The Science of the PolarTREC “Sliding Glaciers” Expedition
PolarTREC (Teachers and Researchers Exploring and Collaborating) is a program in which educators from the United States, both formal and informal (i.e. educators in museums, science centers, etc.) spend 3-6 weeks participating in hands-on field research experiences in the polar regions. The goal of PolarTREC is to invigorate polar science education and
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
In this introductory lesson, students read an article about Arctic Ocean ecosystems and then play a board game in which they take on the role of researchers.
Objectives
The purpose of this introductory activity is to:
* Identify the main components of complex arctic ecosystem and describe predator/prey relationships between phytoplankton, ice algae, zooplankton, bowhead whales, polar