http://expertvoices.nsdl.org/polar This blog is focused on helping elementary teachers become more knowledgeable about the polar regions and providing best practices on how to integrate polar concepts into their teaching. Ideas for connecting science and literacy through literature and writing, exemplary science activities, incredible pictures, tales of adventure, and stories of indigenous people and amazing animals will be part of each posting. Fri, 20 Nov 2009 20:48:10 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en The Inuit Circumpolar Council (ICC), an indigenous peoples’ organization, has asked the world leaders at the UN Climate Change Conference to listen to the Inuit voice and act now to protect the Arctic.  The council expects to be in Copenhagen for the 15th Conference of the Parties (COP15) with its call ... http://expertvoices.nsdl.org/polar/2009/11/20/inuit-council-urges-world-leaders-to-act-now-on-climate-change/ The Centers for Ocean Sciences Education Excellence (COSEE) Network has added a regional center in Alaska. With a team of ocean scientists and educators, COSEE Alaska will stage science fairs, teacher workshops, and hands-on sessions for scientists. Involved in the center’s work are educators and scientists from the Anchorage School District ... http://expertvoices.nsdl.org/polar/2009/11/20/ocean-sciences-center-comes-to-alaska/ In an exhibit titled “Climate Change in Our World” at its headquarters in Washington, D.C., the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) is displaying 5-feet tall photographs that show the effects of global warming. A concurrent exhibit for kids, parents and school groups, “How We Know About Our ... http://expertvoices.nsdl.org/polar/2009/11/19/aaas-exhibit-features-oversize-photos-of-climate-change%e2%80%99s-consequences/ Mount Kilimanjaro’s very name evokes the image of snow-covered peaks, perhaps because we’ve so often heard the title of Ernest Hemingway’s 1936 short story and the 1950s movie. The real association between the volcano peak and its glaciers may disappear in the near future. Researchers predict the remaining ice fields ... http://expertvoices.nsdl.org/polar/2009/11/19/glaciers-of-mount-kilimanjaro-are-retreating-and-thinning/ Attend the Teacher Workshop at International Polar Year Science Conference in Oslo, Norway!  http://www.polararet.no/conference/esc/article/2009/1257950088.29  The International Polar Year (IPY), from March 2007 to March 2009, was a large scientific program focused on the Arctic and the Antarctic.IPY involved thousands of scientists from more than 60 nations in a wide range of physical, ... http://expertvoices.nsdl.org/polar/2009/11/18/apply-to-attend-the-2010-international-polar-year-conference-and-workshop/ If what’s been happening to the ecology of the North Sea had happened in a forest, we’d be shocked, according to researchers writing in the December issue of the Proceedings of the Royal Society. Hidden from view, the ecology has undergone a radical shift in the last half century, with ... http://expertvoices.nsdl.org/polar/2009/11/13/warm-surface-waters-change-ecology-of-the-north-sea/ The Inuit people living in Canada’s North are transitioning from a diet of fish and caribou to one of prepackaged foods and soft drinks, with a resulting “spike in blood pressure,” according to the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada. The foundation finds that Arctic store-bought foods provide 95 per ... http://expertvoices.nsdl.org/polar/2009/11/13/western-diet-brings-high-blood-pressure-to-arctic-natives/ Real data and citizen science projects are wonderful ways to engage students, but they often are best conducted during the fall and spring. What's a teacher to do in the colder months of winter?  The new Snowtweets Project from the University of Waterloo has one answer. The Snowtweets Project provides a ... http://expertvoices.nsdl.org/polar/2009/11/12/citizen-science-real-data-and-web-20-combine-in-snowtweets-project/ From now until the end of November, a DC-8 aircraft will make 17 low-level flights over West Antarctica to measure the thinning of the ice sheet. A project of NASA and known as Operation ICE Bridge, the flights carry nearly two dozen scientists and their airborne lab. At 157-feet long, ... http://expertvoices.nsdl.org/polar/2009/11/11/dc-8-aircraft-stands-in-for-a-satellite-in-ice-cover-monitoring/ Sun-Earth Day, the annual culmination of programs and events from NASA’s Sun-Earth Connection, will be celebrated in 2010 on March 20. The theme is Magnetic Storms. In weeks leading up to the event, NASA provides resources for schools and the public to learn more about solar storms, including space activities and ... http://expertvoices.nsdl.org/polar/2009/11/10/sun-earth-day-2010-offers-resources-on-magnetic-storms/