally, because
In this set of lessons, students have the opportunity to think like scientists as they examine actual data related to Arctic ground squirrels, organize it in logical ways, and make inferences based on the data.
Objectives
Students will develop an understanding of some of the ways scientists use and organize data.