The following news item was originally published in the Curriculum Update section of District Administration Magazine’s online edition:
http://www.districtadministration.com/viewarticle.aspx?articleid=1182
PolarTREC
by Ken Royal
WITH AN INVITATION FROM PolarTREC (Teachers and Researchers Exploring and Collaborating in the Arctic), Maggie Kane, an 11-year middle school teaching veteran at Prescott (Ariz.) Mile High Middle School, was given six weeks of leave last year to work alongside researchers to track glacial melting in the Arctic polar region. The district was able to have Kane, whose interests are polar regions and paleoclimatology, attend her school’s opening day convocation through the use of Wimba Media ( www.wimba.com) conferencing software, which uses phone and interactive, Web-based portal technology. Kane held a full-school conference as well as a meeting for her teaching team of 150 seventh-graders. Students had the chance to interact with their teacher and with on-site researchers and scientists.
The Svalbarde archipelago is 600 miles south of the North Pole and the highest latitude where people live. Spitsburgen, the island Kane visited, is the largest island and is 90 percent covered with glaciers.
Kane is incorporating her knowledge into a new curriculum on climate change for the district. According to Kane, her students now care more about the health of their planet and have a better understanding of their position on it.
www.polartrec.com
www.prescottschools.com