Our increasingly sophisticated technological capabilities present interesting opportunities to bring current science and research into the classroom. Consider the chance to hear national speakers in webcasts, use online materials to explore and play games, or view current images from distant places – all available from one access point on the Internet.
The Association of Science-Technology Centers (ASTC) is coordinating the efforts of its members worldwide to increase the public’s understanding and awareness of the polar regions’ ecosystems and cultures through the IGLO (International Action on Global Warming) project. Coordinated programming of large-scale events through videoconferencing, podcasting, projects happening simultaneously at designated centers, and local programming are all a part of the IGLO project, which started in March 2007.
You can find out about upcoming events and resources by going to the IGLO web site. Included in the online materials is the IGLO toolkit, consisting of educational materials such as demonstrations, hands-on activities, and news about what is happening at science centers and museums related to International Polar Year programming.
Activities from the IGLO Toolkit
Among the activities found in the IGLO Toolkit are:
Tour of the Cyrosphere: Animations from NASA showing the layers of ice found at the poles.
Animations from EducaPoles: This collection of animations demonstrates many different concepts related to climate, energy, and polar ecology. The animation, What are the Arctic and Antarctic? gives a general overview of the polar regions and the seasonal difference in ice covers.
Webcasts from the Exploratorium: Interviews with polar scientists on topics such as glaciation, research at Palmer Station in Antarctica, and the study of penguins.
Polar Discovery: Developed by the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, this web site has a multitude of resources, including a page with both images and sounds of Antarctica.
This article was written by Robert Payo. For more information, see the Contributors page. Email Kimberly Lightle, Principal Investigator, with any questions about the content of this site.
Copyright March 2008 – The Ohio State University. This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. 0733024. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation. This work is licensed under an Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported Creative Commons license.
