My high school has a Science Club whose members visit local elementary schools and run various “stations” that (elementary) students visit for 10-15 minutes before rotating to a different one. This lesson is designed to be one those – a quick hitting, but engaging look into polar science that will stir the kids’ inherent curiosity and get them
One of the most important indicators of our warming climate is the extent and thickness of polar sea ice. Currently satellites measure the extent of polar sea ice but it takes more sophisticated equipment aboard a low-flying plane to actually measure the thickness of sea ice. This lesson will show students how this is done.
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
View sequential still images of thermokarst (thawed permafrost) at Horn Lake in northern Alaska during the summer of 2010. The video was made by researchers studying the responses of Arctic landscapes to permafrost degradation.
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 The sediment, withdrawn in cores and shipped to labs in Germany, represents a continuous
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
Explore this interactive animation showing the size of Antarctica relative to other continents and countries. This resource was developed by the Italian educational project in the context of ANDRILL (Antarctic Geological drilling) research. The site is in Italian but the animation can be used without knowledge of Italian.
This website is an English translation of some of the sections of the progettosmilla.it website, the Italian educational project of ANDRILL, an Antarctic International Scientific Research project. The site includes a blog from Antarctica, descriptions of ANDRILL research geared to students and teachers, multimedia and poster presentations, and links to other relevant resources. Some of the resources available here are
The attached Polar Oceans flyer, produced by the International Polar Year (IPY) Programme Office, provides summary information about the Polar Oceans and describes how the circulation in polar waters exerts a powerful control on the Earth's climate and carbon cycle. Activities attached to the flyer demonstrate the interconnectedness of marine life in the oceans and how the Polar Regions affect
The attached Lands and Life flyer, produced by the International Polar Year (IPY) Programme Office, includes a summary of terrestrial polar ecosystems, from southern cold maritime islands to dry continental deserts in Antarctica and from tree line across the continental tundra to remote northern islands in the Arctic. An attached activity allows students to build a small scale model of