My PolarTREC expedition to the Dry Valleys of Antarctica was an experience of a lifetime. Notice I did not use the word “trip” of a lifetime. This was far more than a trip. It was an experience that is a life-changer. It has been a life-changer for myself, my students, my family, other educators, and other folks
PolarConnect Event with Kevin Dickerson and Dr. Byron Adams discussing the science and field work taking place for the Dry Valleys Ecosystem Study in Antarctica. This event took place on 6 February 2019.
We are all teachers and students throughout our lives – even as adults we are students and even as children we are teachers. As adults, we are often afforded unusual opportunities to learn as we push ourselves in our interests and abilities. Through these opportunities—both expected and unexpected—our own understanding of what is possible expands as well as our desire
Teacher David Thesenga and the Ice Shelf Flow and Fracture Dynamics Research Team discuss field work on the McMurdo Shear Zone (SZ) live from Antarctica.
The Follow A Researcher (FAR) website from the University of Maine will be releasing weekly videos starting the first week of October closely following the Ice Shelf Flow and Fracture Dynamics Expedition in Antarctica.
Teacher Betsy Wilkening and researchers publish an article in the Journal of Geophysical Research stemming from their work on the PolarTREC OASIS project.
Students will use marshmallows to simulate toxins in the environment. Concentrations of these toxins will be modeled and calculated as they bioaccumulate up the food chain. Methylmercury and POPs are substances that bioaccumulate in the Arctic food chain. OASIS scientists studied these in Barrow, Alaska. (See Ocean Atmosphere Sea Ice and Snow (OASIS) Project at www.polartrec.com)
Students will discover how a simple action such as turning on a television will lead to toxins in our food supply. Many of these toxins concentrate in the Arctic because of long-range transport of pollutants in the atmosphere. Scientists in the OASIS project (http://www.polartrec.com/ocean-atmosphere-sea-ice-and-snowpack-interactions) study these pollutants in the Arctic. Students will learn about actions that they can take to
Students will undertake a long term project to evaluate the effectiveness of different local forecasters, match the forecast with the actual weather and analyze which forecaster is best.
Objective
Students will compare the accuracy of different weather forecasts. Students will compile and analyze their own data gaining a better understanding of the challenges involved in weather forecasting