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Education Outreach: Related Links

The following are links to information about polar topics for educators.

Resources from the Byrd Polar Research Center

Productions from the Byrd Polar Research Center

World Ocean Forum On-Line Event: International Polar Year

The World Ocean Observatory is pleased to announce the launch of our World Ocean Forum On-Line Event: International Polar Year.

Many physical and biological systems on the Earth appear to be experiencing substantial recent changes, beyond the expected range of natural variability. These changes show most clearly, and appear to happen most quickly, at the poles. Between 2007 and 2009, thousands of physical, biological and social scientists from more than 60 nations will study the polar regions as part of a large internationally-coordinated research effort known as the International Polar Year (IPY).

The World Ocean Observatory is working in partnership with IPY on several projects during this time. These will be available on this site as they occur over the next two years.

Visit the site listed above for interviews with preeminent scientists involved with IPY:

  • Kathleen Conlan — Research Scientist, Canadian Museum of Nature
  • Louis Fortier — Scientific Director of ArcticNet
  • Michael Stoddart — Chief Scientist, Australian Government Antarctic Division
  • Patti Virtue — Institute of Antarctic and Southern Ocean Studies, University of Tasmania
  • Steve Rintoul — Climate Variability Change Program, ACE CRC
  • David Hik — Canada Research Chair in Northern Ecology, University of Alberta; Executive Director, Secretariat, International Polar Year

View our current newsletter, the W2O Ocean Observer: International Polar Year 2007 will Mark a Major Leap in Our Understanding and Appreciation of Polar by Tundi Agardy, PhD.

The World Ocean Observatory is dedicated to information, education and public discourse about the ocean defined as an integrated global social system. We believe that informed citizens worldwide can unite to sustain the ocean through mitigation and change of human behavior on land and sea.

Posted 06/01/2007

Register for Two FREE NSTA Webinars about Polar Climate Changes

Join us this week on Tuesday, May 15, and Thursday, May 17, at 6:30 p.m. Eastern time for two International Polar Year Web Seminars.

On Tuesday, May 15 — Dr. Doug Williams will talk about the Polar Climates, How Are They Changing? Tell your colleagues to register and invite them to join us.

On Thursday, May 17 — Dr. Rolf Gradinger will talk about the Impact of Polar Climate Change in Living Systems.

Posted 05/16/2007

UTK: Northern Bering Sea 2007 Expedition

"I was one of the speakers at the 'Impact of Polar Climate Change on Living Systems' symposia at the recent NSTA [national conference] and I spoke about biological impacts of environmental change in the Arctic. I am leaving for a 5 week research cruise on the USCGC Healy tomorrow to the northern Bering Sea and I wanted to let you know about an opportunity to view some our our field activities at our new expedition web site, and to participate in upcoming 'Live from IPY' science-teacher webinars that will be hosted by PolarTREC.

I have put together a team of past teachers from our cruises (elementary to high school) that will connect their classrooms to the Healy on May 18, 29, and June 12 and you are welcome to join. PolarTREC will post updates for these webinars (time, registration) early next week at their website. We will also have a team from PolarPALOOZA on-board to make ipod and HD video clips about our science program that will be posted on their website."

Posted 05/16/2007

PolarTREC Live Events and online presentations

Robyn Staup (from the Boonshoft Museum in Dayton, OH) is one of the educators experiencing life on a U.S. Coast Guard Cutter, the Healy, in the Arctic. Celebrate the International Polar Year and join us for Live from IPY with the BEST Expedition in the Arctic!

Interact with PolarTREC teacher Maggie Prevenas and science educator Robyn Staup live from the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter, Healy, from someplace in the Bering Sea! Ask questions and view photos! Anyone can register for these events and participation is free!

For more information about the BEST expedition or to register for live events, visit PolarTREC.com. Or, contact or or call the Arctic Research Consortium of the United States (ARCUS) at 907-474-1600.

Live event registration form and information

Posted 05/07/2007

Teacher Scholarships Available for Summer Courses in Denali National Park

The Murie Science and Learning Center is awarding full scholarships to teachers for select 2007 teacher training and field seminar courses in Denali National Park and Preserve. These field-based experiential courses are small group intensives that expose teachers to science, research, and educational opportunities using the Denali ecosystem as their classroom. Most courses are three days in length. Participants stay at a remote field camp in Denali and explore the park by vehicle and hiking excursions.

Professional development credit (1-3) is available through the University of Alaska-Anchorage and the University of Alaska-Southeast.

To apply or find additional information visit the Murie Science and Learning Center website or call (907) 683-1269. The application deadline is Monday, May 28.

Posted 05/01/2007

Let Your Students' Imaginations Soar With DISCOVER Magazine

DISCOVER magazine is holding a nationwide contest among third through eighth graders to design an image for the cover of its October issue, "The State of Science in America." The winning entry, to be selected by DISCOVER's editorial team, will be the design that best captures the wonderment and possibilities of science. In addition to the winning entry, six finalists will be profiled in that issue and on the magazine's home page. The deadline for submission is Wednesday, June 20, 2007. Additional details on the competition, including the contest rules, are available at the link above.

Posted 05/01/2007

Live from the Poles

Another expedition is underway! "Live from the Poles" is sponsored from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. As a part of the International Polar Year (IPY) which began in March, 2007, a photographer and a science writer are on their way to the North Pole to document and describe the work at an ice camp at 89 degrees North. Expedition 1 is being posted between April 18 and 28, 2007. Log on and see what's happening!

Posted 05/01/2007

Earth information from the Nature Conservancy

If you're spell-bound by the imagery of the new Planet Earth series that airs on the Discovery Channel on Sunday evenings at 8:00 p.m., visit the Nature Conservancy's site to learn more. It includes quizzes, videos, and additional information about the breathtaking places and species featured in the Discovery Channel's new series.

Posted 05/01/2007

Frank Niepold, NOAA Education and Outreach Specialist, offers the following information that may be useful for teachers:

Below are some NOAA web sites that are related to the just released IPCC working group II climate change report. This report directly relates to the International Polar Year (IPY) since the polar regions are showing impacts of global warming already and are perhaps the most vulnerable in the coming decades.

Note: The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has been established by World Meteorological Organization (WMO) and United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP) to assess scientific, technical and socio- economic information relevant for the understanding of climate change, its potential impacts and options for adaptation and mitigation. It is open to all Members of the UN and of WMO.

Posted 04/18/2007

Webcast on "Global Warming and Antarctic Ice Sheets and Sea Levels"
Wednesday, March 28 at 8:00 PM EDT

LIVE WEBCAST EVENT: March 28, 2007 at 7 pm (central) with Dr. David Vaughan. Dr. Vaughn, with the British Antarctic Survey, will present his research on the effects of global warming on Antarctic ice sheets and sea levels. Details of the lecture annd the webcast are available at the link above.

Posted 03/28/2007

Check out a multimedia presentation about Antarctica at the Washington Post.

Posted 03/28/2007

International Polar Year activities for science teachers

The International Polar Year (IPY) began on March 1, 2007. Learn more and look through a list of recommended activities for science teachers (searchable by topic, audience, contributor, and type).

Posted 03/22/2007

Alaskan permafrost outreach project hits the trail March 4, 2007

"We will start our Spring field station of Outreach on March 4th. Our trip was delayed due to low temperature, but now we are ready. Kenji and I will be traveling on snow machines with our drilling equipment from Manley Hot Springs to Saint Mary's. During the trip we will try to update our blog as much as we can to show where we are." You can also keep track of their location.

Posted 03/22/2007

School students list of Top 50 ideas for combating "global warming"

Posted 02/26/2007

Spring Seminar Series from the University of Kansas / CReSIS

Download and mark the dates and times for an exciting Spring Seminar Series from the University of Kansas, lead institution for the NSF Science and Technology Center for the Remote Sensing of Ice Sheets (CReSIS). All times are given for the Central time zone (add one hour for Ohio residents).

Posted 02/26/2007

Second Annual Star-Hunting Party: GLOBE at Night!

Join thousands of other students, families and citizen-scientists around the globe hunting for stars between March 8-21, 2007. Participation does not require any special training or instruction. The GLOBE at Night Web site provides all the information needed to participate, including instruction guides for teachers, students, and parents. There is no cost to participate in GLOBE at Night. Color postcards and one-page flyers are also available on the Web site.

Posted 02/15/2007

Digital Animation: A Technology Mentoring Program for Young Women

Applications are now being accepted for Digital Animation: A Technology Mentoring Program for Young Women, to be held Monday June 18th - Friday June 29th at Ohio State. The program is a free two-week summer experience in computer animation at the Advanced Computing Center for the Arts and Design for seventh to ninth grade girls from Central Ohio. Applications are available online or call 614-292-3416.

Posted 02/15/2007

Call for Online Student and Classroom Participation
SnowSTAR-2007: Alaska-Canada Barrenlands Traverse

Join 5 American and 3 Canadian scientists as they travel by snowmobile across Alaska and Canada in March-April 2007. There are 4 ways to participate in the journey:

  • Create a classroom map display for tracking the expedition
  • Participate in a classroom poster exchange
  • Incorporate Northern topics into your classroom activities
  • Have them visit your classroom

Posted 02/08/2007

International Student ROV Competition Focuses on Polar Regions

The international student ROV (Remotely Operated Vehicle) competition this year is focusing on ROV missions in polar waters in celebration of the International Polar Year. This NSF-supported program is an excellent opportunity for students interested in engineering and/or the polar regions.

Posted 02/08/2007

Girls on Ice

Do you know a girl, who is between the ages of 15 and 18 years old, who would be interested in an 11-day experience studying a glacier on Mt. Baker in the Cascade Mountains of Washington? If so, check out this opportunity and encourage her to apply!

Posted 02/08/2007

National Geographic Channel's Naked Science: "Glacier Meltdown"

"Melting ice caps, rising sea levels, and stronger hurricanes indicate Earth is getting hotter. Are we to blame? Discover the real science behind climate change." This 2-minute video clip is a good demo of the difference in absorption between white and dark surfaces. It is a preview of a television program, and the website has teacher guide.

Posted 01/30/2007

NOVA scienceNOW - Maya

A recent broadcast of NOVA scienceNOW featured the work of NASA space archaeologist Tom Sever and his colleague Bill Saturno of the University of New Hampshire who used Earth-orbiting satellites to find ancient Mayan ruins in Guatemala. Viewers can watch the complete episode online. A news release from NASA is also available.

The scienceNOW website also includes a teachers' guide and links to other useful resources related to this episode.

Posted 01/30/2007

U.S. Department of Education Launches the FREE Website for Teachers

The U.S. Department of Education is pleased to announce the newly remodeled and updated Federal Resources for Education Excellence (FREE) website. It now provides richer, more expansive resources to teachers and students alike. There are over 1500 resources to take advantage of at FREE, ranging from primary historical documents, lesson plans, science visualizations, math simulations and online challenges, paintings, photos, mapping tools, and more. This easily accessible information is provided by federal organizations and agencies such as the Library of Congress, National Archives, NEH, National Gallery of Art, National Park Service, Smithsonian, NSF, and NASA.

Posted 01/30/2007

Global Climate Change Resources

Look here for information and a selection of K-12 activities related to global climate change, mapping and modeling, robotics, and ice sheets and glaciers.

Posted 01/18/2007

RedParka

This site is being developed by an educator from a rural Vermont school and Jill Mikucki, a researcher who studies the lakes in the McMurdo Dry Valleys of Antarctica. They are trying to build curriculum for 6-7th grade ecosystem and hydrology units. They use some Long-Term Ecological Research data along with data from the students' local lake to teach them about building a lake profile. It is a work in progress, but a nice example of collaborative research with middle schoolers.

Posted 11/27/2006

Daily Journals from the 2006 NABOS Arctic Expedition

Teachers aboard a research vessel in the Arctic are posting blogs about their daily activities on-board the icebreaker, Kapitan Dranitsyn. Follow along as their expedition takes them to a variety of locations in the Arctic Ocean from August 18 - September 16, 2006. This expedition is offered to teachers under the auspices of the Nansen and Amundsen Basins Observational System (NABOS) K-12 Teacher Summer School. Check out all the interesting information at the above link.

Posted 09/06/2006

Healthy Water, Healthy People Moving Forward

Healthy Water, Healthy People (HWHP) is an exciting new national curriculm on water quality monitoring from the creators of Project WET and Hach Scientific. Classroom and outdoor activities are designed for grades 6-12. The HWHP Educators Guide has 25 classroom activities to introduce students to data collection and interpretation, sampling methodologies and the causes and consequences of water pollution. The HWHP Test Kit Manual provides background information on testing water quality parameters such as alkalinity, conductivity, dissolved oxygen, nitrates and phosphates. The two books can be ordered directly from the HWHP Web site www.healthywater.org for $40, or at a discount from Ohio Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for $30 ($18 Educators Guide and $12 Test Kit Manual). It is not necessary to attend a workshop to order the materials.

Recently, the Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR) Division of Soil and Water Conservation turned over statewide coordination to Ohio EPA's Office of Environmental Education (OEE). Dennis Clement is the new contact person for HWHP. AIt is Ohio EPA's goal to continue to work with ODNR and other agencies to build on what already has been accomplished by the Division of Soil and Water. We will be working with trained facilitators around the state to publicize and offer educator workshops, and to schedule a facilitator training in 2005. HWHP activities are also being correlated with the Ohio Department of Education's new Academic Content Standards for science education. To purchase HWHP materials, to be added to Ohio's HWHP e-mail listserv or for general information, please contact dennis.clement@epa.state.oh.us or Ohio EPA's, Office of Environmental Education, P.O. Box 1049, Columbus, Ohio 43216-1049, telephone (614) 644-2873. Upcoming workshops will be posted on the calendar on OEE's Web.

Posted 04/10/2006

OSU Libraries Circulation Information

Teachers and federal employees in Franklin County, OH, are among other groups who may be eligible for a courtesy card from the OSU Libraries. The card allows the user to borrow items that are available for regular circulation, but may not give access to all library services. For more information, please read the details given at the circulation website for the OSU Libraries. The website shows a table listing patron categories potentially eligible for courtesy cards, along with the documentation required, contact information, and hours and locations where the cards are issued.

Posted 02/14/2006

View Dr. Lonnie Thompson's seminar presentation, given on November 4, 2005, "Abrupt Climate Change: Past and Present". You can choose from two formats: video that has been formatted for users with a dial-up connection and those with high-speed Internet connections.
Dial up speed (6.6 MB)
High Speed Internet (16 MB)

Hot Science: Cool Talks - "Ice Adventures Tracking Evidence of Abrupt Climate Change Across the Tropics": Dr. Lonnie Thompson's lecture at the University of Texas at Austin in their Hot Science-Cool Talks series (from April, 2005) for download or viewing on-line.
Posted 02/03/2006

"Worldwind", a NASA website based on satellite data, can show many locations on Earth. One downside, however, is that it only works on PCs (Windows-based computers). In addition to stationary images, it allows the user to cycle through changes that occur over longer periods of time, such as changes in Antarctic sea ice extent, sea surface temperatures, glacial retreat, etc.
Posted 02/03/2006

Tap Into Antarctic Online Trip (Read more and sign up here!) Teachers and student group leaders are invited to electronically follow researchers to Antarctica, where they'll study a bug that freezes for months, then thaws and goes on with its short life. Students can also submit questions and follow online activities, and teachers will find arctic lesson plans and links to other resources at the website below. This year's website will include journal entries and lesson plans from Marianne Kaput, an elementary school teacher. Spanish-language journal entries from one of the researchers also are included. Sign up by e-mailing constijm@muohio.edu.

Explore Antarctica With a TREC Teacher In the Teachers and Researchers Exploring and Collaborating (TREC) program, K-12 teachers participate in arctic research,working closely with scientists as a pathway to improving science education through teachers' experiences in scientific inquiry. A program of the Arctic Research Consortium of the United States, TREC builds on the scientific and cultural opportunities of the Arctic to link research and education through topics that will engage students and the wider public. At this web site, follow the adventures of science teacher Dena Rosenberger as she studies, "The Effect of Sun on Pony Lake Ecology, Antarctica."

Climate Chaos Exhibit Explores Weather Phenomena This exhibit at the Chicago Academy of Sciences' Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum uses a virtual thunderstorm, human-powered generators, and other interactive experiences to convey the "hows" and "whys" of weather phenomena and climate change. The exhibit is well timed to help students and their families understand the dynamics of Hurricane Katrina, says Exhibit Director Mike Sarna. Students will experience the process of the Earth's formation and see how global gasses enabled the beginning of life. They'll learn how humans' everyday actions impact the planet. The exhibit also will be accompanied by interactive programs about weather phenomena, including an early childhood education program on weather and climate. Learn more about the exhibit at this web site.

GoNorth! A Free K-12 Online Classroom Expedition in the Arctic Setting out to explore the prospects of oil exploration, document the realities of Arctic climate change, and the value of traditional ecological knowledge, Team GoNorth! will dogsled the land of Alaska to learn from the Gwiich'n and Inupiat Eskimo (Inuit) people along the trail while gathering scientific data from the field in collaboration with the National Aeronautic and Space Administration (NASA) and the Office of Polar Programs at the National Science Foundation (NSF). The team consists of 27 Polar Huskies and seven international educators, scientists, and explorers. Learn how real-time learning adventures create a standards-aligned curriculum resource for the K-12 classroom, covering science, math, language arts, and social studies. Upcoming dates connected with this expedition include February-May 2006 — LIVE! GoNorth! ANWR 2006 Online Classroom Expedition. Register your class and take your students to the Arctic at this web site.

National Science Teachers' Association (NSTA) Newsletter Archives This is a regular publication from the National Science Teachers' Association (NSTA). The special issues are topical, and are archived by topic and date, for elementary, middle-level, and high school. Nonmembers can dowload and request to receive these special issues.

Also see: BPRC Polar Pointers - Education