How do we know what kind of phytoplankton are in the water? The Imaging FlowCytobot (IFCB) is a robot that scientists use to image phytoplankton in the water. One IFCB can take up to 30,000 pictures per hour! The IFCB can be used in the field to detect plankton blooms in real time. In this activity, students will practice
The Arctic Ocean Curriculum Unit was created by the Arctic Research Consortium of the United States with funding from the North Pacific Research Board. This project aimed to update and revise existing Arctic Ocean-related lesson plans originally created by PolarTREC program teacher alumni. The format used lends itself to the changes in education - providing student-facing slide decks that allow
Learn more about seasonal migrations of species around the world. These multidisciplinary hands-on activities focusing on art, observation, movement, and adventure. Resources can be used in formal and informal learning environments. All activities are designed to be possible as at-home/distanced activities.
Objectives
* Learners will understand the diverse forms of seasonal migration of animals.
* Learners will make connections
Learn more about the longest day of the year in the northern hemisphere through these multidisciplinary hands-on activities focusing on art, observation, outdoor engineering, movement, and adventure. Resources can be used in formal and informal learning environments.
Objectives
* Learners will understand the astronomical phenomenon of solstice.
* Learners identify the differences in how solstice impacts their local, sub-arctic
Melissa Lau spent a month in the tundra ecosystem gathering data using a device called a Greenseeker. This device measures exactly how green a plant is by calculating its NDVI or Normalized Difference Vegetation Index. In this lesson, students will explore light waves, how they interact with plants, and find out how green is green.
This resource is a 2-minute immersive video that takes students inside the Permafrost Research Tunnel outside of Fairbanks, Alaska. It includes footage of both the new and old sections of the tunnel.
Objectives
Through watching this video, students will get to see what permafrost looks like from the inside, identifying typical features geological features (ex. ice wedges). Through the
This lesson plan transports students to two field sites outside of Fairbanks, Alaska to investigate the interconnected relationships between climate change and permafrost. Students will use authentic field data from site photographs, soil temperature, and thaw depth measurements to draw inferences. An ESRI StoryMap, faux field journal, and 360 site images are used to engage students in the inquiry
Students will find an expedition within the PolarTREC archives and use the research to make a video explaining why studying polar science is important.
Overview
PolarTREC supports teachers on expeditions with real scientists to study in the field. Studying in the Arctic and Antarctic environments can be a harsh and rewarding experience. I participated in Operation IceBridge, an aerial study
NASA’s Operation IceBridge, the largest airborne survey of Earth’s polar ice, uses remote sensing techniques like LiDAR (light detection and ranging), snow- and ice-penetrating radar, high resolution digital imaging, and infrared cameras to collect information on our changing ice sheets and sea ice. Several times each year a science team and flight crew head out on month-long campaigns in