Polar Science Education

"The hominin fossil record documents a history of critical evolutionary events that have ultimately shaped and defined what it means to be human, including the origins of bipedalism; the emergence of our genus Homo; the first use of stone tools" You can read final publication free online, and even request a download of the prepublication pdf (might be some typos in it)

Climate change

"In a remarkable union of science and art, landscape painter Diane Burko shows how the planet's glaciers have changed form over the last century in her latest exhibit "Politics of Snow." To tell the story, Burko tracked down glaciologists from the US Geological Survey's National Snow and Ice Data Center at the University of Colorado, Boulder, and others. She then painted a series of photos for each mountain based on historic and present day photographs. Her collection demonstrates the changing face of glacial mountains across the world, including the Matterhorn in the Alps and Grinnell Glacier in Montana's Glacier National Park." The Scientist

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This podcast series contains many topics that often arise during polar science studies in the classroom. This link goes to the topic list. "Global Challenges Chemistry Solutions, launched in 2008, received a coveted Gold Medal as the best podcast in the national awards competition sponsored by Association TRENDS, the national newspaper for associations."

topics related to polar science

This video is far less radical that the name suggests. A little longer than 10 minutes, it provides an excellent, albeit simplified, calm summary of the science. It does not ignore the cyclic nature of climate change yet it does put the human factor in place nicely. Be sure to watch all they way through the credits. The video is downloadable, and has a pdf page of the script with links to quality sites.

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"The Warming of the Earth A beginner's guide to understanding the issue of global warming" although some info is dated, this is still an excellent resource.

Polar Science Curriculum Resources

Webquest to accompany Glencoe's "Earth Science: Geology, the Environment, and the Universe" Unit 7: Resources and the Environment

Polar Science Curriculum Resources

"Global warming has been a topic of concern and much controversy for many years. Whatever the disagreements have been in the past, most scientists and policy makers now recognize that if the Earth's surface temperatures continue to rise as much as they have in the past decade or so, then many parts of the world could face dire consequences, including food and water shortages, coastal flooding, and health consequences. Based on the Koshland Science Museum's exhibit Global Warming: Facts and Our Future, the following webquest will allow students to learn firsthand how society and environment might be impacted by global warming and how to help people make better decisions regarding all the complicated issues surrounding climate change, energy use, and available policy options. Students will take on the role of scientist, business leader, or policy maker and be part of a climate action team, which will make some of the same discoveries and decisions that are made in the "real world" every day. "

Polar Science Curriculum Resources

At TED2010, Bill Gates unveils his vision for the world's energy future, describing the need for "miracles" to avoid planetary catastrophe and explaining why he's backing a dramatically different type of nuclear reactor. The necessary goal? Zero carbon emissions globally by 2050

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This site came about as a result of the friendship between three people - Peter Lourie, Paul and Jody Shepson. Their passionate concern about climate change and love for the natural environment, and a grant from the National Science Foundation to Paul, created the opportunity to capture, in the form of "Video Storytelling," the voices of the Arctic, and the scientists who study it.

This is still the prototype portal - just launched today through the announcement that there will be the creation of a US Climate Change Office (http://www.businessweek.com/news/2010-02-08/u-s-to-create-climate-change-office-commerce-s-locke-says.html) With the rapid rise in the development of Web technologies and climate services across NOAA, there has been an increasing need for greater collaboration regarding NOAA's online climate services. The drivers include the need to enhance NOAA's Web presence in response to customer requirements, emerging needs for improved decision-making capabilities across all sectors of society facing impacts from climate variability and change, and the importance of leveraging climate data and services to support research and public education. To address these needs, NOAA embarked upon an ambitious program to develop a NOAA Climate Services Portal (NCS Portal). Our goal is for the Portal to become the "go-to" website for NOAA's climate data, products, and services for all users."

polar science

"As debates about energy grow more intense, Americans need dependable, objective, and authoritative energy information. The National Academies, advisers to the nation on science, engineering, and medicine, provide the facts about energy-a complex issue that affects us as individuals and as a nation."

general science education

Offiical Honoree: 2009 Webby Awards. It reads like a junior version of the climate change page that came out of Copenhagen this year.

polar science

"Second part of Ice Core Sampling sequence "

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"Sea Ice Core Sampling methodology in Barrow, Alaska. Part one of two. "

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"Albedo Measurements explained on the sea ice by Don Perovich. Part 2 of 2. University of Alaska Fairbanks. "

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"How to take an albedo measurement of sea ice with Don Perovich. From University of Alaska Fairbanks. Part 1 of 2. "

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Weatherandclimate.net provides weather and climate science resources to broadcast meteorologists. Offerings include climate science news, consensus reports and briefings.

"a complete listing of the articles in "How to Talk to a Climate Skeptic," a series by Coby Beck containing responses to the most common skeptical arguments on global warming. There are four separate taxonomies; arguments are divided by: * Stages of Denial, * Scientific Topics, * Types of Argument, and * Levels of Sophistication. "

polar science curriculum resources

From the introduction: "This guide powerfully details many of the biases and barriers to scientific communication and information processing. It offers a tool-in combination with rigorous science, innovative engineering, and effective policy design-to help our societies take the pivotal actions needed to respond with urgency and accuracy to one of the greatest challenges ever faced by humanity: global-scale, human-induced environmental threats, of which the most complex and far reaching is climate change."

polar science curriculum resources

"NBC Learn, the educational arm of NBC News, has teamed up with the National Science Foundation (NSF) to produce Science of the Olympic Winter Games, a 16-part video series that explores the science behind individual Olympic events, including Downhill and Aerial Skiing, Speed Skating and Figure Skating, Curling and Hockey, and Ski Jumping, Bobsledding and Snowboarding."

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