Have you ever wondered how polar scientists do it? How do they really know if the planet is losing vast quantities of ice anyway? You can use pictures from satellites to monitor the surface from year to year, but the vast majority of ice is hidden from view, buried beneath the surface in some of the most inhospitable and
Students will conduct a demonstration that will help them gain a better understanding of the water cycle and runoff in a watershed. They will be able to replicate arctic and non-arctic watersheds by varying the size of the watershed. They will be able to visualize the difference in runoff by creating hydrographs of these different locations.
Students will investigate the breadth and depth of science taking place in the Polar Regions by reading and learning about one PolarTREC expedition and sharing it with the class.
Objectives
* To expose students to the wide variety of science happening in the Polar Regions
* To help students understand the process of science by examining one
In this one hour webinar PolarTREC teacher Tim Spuck explains his work with the NASA IceBridge Project, the largest airborne survey of Earth's polar ice ever conducted.
Using photos from a variety of websites, including the PolarTREC and SCINI websites, students will identify organisms to phylum and/or class level (e.g. polychaetes, starfish, brittle stars, sponges) and then research the primary foods that these organisms eat. They will then develop a simple food web for these organisms.
Few people are familiar with the fascinating stories that Arctic and Antarctic explorers have to share. Students will research an explorer and create a dangling string with key information and highlights from the expedition(s) of that explorer.
Objective
To learn about polar explorers and polar expeditions.
Preparation
Gather needed materials. Have the explorers' information and photos
Learners from 6th – 12th grade will investigate different science projects in Antarctica through the PolarTREC and the USAP websites. They will then make a short PowerPoint (or similar) presentation to the rest of the class. Learners can work independently or in small groups.
Objective
Students will become familiar with the wide variety of science that occurs