PolarTREC (Teachers and Researchers Exploring and Collaborating) is a program in which formal and informal educators 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 understanding by bringing educators and polar researchers together.
Alicia Gillean discusses her 2013 Arctic Ground Squirrel Studies expedition at Toolik Field Station, Alaska, and how it impacted her personally and professionally.
PolarTREC alumna Susy Ellison talks about her two expeditions and how they affected her personally and professionally. Researcher Jeff Rasic joins in to talk about what it was like to have a teacher in the field for the Early Human Settlement in Arctic Alaska 2011 expedition.
Researcher Elizabeth Webb discusses her experiences working in the field with a PolarTREC teacher. She worked with John Wood in 2011 and 2012, and Tom Lane in 2013, on the Carbon Balance in Warming and Drying Tundra expedition near Healy, Alaska. (She primarily discusses her time with John Wood since this interview was taken in 2013, before Tom Lane's expedition.)
Using photos from a variety of websites, including the PolarTREC and SCINI websites, students will identify organisms to phylum and/or class level (e.g. polychaetes, starfish, brittle stars, sponges) and then research the primary foods that these organisms eat. They will then develop a simple food web for these organisms.
Interview with Dr. Stacy Kim conducted by PolarTREC teacher Mindy Bell. This interview was conducted during the 2007 Antarctic Undersea ROV expedition.
This video was shot by Mike Etnier at Makanrushi Island, Russia in July 2008. This is underwater footage of one of several large schools of Atka mackerel that were feeding on krill at the surface. See "Atka mackerel and krill" for surface footage of one of the schools of fish and underwater footage of the krill. For more
This video was shot by Mike Etnier at Makanrushi Island, Russia in July 2008. There are several thousand Atka mackerel feeding on krill at the surface. See "Atka mackerel school" for under-water footage of one of the schools of fish. For more details on the feeding aggregation, and its relevance to our archaeology studies, read the journal entry