PolarTREC: A TEACHER RESEARCH EXPERIENCE MODEL FOR IMPROVING GEOSCIENCE EDUCATION
The goal of PolarTREC is to invigorate polar science education by bringing educators and polar researchers together through hands-on field experiences. Central to the PolarTREC Teacher Research Experience Model, each year approximately 12 teachers spend two to six weeks in the Arctic or Antarctic, working closely with researchers investigating a wide range of topics such as sea-ice dynamics, glaciology, terrestrial ecology, marine biology, atmospheric chemistry, and long-term climate change. The participants share their experiences with diverse audiences via PolarConnect real-time webinars and online multimedia journals and interactive bulletin boards in the PolarTREC Virtual Base Camp.
PolarTREC contributes to the discipline of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) education and pedagogy through a model program conceived and organized according to current best practices, such as pre-research training, mentoring, support for classroom transfer, and long-term access to resources and support. PolarTREC’s comprehensive program activities have many positive impacts on educators and their ability to teach science concepts and improve their teaching methods. Additionally, K-12 students polled in interest surveys showed significant changes in key areas including amount of time spent in school exploring research activities, importance of understanding science for future work, importance of understanding the polar regions as a person in today’s world, as well as increased self-reported knowledge and interest in numerous science content areas.
PolarTREC provides a tested approach and a clear route for varying levels of researcher participation in the education community, therefore facilitating the types of positive benefits and understanding that ensure increased educator, student, and community understanding of science and the polar regions during times of interrelated global change.