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.
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
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.)
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
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
PolarTREC teacher Jacquelyn Hams' expedition is featured in Foundations: the Newsletter of the Geo2YC division of the National Association of Geoscience Teachers.
This one hour event features the GLOBE Africa and Globe Seasons and Biomes expedition to Mt. Kilimanjaro, Africa. Students and teachers that are on the expedition explain the different biomes they pass through on their way up to the summit of Mt. Kilimanjaro.
This one hour event features the expedition with the GLOBE Africa and GLOBE Seasons and Biomes program to Mt. Kilimanjaro, Africa. Dr. Kenji Yoshikawa,from the University of Alaska Fairbanks, presents on the permafrost and hydrology features of Mt. Kilimanjaro while he is on the mountain.
In this one hour presentation, PolarTREC teacher John Wood explains the scientific work in the Carbon Balance in Warming and Drying Tundra expedition from Healy, Alaska.
This one hour presentation is part of the C-ISE Physical Science professional development course. Elizabeth Webb in Healy, Alaska explains the carbon balance in warming and drying tundra.