Written by Kristin Timm
While numerous APECS members participated in a career development workshop leading up to the IPY Oslo Science Conference, over 100 teachers were having a career development experience of their own in the PolarTEACHERS workshop next door. Teachers were selected to participate from around the world, and received stipends for accommodation, meals, and partial registration to help offset the cost of attendance.
During the two-day workshop, teachers gained science content through lectures from experts in sea ice, albedo, climate and weather, cultures of the north, and much more. Select science content areas were paired with 90-minute breakout sessions filled with hands on learning and classroom activities, many from the “Polar Science and Global Climate” resource book. Many teachers expressed that they were very pleased with the content they gained throughout the workshop, and that they have many new ideas to take polar science back to their classrooms.
The PolarTEACHERS also spent time with the APECS Career Development workshop participants, partaking in some shared sessions and social events during the workshop and throughout the conference. Teachers and APECS members were also matched as “mentors” before the conference. Don’t ask us who was mentoring whom, as most of the pairs that found one another described the sharing and learning as “going both ways”.
Overall, the PolarTEACHERS workshop was a great success. Participants possessed an insatiable hunger for learning from the mentors who graciously volunteered their time and energies with the teachers. The blending of teachers and early career scientists made for a really fun, dynamic, and interesting group of participants with much to share and learn from one another.
To learn more about what was going on during the PolarTEACHER’s workshop, you can visit their agenda online at: http://ipy-osc.no/article/2009/1257950088.29.
