STEM Opportunity: Have your Students Travel Across the Pacific Without Leaving the Classroom!
On March 21, 2012 – a team of University of Idaho university researchers and graduate students will sail out of Cabo San Lucus, Baja headed for Nuku Hiva in French Polynesia where they’ll be making landfall on about April 12th. Through a satellite connection to Education Basecamp based in Moscow, ID, there will be daily uplinks to the expedition website for science classes regarding the natural and cultural history of the Pacific via an Iridium SAT phone and BGAN. Classes that follow the trip across the Pacific will find value in tracking a variety of physical and biological ocean and atmospheric conditions: wildlife sightings of all types, air temperature, water and air clarity, particulates, wind speeds and directions, ocean currents, sea state (swell and wind waves), clarity, color, plankton counts and variety (day/night variations, plus latitudinal/location changes) etc.
This journey will kick off a series of expeditions focused on climate change across the world, directly looking at climate data from Northern Hemisphere latitudes and connecting with classrooms investigating the same ideas. This will provide invaluable cause and content for teachers to follow an expedition, take measurements in their classrooms, and start their own Adventure Learning journey connected to the MATRIX of climate science principles. It will also inspire students to engage in science and to ask the question, “Where will you AL@?”
The development site for this project can be found here:
http://alatlatequator.wordpress.com/ and the full site launch will be March 1, 2012. An example of a completed expedition can be found here- http://alatuimainsalmon.wordpress.com/ and includes many examples of the excitement that this approach elicits from students, teachers, and community members.
For more information please contact:
Dr. Crystal A. Kolden
Assistant Professor of Geography
University of Idaho
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