Polar News and Notes Technology

Rick Holt, a 2008 Iditarod finisher, near Finger Lake. Photo courtesy of John Concilus.
It’s that time again – the 37th annual Iditarod Sled Dog Race across Alaska will begin at 10 am, March 7, 2009. This ceremonial start is in downtown Anchorage, with the competitive start (or “restart”) scheduled for Sunday, March 8, 2009 in […]

On Wednesday, Feb. 4, Jessica Fries-Gaither will present “Beyond Penguins and Polar Bears: Integrating K-5 Science and Literacy” at the 2009 Educational Technology Conference in Columbus, OH. The presentation is scheduled for 2 pm in room C226. During the session, participants will be introduced to the Beyond Penguins project and the variety of technological tools […]

The February issue of the Beyond Penguins and Polar Bears cyberzine is now available!
Arctic and Antarctic Birds was co-produced with the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. This partnership allows us to bring you exciting and engaging ideas for incorporating birds into a life sciences unit.
Do you want to know more about birds and their adaptations? This […]

On Thursday, November 6 at 7 p.m. ET, you can participate in an online chat about the latest issue of the Beyond Penguins and Polar Bears magazine. Kimberly Lightle will host the chat at Tapped In, the online workplace of an international community of education professionals. During the chat, participants will learn about resources available from […]

“Climate Connections” is the theme of the 2009 LEGO League challenge sponsored by the organization founded by well-known inventor Dean Kamen — FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology).
Teams of children ages 9 to 14 in 40 countries are challenged to research climate and use robotics in climate-based tournaments. In the project part […]

From late March to the middle of August, scientists and others at Antarctica research stations were resigned to no air service during the months without sunlight. A C-17 Globemaster III changed all that in September by landing at McMurdo Station in complete darkness using night-vision goggles technology and reflective cones on the runway.
The mission was […]

This Thursday, September 4, 2008, at 7 p.m. EDT, Beyond Penguins staff will hold an hour-long chat at Tapped In. Tapped In  is a web-based learning environment created in 1997 by SRI International to transform teacher professional development (TPD) for professional development providers and educators.
The Tapped In interface is easy to use, with no download needed.  […]

You may have noticed our new widget, a Shelfari bookshelf (if not, see the right sidebar). We’ve created a Beyond Penguins and Polar Bears group on Shelfari - a social networking site for book lovers.
Shelfari is a free site that allows you to create your own virtual bookshelf, add books that you’ve read, are currently […]

Would you like to add some real-time data to your penguin unit this year? Thanks to education outreach resources from an Antarctic research team, you can!
Dr. David Ainley studies Adelie penguin populations in Antarctica. His long term research of 30 years has recently shown indication of the penguin populations reacting to climate change. His web […]

After working on the next generation of robots for NASA’s exploration of Mars, Ayanna Howard wondered if a similar rover could be used to collect multiple science measurements on this planet, especially in the polar regions.
 In June, three SnoMotes, designed by Howard and a team of engineers and scientists, were on the ice of Mendenhall […]