USING POLAR RESEARCH DATA IN K-12 AND COLLEGE CLASSROOMS

Real-time and near real-time data can be collected in different formats such as numerical measurements, photographs/video recordings, and scientific observations. There is a plethora of such types of data covering a variety of disciplines publicly available from the National Science Foundation’s Office of Polar Programs (NSF OPP). Several projects sponsored by NSF OPP will be highlighted to identify the data sources currently available to educators and to demonstrate the methods educators at different levels have already used the data in their classrooms. Ice core isotope levels, Greenland ice reflectance/albedo rates, Arctic and Antarctic atmospheric gas levels, snowfall and snowmelt rates, and snow depths are some of the types of data to be highlighted.