educatorsinthenorth

In July of 2008, I was fortunate to take part in a unique experience, living and studying in the High Arctic. We worked out of the McGill Arctic Research Station (M.A.R.S.) for 10 days conducting seismic surveys, experimenting with robotic rovers and exploring everything from glaciers, to flood planes to tundra.

Myself and another Canadian educator were joined by 3 of CSA's top robotics engineers and a student from RMC. We were lead by a program scientist from CSA's planetary exploration division and a professor from McGill University who manages the station.

Just 8km away from our camp was another group of educators from the United States and from Pond Inlet in Canada's north.

Dates to Know -

March 3, 2009 - Presentation at Sacred Heart High School with Marie Claude Williamson about the summer experience and Planetary Exploration at the CSA.

June, 2009 - Earth Science Teachers Conferece at Carleton Univertiy. Sharing the Axel Heiberg Experience with teachers.

August 4-6, 2009 - Space Educators Conference at CSA.

November 13, 2009 - STAO Fall Conference presentation.

Spinoff Activities: The educators who participated in this experience have developed some exciting, classroom ready activities that incorporate some of the concepts, philosophies or techniques learned while in the North. Please feel free to use these ideas in your classroom. We welcome feedback on modifications you might make or successes you have!

Cell Phone Rovers (See document "3.112 Cell Phone Rover-Lesson Plan.doc" below)- Put your student's text messaging skills to work as a "base team" deploys a "rover" to a distant world and teaches them how to sample minerals or determine physical properties of substances they find. Good for grade 9-12.

Water - Ice - Life - Investigate how water changes in its properties as it passes through different aquifers. This activity is also a great introduction to using a Hele-Shaw Cell. Simple instructions for building this device are available in this article by Jearl Walker from Amateur Scientist.