We are all teachers and students throughout our lives – even as adults we are students and even as children we are teachers. As adults, we are often afforded unusual opportunities to learn as we push ourselves in our interests and abilities. Through these opportunities—both expected and unexpected—our own understanding of what is possible expands as well as our desire
The PolarTREC expedition places the teacher in the role of student. All aspects of the expedition ask the teacher to stretch her mind and reach beyond her comfort zone. This stretch presents itself to the teacher in having to learn new technology, new science, new presentation formats, and meet, live and collaborate with
Data collected from experimental manipulations of ecological processes can help us understand the natural world, and perhaps even help scientists predict how complex systems may change. At CiPEHR, (Carbon in Permafrost Heating Experimental Research) located near Denali National Park, scientists have collected and analyzed seven years of data to learn how increases in soil temperatures influence the carbon
Teacher David Thesenga and the Ice Shelf Flow and Fracture Dynamics Research Team discuss field work on the McMurdo Shear Zone (SZ) live from Antarctica.
The Follow A Researcher (FAR) website from the University of Maine will be releasing weekly videos starting the first week of October closely following the Ice Shelf Flow and Fracture Dynamics Expedition in Antarctica.
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.)
Biodiversity is a central concept in understanding ecosystem functioning. Students explore how biodiversity is measured, impacted and can shift due to environmental changes to develop their understanding. Based off of the Microbial biogeography studies that Dr. Byron Crump is doing in the Arctic and around the world.
Objectives
* Understand the role and importance of biodiversity in
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
First person article written by Lauren about how her undergraduate experience tied into her PolarTREC expedition to the Arctic. Published in the Colorado College alumni bulletin.