Students will learn about the difference between the methods of neutrino detection – optical versus radio. This will then allow them to understand why the relative size of the detectors is so different. Students will also engage in a hands-on activity to understand scale through creating models of the two detectors.
PolarTREC, the teacher-research program run through ARCUS (Arctic Research Consortium of the United States) and the National Science Foundation is a transformative, inspirational, and highly valuable experience for science teachers. Being provided with the opportunity to engage in authentic scientific practices allows teachers to enrich their own classroom activities and inspires the next generation of young scientists to
Lesley Anderson was connected with local California radio station KSON before and during her trip to South Pole, Antarctica as part of the PolarTREC program.
1. KSON Radio Station hosts a live interview with Lesley Anderson at the food fund in Bonita, CA.:
http://www.kson.com/media/audio-channel/john-and-tammys-food-fund-friday-bonita
2. Article in John & Tammy Blog (see downloadable article).
3. Facebook post during her stay
The Star News, a Chula Vista newspaper interviews Lesley Anderson about her experience studying neutrinos at the South Pole and her plans to bring the research back into her classroom.
2017 Antarctica Day celebration with PolarTREC teacher Lesley Anderson speaking from the South Pole, and researcher Dr. Jim Madsen discussing the IceCube Neutrino Observatory and the Askaryan Radio Array. This event was held on 4 December 2017.
This lesson allows students to consider navigation around Antarctica, where longitudinal lines converge at South Pole. Through this study, students should learn about polar stereographic projection, satellites, navigation using various instruments, Antarctic geography, and NASA’s Operation IceBridge airborne mission. In the first part of this 55-80 minute lesson, students will be faced with a dilemma. Their task will be
NASA’s Operation IceBridge (OIB) flies airborne missions each year over both Polar Regions, collecting ice thickness and extent data on glaciers, ice caps, ice shelves and sea ice. This data is useful to many disciplines studying climate, weather, ocean circulation, sea level and many related fields. The National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC) houses and organizes the data
The Revitalizing Power of Teacher-Researcher Collaboration
The nature of science is continually moving us forward; from a fresh set of findings we rush ahead excitedly to the next batch of questions. From this continual pursuit, new ideas, methods and instruments are designed by scientists and technicians at a rapid pace, in turn yielding new data. As science teachers, we need
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