Cruise Report for the R/V Sikuliaq August 25-September 18, 2017, prepared by Dr. Carin Ashjian, Chief Scientist, and the SKQ201713S Science Team for the time PolarTREC teacher Lisa Seff was aboard and working on Upwelling and Ecology in the Beaufort Sea.
Article written for the East Hampton Star Newspaper on September 7, 2017, featuring teacher Lisa Seff aboard the R/V Sikuliaq in the Beaufort Sea studying Upwelling and Ecology in the Bering Sea.
Article run in the East Hampton Star Newspaper on February 16, 2017, about teacher Lisa Seff's participation in the expedition "Upwelling and Ecology in the Bering Sea" aboard the R/V Sikuliaq in the Beaufort Sea.
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 teacher Lisa Seff and the "Upwelling and Ecology in the Beaufort Sea Research Team" discuss the many research projects being carried out aboard the R/V Sikuliaq. This event was broadcast live on 14 September 2017 from the research vessel located in the Beaufort Sea.
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.
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.