International Polar Year scientists instruct teachers on global climate change

 

International Polar Year scientists instruct teachers on global climate change

Submitted by Amy Hartley
Phone: (907) 474-5823
07/13/07

Photo caption below.
Photo by Rachael Kvapil
Ken Stenek, a teacher from Shishmaref, Alaska, performs an experiment before fellow teachers participating in the Science Teacher Education Program’s Summer Institute. The Geophysical Institute Information and Education Outreach Office coordinates the two-week intensive training for K-12 teachers.


Photo caption below.
Photo by Rachael Kvapil
Teachers Tanya Wimer, Jim Granata and Frida Shroyer record solar irradiance measurements in front of the International Arctic Research Center on the University of Alaska Fairbanks campus. Thirty K-12 science teachers from schools throughout Alaska are participating in the Science Teacher Education Program’s Summer Institute. The focus of the two-week intensive training for teachers is global climate change. The program is funded by the Alaska Department of Education and coordinated by the Information and Education Outreach Office at the Geophysical Institute.


Photo caption below.
Photo by Rachael Kvapil
Thirty teachers join Geophysical Institute Postdoctoral Researcher Ronald Daanen at a site behind the University of Alaska Fairbanks campus to understand the basics of permafrost. The teachers are taking part in the Science Teacher Education Program’s Summer Institute, a two-week intensive training for K-12 science teachers. Daanen is a cold climate hydrologist working the Geophysical Institute’s Permafrost Laboratory.

Teachers from around Alaska are learning about climate changes affecting the world during two summer institutes hosted by the Geophysical Institute of the University of Alaska Fairbanks. A grant from the Alaska Department of Education and Early Development funds the training for K-12 teachers as part of the Geophysical Institute’s Science Teacher Education Program.

Two 2-week STEP Summer Institutes are timed to coincide with the International Polar Year, when scientists from around the world are examining a wide range of physical, biological, and social research topics in the Arctic and Antarctic. Session I began this week and continues through July 20. Session II takes place July 23 through August 3. The 60 teachers participating (30 in each session) earn six upper level credits for participation.

Because global climate change is a broad topic involving many facets, seven UAF scientists from a variety of disciplines are involved in training STEP teachers about the role the atmosphere, the world’s oceans, and land surface play in Earth’s changing climate.

Alaska Science Consortium instructors help teachers translate information learned from scientists into hands-on science lessons useable in their K-12 classrooms. All lessons developed by teachers align instruction and assessment with Alaska science Grade Level Expectations. After field-testing, these lessons will be posted to the STEP Web site and made available to all teachers in Alaska.

The International Polar Year is a worldwide effort to conduct intense research on Earth’s polar regions. In addition to scientific research, there is a strong outreach component that aims to energize youth about science.

Note to editors: Photos are available upon request.

ON THE WEB:
http://www.gi.alaska.edu/STEP/
http://www.uaf.edu/ipy/

CONTACT: STEP director Kathy Bertram at (907) 474-7798. Geophysical Institute information officer Amy Hartley at (907) 474-5823.