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
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
PolarTREC teacher Michelle Brown and her research team conducted this PolarConnect event from McMurdo Station, Antarctica. Learn more about Michelle and her team as they study human impacts in Antarctica.
This one hour PolarConnect event Celebrates Antarctica Day 2011 with PolarTREC teacher Michelle Brown (at McMurdo Station) and esteemed polar researcher Dr. M. Kennicutt II. The two presenters share their perspectives on the importance of Antarctica's geography, science, and model for international peaceful collaboration.
PolarTREC teacher Michelle Brown writes for the Austin American Statesman about her upcoming expedition to Antarctica. Michelle outlines her plans to travel to Antarctica to work with researchers at the remote McMurdo Station and the automated geophysical observatory at the South Pole Station. In addition to helping researchers study the human impacts on the southern continent, she will also install
PolarTREC teacher Michelle Brown writes an article in the Austin American Statesman about her upcoming expedition to study human impacts in Antarctica. Michelle details her motivation to apply for the PolarTREC program and how it has already changed her teaching practice and students' lives.
The journal assignment involves students in current science research. Through the teacher’s journals, they will learn about how the research teams work together, design their research, tools that are needed and how they live and work in an extreme environment.
Objective
Students will be able to:
1. Understand how scientific research is conducted in an extreme environment
Working in groups, students will use common materials to create layers of snow and ice representing thousands of years of stratification. Groups will exchange their ice layers and extract core samples to analyze them.
Objective
Notice the phenomenon of stratification.
Notice that layers can tell a story of change over time.