The One and Only Dry Run in Norway
The Fuchs Foundation Antarctic Expedition 2007 (FFAE2007) team of teachers is off to Norway in August to test out their Antarctic equipment, their scientific projects, and their communications systems on Europe’s highest and largest ice cap, Jostedalsbreem.
The teachers will be working through their safety procedures on crevasse recognition and rescue, and, equally importantly, they will carry out their scientific projects in preparation to doing them at 80 degrees South in the depths of Antarctica.
Each teacher is following a diet prescribed by the human physiology project; filling in diet sheets; answering questionnaires about their wellbeing, not only under gruelling circumstances, but also leading up to the expedition itself. The teacher’s science programmes will be trialled and fed back live to their schools.
Brook Lapping Productions are making a series of films for Teachers TV and will go with them to Norway and to the Antarctic in November. These films will follow the teachers’ personal physical and intellectual journeys from the training and preparation to the five weeks on the freezing frontline carrying out their science projects. The cameras at both ends of the earth will capture the unique educational experience for both teacher and pupil as they communicate with their pupils back in the UK.
As part of the expedition’s global warming investigations one teacher will be measuring the carbon footprint of the entire expedition. It is calculated in terms of the total land area required per person to meet their food, energy, raw material, water and wastewater disposal needs. The larger the footprint the larger the impact. These investigations could put into question the types of future expeditions to Polar Regions bearing in mind their impact on the overall global environment. This and results from the other science projects will be used to produce teaching materials which will be available www.fuchsfoundation.org
By taking part in this expedition, the teachers are bringing the real world into the teaching of geography and science, and perhaps, most importantly, they are inspirational role models for their own students and many others.
"This project is a wonderful opportunity for a practising teacher. It is a means of bringing the study of a subject alive and shows students the practical application of what they are studying in school’. says Headteacher of Oxted School, Margaret Hawley:
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Contact: Ann Fuchs, 01455 202370 ann@fuchsfoundation.org
Editor’s Notes
The Fuchs Foundation Antarctic Expedition 2007 celebrates the 50th Anniversary of the successfully completed Commonwealth Trans Antarctic Expedition, lead by Sir Vivian Fuchs.
This expedition is the first of a series of scientific expeditions to be sent by the Foundation to the Polar Regions; the second is to the Arctic in 2009.
The Expedition Members are:
Philip Avery is KS3 coordinator for geography at Oxted School, Oxted.
Project: Temperature Torture
To cope with extreme cold should you be fat or fit? Lunching on lard or Weetabix?
Clothed in cotton or Gore Tex?
Phil will be trying to understand how humans survive temperatures as low as -90c (plus wind chill of course!). The team will be lending their bodies to the study and while surviving in Antarctica will have their faces and hands regularly plunged into iced water to see if it really does cause the heart rate to slow. The ice will not be the only thing that is blue!
Ruth Hollinger is a geography teacher at Tapton School, Sheffield
Project: Take only photographs, leave only footprints, and tread lightly on the earth.
An ecological footprint is the measure of consumption of resources. It is calculated in terms of the total area of land required per person to meet their food, energy, raw material, water and wastewater disposal needs. The larger the footprint, the larger the impact. What impact will the Fuchs Foundation Teachers Expedition make?
Project: Funky Fieldwork – A Virtual Fieldtrip to Union Glacier
In addition glaciological work will be undertaken on the Union Glacier measuring its characteristics and global warming. All results will be set up in a virtual fieldtrip.
Amy Rogers is a science teacher at Higham Lane School, Nuneaton
Project: Naked in Antarctica (and loving it)
Lichens are one of the only living organisms that have adapted to survive the extreme conditions of the Antarctic continent. They are also extremely sensitive to environmental pollution and potentially can be used as bio-indicators for atmospheric changes resulting from human activity. The aim is to collect lichens and investigate their ecology in areas of Antarctica where they have not previously been studied.
Ian Richardson is Head of Biology, Freman College, Buntingford, Hertfordshire.
Project: There’s No Way to Degrade a Tardigrade!
Ian’s project aims to study the remarkable microfauna of the Ellsworth Mountains.
The qualities needed to survive the extraordinary environmental conditions of the inner reaches of the Antarctic continent are shown by a unique collection of microscopic organisms. Among them are the strange and cuddly tardigrades (or ‘Water Bears’). These creatures can enter a remarkable state of suspended animation called cryptobiosis, in which they can endure the most punishing temperatures with apparent ease. There are at least three species unique to the Ellsworth Mountains and we know little about them. Who knows what else we might find?
Page last modified: 26th Nov 2008 - 12:52:39