This lesson will provide students with an opportunity to design and carry out an experiment that mimics the conditions causing accelerated ice melt along the face of the Thwaites Glacier off the southwest coast of Antarctica. Created by Sarah Slack during her expedition to Thwaites aboard the icebreaker Nathaniel B. Palmer, this activity aligns with the Science and Engineering
This lesson about the factors affecting water density in the Amundsen Sea was developed by educator Sarah Slack during her PolarTREC expedition aboard the Nathaniel B. Palmer icebreaker. Part of the science mission was to create a detailed map of the seafloor at the face of the Thwaites Glacier, which revealed a series of channels that were conducting a
PolarTREC (Teachers and Researchers Exploring and Collaborating) is a program funded by the National Science Foundation that partners K-12 teachers in the United States with scientists doing research in polar regions. The goal of the program is for teachers to be authentically integrated into scientific expeditions in order to gain new skills and experiences that they
There is so much media hype and public misunderstanding regarding the issue of climate change that advanced students need to be equipped to sort through the information available, find data from appropriately moderated scientific data bases, and learn to support their views with good scientific evidence rather than emotion. This lesson provides the outline for giving students some preliminary
How can the ocean be colder than 0 degrees C, the temperature at which water freezes? As it turns out, the concentration of the particles (in this case, the ions from the salt) in ocean water lowers the temperature at which the saltwater will freeze. Students will learn how ocean water freezes at a lower temperature than freshwater by
Polar Bears International is a nonprofit organization dedicated to the worldwide conservation of the polar bear and its habitat through research and education. They provide scientific resources and information on polar bears and their habitat to all interested parties. There is a tools for teachers and students section complete with lesson plans, a board game, maps, and related links.
The website, Ice Stories, features short interviews and other interesting content live from the polar regions. This weblink has a short video interview of PolarTREC teacher, Craig Beals, while taking part in a PolarTREC expedition with Barry Lefer at Summit, Greenland.
PolarTREC Teacher, Craig Beals, talks about his experiences at Summit, Greenland in this online version of an article published by the Billings Gazette on July 21, 2008.