Other Materials: Envisioning

This section provides additional materials and thoughts for ways to expand the material from the previous modules. One possibility is to bring in various scientists who conduct work in polar climates and allow them to give a short presentation, after which students ask questions. This exposes students to another side of working and living in polar environments.

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Students videoconferencing with a polar researcher.

Provenance: Victoria E Simons, University of Delaware
Reuse: If you wish to use this item outside this site in ways that exceed fair use (see http://fairuse.stanford.edu/) you must seek permission from its creator.

For the envisioning with researchers, bringing in other instructors or researchers who have worked in polar ecosystems and allowing them to speak about their work gives students insight into current, real-world science being conducted in polar climates. By allowing students to ask questions, it helps humanize the researchers and allows students to learn what they want to.

These activities are best weaved into the previous modules as time and interest allow. Ending each unit with a visit from a polar researcher is a nice way to end a module and transition to the next, however time and researcher availability might not always make this possible.

To encourage discussion with researchers, students can be required to submit questions ahead of time for a grade. This also ensures that even shy students can have their questions answered, because they do not have to necessarily speak up in class.