PolarTREC teacher Emily Dodson participated in a scientific expedition in the summer of 2014 at Kangerlussuaq, Greenland. Emily’s book is a telling of the science story behind the teams work and Emily’s participation as an educator and field assistant on the PolarTREC expedition.
Author/Credit
To contact Emily <emily.snowden [at] fayette.kyschools.us>
Emily Dodson-Snowden, a sixth-grade science teacher at Morton Middle School, didn’t have a typical summer break. She spent three weeks in Greenland studying how climate change influences plant/pollinator interactions and plant reproduction as part of PolarTREC (Teachers and Researchers Exploring and Collaborating).
In this set of lessons, students have the opportunity to think like scientists as they examine actual data related to Arctic ground squirrels, organize it in logical ways, and make inferences based on the data.
Objectives
Students will develop an understanding of some of the ways scientists use and organize data.
We want students to develop the habits, traits, and qualities of effective scientists. What better way for them to learn what these traits are than by hearing from actual scientists? In this lesson, students watch video interviews with four Arctic scientists from the University of Alaska, notice what types of work scientists do on a daily basis, and make
PolarTREC teacher Alicia Gillean shares her impressions of the Arctic tundra and details about her expedition to Toolik Lake, Alaska to study arctic ground squirrels.
Article in the Oklahoma Jenks District Gazette about PolarTREC participant Alicia Gillean's experiences and arctic impressions following her expedition to study ground squirrels at Toolik Lake, Alaska.
PolarTREC teacher Alicia Jenks is inspiring her students with her expedition to Toolik Field Station, Alaska. She will be studying Arctic Ground Squirrels.
This 1 hour webinar presentation was conducted by Nell Herrmann and her team including Dr. Amsler and Dr. McClintock. The team presented from Palmer Station, Antarctica on seafloor organisms and the changing ocean conditions.
The journal assignment involves students in current science research. Through the teacher’s journals, they will learn about how the research teams work together, design their research, tools that are needed and how they live and work in an extreme environment.
Objective
Students will be able to:
1. Understand how scientific research is conducted in an extreme environment
Working in groups, students will use common materials to create layers of snow and ice representing thousands of years of stratification. Groups will exchange their ice layers and extract core samples to analyze them.
Objective
Notice the phenomenon of stratification.
Notice that layers can tell a story of change over time.