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The Antarctic Connection™ is an internet based e-tailer and information source for All Things Antarctic!™. Our goal is to become the largest and best source for premium Antarctic related products as well as provide a vast center for news, weather and information from and about the frozen continent." A commercial site with some good info to get students engaged.

Polar Science

The US IPY site provides resources on the Antarctic Treaty Summit. These are better resources for younger grades than some on the official Antarctic Treaty Site.

polar science

Antarctic Drilling program looks at geology and paleontology of the Antarctic region via sediment cores. Project Iceberg is the gateway for educators and directs you to a variety of resources. Flexhibit was designed as an activity for 4-H and similar after-school programs, but many of the ideas are transportable to your classroom. It would be great for a science club to develop as a community outreach event!

The Antarctic Treaty Summit took place Nov 30 - Dec 3 2009 to honor and recognize this international landmark. A lot here to link science, history and contemporary politics.

polar science

Here you will find the Antarctic Treaty Papers as well as links to other information of Antarctica's history and the Summit. The summit was in 2009; these provide a good opportunity for an interdisciplinary unit and some great contemporary discussions about the importance of the treaty.

polar science

"The Landsat Image Mosaic of Antarctica (LIMA) is the first-ever true-color high-resolution satellite view of the Antarctic continent enabling everyone to see Antarctica as it appears in real life. The primary purpose of this site is to provide materials that will allow for both students and educators to explore the continent through the "Antarctic Mysteries" section. This web site is designed as part of the International Polar Year to familiarize people with Antarctica, to explore the richness of its features, to learn about why Antarctica matters to us all, and to explain and demonstrate how scientists use satellite imagery to study the continent. This site is a two-year project. We plan to periodically add content. Your feedback is sought to help us in improving the site. Please offer your suggestions. Thank you."

"NASA scientist Thorsten Markus shares his expertise on polar ice in a lecture at the Library of Congress. In his lecture, Markus summarizes recent observations and findings-together with pictures from Arctic and Antarctic research campaigns-and puts those results into the bigger climate-system picture. He focuses on recent changes in the Arctic and in Antarctica. Markus explains why the two hemispheres react differently to climate change, and concludes his lecture by discussing current and future efforts to address the uncertainties and contradictions of the ice conditions."

videos and related media

"IPY STEM Polar Connections is a curriculum development and professional development program that explores global climate change and its impact on the Arctic and Antarctic. It includes residential summer institutes for in-service teachers who are involved in the professional development of their colleagues. During each summer institute, teachers are introduced to hands-on STEM Polar Connections materials that model a variety of proven techniques for effective teaching, including inquiry-based teaching and cooperative learning."

ICE Ice rises ICE Ice rises is a climate project studying the ice rises on the surface of the Antarctic ice shelves and along the edge of the ice. The goal is to determine if, and in that case how, these "islands" affect how fast the ice is moving toward the ocean, which in turn may influence the melting process and a potential rise in sea level.

Climate scientists have long argued that ancient air trapped in Antarctic ice is the smoking gun that links carbon dioxide to global warming. Over the past 800,000 years or so the planet has gone through a series of ice ages interspersed with relatively warm periods (during which glaciers retreat back toward the poles) - and inevitably, these warm interludes happen when there's more CO2 in the atmosphere

The planes with skis and the unit that flies them: "The United States Air Force's 109th Airlift Wing (109 AW) is an Air Mobility Command (AMC) gained tactical airlift unit of the New York Air National Guard. The unit is located at Stratton ANGB/Schenectady County Airport, New York and operates both conventional C-130 Hercules aircraft and specially modified LC-130s used for Arctic and Antarctic transport and support missions."

polar odds and ends

Many PBS shows can be streamed from here. A few examples: NOVA'a Ocean 'Tipping Point', NOVA's 'Extreme Ice', NOW on PBS'a 'On Thin Ice' Wide Angle's 'Burning Season', Nature's 'Under Antarctic Ice,' and many more. Many videos are time 'chunked' making them more amenable for classroom use. Once a video is selected, mouse over the screen to show the full screen and other options.

videos and related media

"Snowpit studies provide a vital link between the modern atmosphere and the climate history reconstructed from ice cores. This video documents one of the types of measurements made in snowpits and explains how snow sampling informs ice core studies".

This is the educational site for the International Polar Foundation. The teaching units provided tend to be for higher level/grades than most of the other site. It is not extensive, but it is very good.

Resources accrued during the STEM IPY workshop sessions - most relate direction to the daily topics and activities. The home page for this (the activities and more can be found here) is http://umassk12.net/ipy/