CIFAR participates in marine science course for K-12 Teachers

Scientists from CIFAR, Alaska Sea Grant Marine Advisory Program, and the International Arctic Research Center teamed up to teach a one-credit lecture, lab and field course--Climate Change in Alaska Estuaries--at the Kasitsna Bay Laboratory June 22-27, 2008.

Students included Alaskan teachers from three small K-12 schools in Kiana, Kenny Lake, and St. George Island, a Cordova resident interested in setting up a citizen environmental monitoring program for a Prince William Sound non-profit organization, and two teachers from large (1500 to 1800 students) Virginia and South Carolina high schools.

Students learned how to use NOAA and other websites to obtain climate and weather data specific to their location of interest, acquired hands-on experience setting up monitoring transects, and developed their own classroom project that was presented to the class and the NOAA Laboratory director, Kris Holderied. Valuable connections were forged between researchers and teachers, and between teachers from within and outside Alaska, to better communicate the effects of observed and anticipated climate change.