The Polar Literacy (PL) project is creating replicable ways of bringing polar education to informal learning environments, extending our understanding of how polar education initiatives can be delivered to youth, and designing a professional development model to improve the capacity for Polar Region researchers to craft meaningful broader impacts. PL is providing youth from underserved populations (African American, Appalachian, Latino, and first-generation American) living in various geographic settings (urban, suburban, and rural) with afterschool and summer enrichment experiences. A total of 300 youth (150 in OH, 150 in NJ) will receive afterschool experiences and 1,350 youth (1,250 in OH, 50 in PA, 50 in CO) will receive summer enrichment experiences focused around the theme of investigations in Polar Regions.
MCM Education and Outreach Coordinator Dr. Alex Rose partnered with MCM PI Dr. Rachael Morgan-Kiss from the University of Ohio to translate her science about the protists that live in the Dry Valley lakes to students participating in the PL program. Adapting to the COVID lockdown in Fall 2020, we implemented our polar literacy after school programming remotely with a group of middle school students at a STEM magnet school in Denver. With the help of CU Science Discovery staff, educators from Rutgers University, and Dr. Rachael Morgan-Kiss from , a cohort of Skinner Middle School students packed their virtual bags and worked to explore scientific research in Antarctica. Through our collaboration with the Polar Literacy AISL grant project, we implemented a 5-week-long virtual after school program that enhanced students’ understanding of the ecology and research taking place in this polar region. Students delved into hands-on activities, using materials provided by Science Discovery, that offered them the experience to analyze and interpret data collected in McMurdo Dry Valleys. A culminating mini data jam at the end of the session challenged students to display this data through a creative project.
Learn more about the Polar Literacy project here.
View the video we used to introduce Dr. Morgan-Kiss to the students and explain the nature of her research as it relates to Polar Literacy Principle #4: The Polar Regions Have Productive Food Webs.
Here are all the activities and modules we used for our week of remote instruction. Use Google Earth to see how we get from the US to our field sites in the Dry Valleys.