The PolarTREC Field Experience is amazing! PolarTREC (Polar Teachers Researchers and Educators Exploring and Collaborating) matches polar researchers with educators to highlight, and increase accessibility to, the science happening in some of the most fascinating places on our planet—the Arctic and Antarctic regions. It is an opportunity for educators to be completely immersed in the culture
The report is written by teacher participants upon return from their field expedition portion of the PolarTREC program. It summarizes the benefit of the expedition to the teacher, a description of activities, and a summary of how teachers plan to link this experience in classrooms and communities. This is a public document that will be posted in teacher portfolios and
This article describes PolarTREC teacher Nick LaFave's upcoming expedition to Toolik Lake, Alaska where he will be studying wolf spider populations with Duke University researcher, Amanda Koltz.
This article describes the remarkable efforts of a team of scientists to extract cores from deep under a frozen lake in Siberia, Russia. PolarTREC teacher Tim Martin joined the project which will provide an astounding record of past climates preserved in layers of lake bed sediment. The sediment, withdrawn in cores and shipped to labs in Germany, represents a continuous
The Memphis Flyer features Alex Eilers, manager of education for the Pink Palace Museum, who traveled more than 8,000 miles away from home to take part in a PolarTREC expedition studying Weddell Seals in the Ross Sea. While on her expedition, Ms. Eilers retrieved data from the seals and relayed the information back to students and others via her online
PolarTREC teacher Nell Herrmann writes a compelling article for Town and Gown, the local newspaper in her home town of State College, PA. Nell reports on her adventures with a team of scientists in Antarctica and the profound way in which her journey has influenced her both personally and professionally. Note: The online article starts on p. 50 of the
PolarTREC teacher Melissa Barker, a high school biology and environmental science teacher, shares her thoughts about her upcoming expedition to Toolik Lake, Alaska where she will learn about changes in water and nutrient cycles in the arctic tundra. The external link provided includes a video interview with Melissa at her school.
Results from PolarTREC teacher Chantelle Rose's research cruise to the Bering, Chukchi and Beaufort seas surprise scientists and may have implications for climate modeling. Read more about the tenacity of life forms living off the coast of Alaska from this National Science Foundation press release.
"It is so much more meaningful to students to have real world applications of science. It helps them make connections and broadens their understanding of science"
This article highlights Nell's upcoming PolarTREC field expedition to Antarctica as well as the many educational excursions she has undertaken around the world that have influenced her teaching and her life.
Article about PolarTREC teacher Nell Herrmann's expedition to Antarctica written by her former student. The article was published in The Lion's Digest, her school's newspaper in State College, Pennsylvania.