Wednesday, March 12, 2008 is an International Polar Year Science Day, focusing on Changing Earth; Past, Present, and Future. It will focus on change over geological time, especially in terms of glaciers, ocean-atmosphere interactions, and climate variations. Celebrate the IPY Science Day by interacting with scientists conducting research in the Arctic and Antarctic. Live from IPY is a real-time, interactive event where you can ask questions and view photos! Anyone can register for these events and participation is free! Additionally, the International Polar Year (IPY) education department has created the Changing Earth web page to help teachers and the press observe the third International Polar Day. But, the site has resources for year-round use in the science classroom.  

The focus is on earth history as it is revealed in ice sheets and sediments below polar lakes and oceans. On the web page you will find downloadabe background and activity flyers in many languages. (One activity in the flyer is a 65-million-year timeline made with a 6.5 metre rope, cardboard signs, and markers.) The section of the web page for educators has links to online interviews with scientists, IPY projects that are measuring changes in the earth’s polar regions, and educational resources.

 The next polar day is June 18 and focused on permafrost, biodiversity, hydrology, and snow, all under the theme Land and Life. Web pages produced for the two earlier themed polar days are still available at the web site. Much of the material gathered, especially classroom activities and links to resources, does not go out of date.

Deep beneath Arctic ice and miles of sunless water lie what are may be the remotest places on earth: ranges of unexplored volcanic mountains more foreign than the surface of Mars. But recently, an international team led by the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) set out to uncover the secrets of this Arctic sea floor. Using robotic divers, the expedition set out for the Gakkel Ridge, parts of which seethe with geysers escaping from beneath the ocean bottom.

Exploring the Arctic Sea Floor, an exhibit created by Chris Linder of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI), opened at the Field Museum, Chicago, Illinois, on February 22, 2008. Funding was provided by the National Science Foundation and the Richard King Mellon Foundation. Visitors can journey on an icebreaking ship through the frozen Arctic world for a first-ever look at mysterious undersea mountains near the North Pole. Thirty color photographs, a sample of rock from the ocean floor, a computer kiosk, and a 3-D model of underwater mountains portray this expedition’s quest, its exploratory equipment, and the work of the scientists aboard the ship.

This exhibit will close on July 6, 2008, and then travel to the Carnegie Museum of Natural History, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in late July. Other venues currently are being scheduled at natural history museums and science centers over the next three years. If your institution is interested in hosting the exhibit, please send an email to Chris Linder at clinder@whoi.edu.

Image Credit: Chris Linder, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. Permission for image use is for this project only - any future uses or third party requests please refer to WHOI for new permissions.

We’re pleased to announce that our first issue of the Beyond Penguins and Polar Bears cyberzine is ready to view! This online magazine is written for elementary teachers to help develop their content knowledge of the polar regions and use best practices in integrating science and literacy instruction. Our first issue is called “A Sense of Place” and provides an introduction to the geographic location and characteristics of the Arctic and Antarctica. Read about a scientist who helped produce some of the most accurate images of Antarctica, learn about the research-based strategy of identifying similarities and differences, and much more. Visit the cyberzine home page and select A Sense of Place - Issue One, March 2008 to begin exploring.

Each month’s issue will be organized around a theme that reflects common science topics in the elementary curriculum. Coming next in April is “Learning From the Past,” an issue that examines the fossils, dinosaurs, and archaeological artifacts of the polar regions. But don’t worry - you’ll still be able to access all content from the previous issue!

As with any new undertaking, we’d appreciate feedback and comments. Post a comment to the blog, or use the contact information found in the magazine to tell us what you think.

Enjoy Beyond Penguins and Polar Bears, and share the site with your students and colleagues!

News from the polar regions in February 2008 included an exciting new location for astronomical research, expeditions that will enhance our understanding of the Southern Ocean, and new findings that shed light on glacial melting and ice-shelf collapse in Greenland and Antarctica. Missed these stories the first time? Read on!

A team of international scientists completed installation work on a fully robotic astronomical observatory at Dome Argus on the highest point of the Antarctic Plateau. Known as the PLATeau Observatory, or PLATO, the observatory is designed to operate autonomously for up to 12 months at a time. Scientists from more than 60 nations will use PLATO to conduct 200 research projects. Dome Argus, the coldest, driest place on earth, has low wind speed as a result of its interior location. It is considered an optimal place to conduct astronomical research.

February also saw several Antarctic research expeditions focused on marine studies. The Alfred Wegner Institute for Polar and Marine research concluded one expedition on February 4 and launched another just two days later. Both Polarstern expeditions focused on the Southern Ocean, the massive body of water surrounding Antarctica. While the first expedition sampled the complete water column of the Southern Ocean (from the surface to the seafloor) and provided information about the organisms and carbon dioxide cycle of the ocean, the second expedition is focusing on physical and biogeochemical conditions such as currents, interactions between sea, ice, and atmosphere, and the distribution of trace substances in the ocean. The second Polarstern expedition will conclude April 16 in Chile.

Another study of the Southern Ocean, the Collaborative East Antarctic Marine Census (CEAMARC), revealed a number of previously unknown marine species. Researchers hope to use information gained from this census to better understand the biodiversity of the Southern Ocean and the adaptations of the organisms that live in it. This research also provides a point of reference to monitor the impact of environmental change, such as ocean acidification due to rising atmospheric carbon dioxide levels. Scientists fear that the rising acidity will stress small creatures that are an important part of Antarctic food webs and make them less able to cope with rising water temperatures.

The rising temperature of the Southern Ocean’s waters may also mark the arrival of new predators, including shell-cracking crabs, predatory fish, and possibly even sharks.  These new species would have a profound effect on the populations of relatively soft-bodied, slow-moving invertebrates such as brittlestars, giant sea spiders, and marine woodlice and on an ecosystem that most closely resembles that of the Paleozoic era – 250 million years ago.

In the North, a new study from the University of Boulder has shown that ice caps of Baffin Island, located in the Canadian Arctic, have shrunk by more than 50 percent in the last 50 years as a result of warming. The study concludes that even with no additional warming, the ice caps will be gone in the next 50 years.

Kansas University researchers from the Center for Remote Sensing of Ice Sheets (CReSIS) discovered that global warming may not be the only culprit behind glacial melting in Greenland. Using airborne radar and gravity measurements, the scientists found that the earth’s crust is thinner under melting glacial streams than throughout the rest of the Greenland glacier. This close proximity to the hotter mantle may lead to as much as a 20 percent increase in geothermal heat and contribute to melting. The researchers will continue to study the Greenland Ice Sheet to determine the extent that variations in thickness are contributing to melting. They plan to extend their study to Antarctica to see if similar variations are contributing to melting there. Such a finding would support a recent paper in the Journal of Glaciology which concluded that the collapse of the Larsen B Ice Shelf in Antarctica was the result of a number of natural factors in addition to global warming.

Know of another significant news story from February that you’d like to share? Reactions to one of the stories discussed here? Post a comment – we’d love to hear from you!

 Photo courtesy of Travis S., subject to a Creative Commons license

Did you know that Saturday, March 1, marks the ceremonial start to the 36^th Iditarod?

Known as the “Last Great Race,” the Iditarod is a race across the beautiful yet rough terrain of Alaska. Covering more than 1,150 miles, mushers and their dogs cross frozen rivers, dense forest, rocky mountains, desolate tundra, and windswept coast in anywhere from 10 to 17 days. Running the Iditarod means enduring subzero temperatures, snow storms, wildlife encounters, and other unexpected difficulties.

The Iditarod begins with a ceremonial start in downtown Anchorage, Alaska. Mushers and their teams race to Eagle River, Alaska. The next day, the race restarts in the rural town of Willow. Before 2002, the restart was held in the Matanuska Valley at Wasilla, but warmer winters, less snow, and tremendous development in the area have led race officials to make the change each year. In 2008, officials announced that the Willow restart would become a permanent change in the face of global warming and continuous development. Also changed is the first leg – traditionally spanning 18 miles from Anchorage to Eagle River. From 2008 onward, the first day of the race will cover only 11 miles.The Iditarod web site has an interactive map that shows the route and also marks the positions of the mushers throughout the race.

The Iditarod alternates between two routes. This year, as in all even years, will follow the northern route through the villages of Cripple, Ruby, and Galena. Odd-numbered years follow the southern route through Shageluk, Anvik, and the ghost-town of Iditarod. Alternating routes decreases the impact of the large numbers of press and volunteers needed for the race and allows additional villages to participate.

History of the Iditarod

 photo courtesy of ra64; subject to a Creative Commons license

The Iditarod trail was historically used as a mail, supply, and gold route from coastal towns such as Seward and Knick to the interior mining camps of Flat, Ophir, and Ruby. The trail continued to the west coast communities of Unalakleet, Elim, Golovin, White Mountain, and Nome.

The Iditarod trail became famous in 1925, when a diphtheria epidemic threatened the community of Nome. A dog sled relay transported life-saving serum from Anchorage to Nome.

The Iditarod race has been run yearly since 1973. Always an important event to Alaskans, it has gained international popularity through competitors from Canada and Scandinavian countries, extensive press coverage, and the inclusion in classrooms around the world.

Why Teach about the Iditarod?

Even if you aren’t in Alaska, the Iditarod makes a great addition to your teaching practice! Teaching about the race is an opportunity to incorporate geography lessons, map skills, science concepts, and literacy skills into a real-world context. And there’s no denying the appeal of hundreds of hard-working, lovable dogs to children and adults!

 Photo courtesy of Flauto; subject to a Creative Commons license

Additionally, the common practice of having each student follow a musher through the race provides invaluable practice in reading expository texts (newspaper accounts) and using the real-time data available online.

Incorporating the Iditarod race can meet standards in a variety of content areas. We’ve highlighted some of the science, English language arts, geography, and social studies standards that you might fulfill while teaching about the race.

National Science Education Standards

Life Science Content Standard: Organisms and Environments (K-4) ; Populations and ecosystems (5-8)

Science in Personal and Social Perspectives Content Standard: Changes in environments (K-4); Populations, resources, and environments (5-8) (Read the entire National Science Education Standards online for free or register to download the free PDF. The content standards are found in Chapter 6.)

National Council of Teachers of English/International Reading Association Standards

Standard 1: Read a wide range of print and nonprint text to acquire new information.

Standard 3: Apply a wide range of strategies to comprehend, interpret, evaluate, and appreciate text.

Standard 4: Communicate effectively with a variety of audiences and for different purposes.

Standard 5: Write and use different process elements.

Standard 6: Create, critique, and discuss print and nonprint texts.

Standard 7: Conduct, research and gather, evaluate and synthesize data.

Standard 8: Use a variety of technological and informational resources.

Standard 12: Use spoken, written, and visual language to accomplish their own purposes.

National Geography Standards

Standard 1: How to use maps and other geographic representations, tools, and technologies to acquire, process, and report information.

Standard 4: The physical and human characteristics of places.

Standard 12: The process, patterns, and functions of human settlement.

National Social Studies Standards

People, Places, and Environments Strand: Social studies programs should include experiences that provide for the study of people, places, and environments.

Teaching the Concepts

 photo courtesy of EDubya; subject to a Creative Commons license

The official Iditarod web site offers many resources for educators, including lesson plans and activities. We’ve highlighted some of these, plus others from Scholastic’s Iditarod web page. Education World also devotes an entire page to integrating the Iditarod across the curriculum.

Geography and Map Skills

Following the race lends itself well to teaching map skills such as the compass rose, cardinal and intermediate directions, and map scale. A lesson plan from the Iditarod site, Which Way to Nome? , focuses on these types of skills. Additionally, Scholastic has interactive maps of the trails used in even- and odd-numbered years. Simply posting a large map of Alaska and the Iditarod trail in the classroom can provide a context for teaching and practicing geography and maps.

Weather

The changing conditions along the trail can provide the basis for inquiry-based activities about weather. The Iditarod Teacher Resources web page provides links to StormReady, curriculum materials for teaching about severe weather and safety.  Another lesson plan, How’s the Weather?, combines math and science as students graph temperatures along the trail.

The Alaskan Environment (Integrated geography and science)

The Iditarod trail travels through a variety of environments: mountains, forests, rivers, tundra, and coastline. As the mushers encounter these new environments, students can learn about the plants and animals that live there, and the unique challenges posed by each.

Young Mushers

The Junior Iditarod is an annual 140-mile race that attracts 14- to 17-year-old mushers. It is held in Alaska a week before the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race. Students can read about this race and young mushers at Scholastic.com or from the Jr. Iditarod site.

Sled Dogs

Learning about the training and care of the sled dogs is a high interest topic for many students. Scholastic features an interview on the subject with mushers Martin Buser, Mitch Seavey, and Gary Paulsen as well as articles on sled dog nutrition, training a champion sled dog, and animal rights activists’ objections to sled dog racing. All articles are appropriate for use with upper-elementary students.  Making an Idita-rockis a craft suitable for all elementary students.

Global Warming

In the past six years, warmer winters and a lack of snow have consistently challenged race officials. Snow has been trucked into Anchorage to create suitable conditions for the ceremonial start, and the restart has been moved from the town of Wasilla to Willow. These two changes are concrete examples for students of how Alaska’s climate is changing, and can serve as the basis for inquiry into why this change is occurring.

Technology Resources

The Iditarod web site also includes many technological features that are appropriate for use with students. Zuma’s Paw Prints is a student-friendly blog written from the perspective of four sled dogs: Zuma, Gypsy, Sanka, and Libby. Another feature, the Iditarod Insider, requires a subscription and features videos, trail fly-bys, and updated race content. Scholastic’s Iditarod web site includes many articles and interactive features. Most are suitable for use with students.

Literacy Connection

The Iditarod provides a wide variety of opportunities for literacy instruction and integration. We’ve highlighted a few ideas here, but don’t let these limit your creativity!

Many teachers have students adopt individual mushers and track their progress through news articles and online resources. This ongoing assignment integrates reading comprehension (reading the newspaper with adult assistance) and visual literacy skills (using tables, charts, and maps). The lesson plan Timeline involves creating a timeline to track the progress of an individual musher.

Students may also create a “musher scrapbook.” This scrapbook could include student-produced work such as a short biography of the musher and hand-drawn illustrations or media objects such as articles clipped from a newspaper or found online, and pictures.

Teachers of younger students may want to select one musher to follow as a class. Students can track progress on a large map displayed in the classroom. Students (or the class as a whole) could write and illustrate a story detailing the musher’s adventures along the path to Nome.

Some teachers and schools use the Iditarod as a reading challenge.  Often dubbed the IditaRead, the challenge involves students taking the place of mushers. Students read a prescribed number of pages or minutes per day to advance to the next checkpoint along the Iditarod trail. An IditaRead can be designed as a contest or just a fun way to encourage students to read consistently. Many ideas for an IditaRead, such as this interactive version, are available online.

Writing assignments can also be part of an Iditarod unit. Scholastic includes an online tutorial to help upper-elementary students write persuasive essays on how sled dogs are treated. The Iditarod Teacher Resources page includes a lesson plan and hints for teachers who want their students to write letters to mushers.

Suggested Reading

Booklists are available from both the Iditarod and Scholastic web sites. Rather than duplicate their work, we will simply direct you to their comprehensive and categorized lists! As always, your media specialist may be able to suggest additional titles for use in your classroom, or you may already have your own favorites.

Professional Development Opportunities

The Iditarod also presents several opportunities for professional development. Most prestigious, of course, is to be selected as the vTeacher on the Trail. This teacher spends about 3 ½ weeks during race time in Alaska as a member of Iditarod’s educational team. He or she visits schools, presents programs, and flies from checkpoint to checkpoint during the race, reporting to classrooms all over the world via the Internet. Applications for the 2010 Teacher on the Trail are due December 1, 2008.

If you’re not the next Teacher on the Trail – don’t worry! Iditarod’s Education Department presents two yearly conferences – one the week before race time and one during the summer. (This summer’s conference is June 22 to 28, 2008.) Field trips, authors, Iditarod speakers and mushers provide opportunities to learn about raising and training sled dogs, running the Iditarod, and materials to incorporate these topics into your classroom. University credit is available.

Back to You

What about you? Do you have a favorite lesson plan or activity about the Iditarod? Please post a comment- we’d love to hear from you!

Check back often for the latest post, or download the RSS feed to be notified when new content is posted.

Until next time, stay cool with this hot topic!

In March, a six-member team from the United States, Norway, Great Britain, and Canada will embark on a 1,400 mile dogsled expedition across Ellesmere Island. As the team traces the routes of legendary polar explorers such as Robert Peary, Matthew Hensen, Frederick Cook, and Otto Sverdrup, they will witness the changes that have occurred on the third largest island in the Canadian Arctic and document the impact of global warming . The 60-day expedition is an initiative of the Will Steger Foundation and will operate in conjunction with the National Geographic Society, the International Polar Year, Extreme Ice Survey, and the Royal Norwegian Embassy. Team members will document the expedition and share findings through video, images, sounds, and text. Blogs and podcasts will detail the journey as well as profile the five young people working to slow global warming in their communities and nations. For more information and to follow their journey, visit GlobalWarming 101.

Being the coldest and driest place on earth, Dome Argus, Antarctica, doesn’t appeal to many people. Astronomers have been looking at it differently; they believe it may be the best site on the planet for ground-based astronomy.

The logistics of installing seven telescopes at the highest point of the Antarctic Plateau culminated in February when the astronomers from four nations completed the fully robotic observatory–and returned home to watch near-space quality images. Officially known as the PLATeau Observatory, or PLATO, the facility is powered by solar panels during the summer and by diesel engines through the winter months.

Astronomers suspect that PLATO will make astronomical history during the 11 months it will be unattended. For example, a set of four telescopes will be generating continuous movies of the sky. In January 2009, an expedition will return with plans for an array of wide-field telescopes to take more movies of the sky.  

NEA’s Read Across America Day is almost here, and teachers and students across the country are busy making plans to join the nation’s largest reading celebration on March 3, 2008. One teacher is doing it up in a big way – she is sponsoring an online collaborative project where students from across the country and world are joining together to determine their favorite book written by Dr. Seuss.

My Favorite Dr. Seuss Book

Jennifer DeTrolio, a 4th grade teacher from Deerfield Terrace School No. Nine, Linden, New Jersey has developed a collaborative online project in conjunction with the yearly Read Across America Day. Students and teachers are reading books during the month of February and this year, voting for their favorite Dr. Seuss book. Each class will submit one class vote by 3 PM on March 1, 2008. Ms. DeTrolio will analyze the votes and post the results on the website. This is the third year she has coordinated the project. If you have any questions, please contact her at JDETROLIO@linden.k12.nj.us.

You and your students can become volunteer scientists in a nationwide project to record the time when foliage and flowers first appear this year. Project BudBurst, operated by the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research (UCAR), allows students, gardeners, and other citizen scientists in every state to enter their observations into an online database that will give researchers a picture of our warming climate. 

Each registered participant selects one or more plants to observe. The project web site suggests more than 60 widely distributed native trees and flowers, with information on each. You can add other choices.

You are asked to begin checking your plants at least a week prior to the average date when buds open and leaves are visible. After buds burst, you will continue to observe the tree or flower for later events, such as the first leaf, first flower and, eventually, seed dispersal. When participants submit their records online, they can view maps of these events across the United States.

Launched February 15, the project will operate year-round so that early- and late-blooming species in different parts of the country can be monitored throughout their life cycles. Project BudBurst builds on a pilot program carried out last spring, when several thousand participants recorded the timing of the leafing and flowering of hundreds of plant species in 26 states.

The web site provides a section for teachers, with downloadable guides to the activity, data collection sheets, and more.

The Consortium for Ocean Leadership is seeking an enthusiastic teacher for a one-year fellowship (2008-2009)  in Washington, DC. The teacher will work with Deep Earth Academy staff to develop ocean science curricula, produce teacher-training workshops, maintain communication within a community of educators and assist with conference logistics. The position requires a minimum of 3 years classroom science teaching experience, a strong background in earth or ocean sciences, and temporary relocation to Washington, DC. Strong writing and computer technology skills are a plus. Salary will be commensurate to incumbent’s current salary. Full time and part-time schedules will be considered.

To apply for the position, send a cover letter, resume, curriculum sample or list of professional development offerings and three letters of reference to learning@oceanleadership.org or mail to Deep Earth Academy, 1201 New York Avenue NW, 4th floor, Washington, DC, 20005 by Monday, March 3, 2008. For more information visit www.deepearthacademy.org/.