Students will collect soil samples and analyze them with some of the same procedures used by researchers in the McMurdo Dry Valleys, Antarctica. Soil microfauna (e.g. nematodes) will be extracted from the samples using a Baermann funnel. Students will compare their own data to published data from researchers working in Antarctica.
PolarTREC has been an amazing experience, wow! The heart of the PolarTREC program is the field expedition, which allows the teacher to be embedded in a field research team. STEM educators are passionate about what they teach but often lack access to meaningful opportunities to participate in basic research. Programs like PolarTREC provide that missing
Teacher Josh Heward discusses research with the "Tough Tardigrades Team" in the McMurdo Dry Valleys in Antarctica where they search for tardigrades and other microorganisms that live in the soil.
PolarTREC teacher Jacquelyn Hams' expedition is featured in Foundations: the Newsletter of the Geo2YC division of the National Association of Geoscience Teachers.
A trip to the Chena Hot Springs in Fairbanks, Alaska. There are images from the ice museum, greenhouses, and geothermal power plant. Video taken by Liz Ratliff, IceCube In Ice Antarctic Telescope 2012 expedition
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.