Antarctica 2008

Some very exciting news is coming from Antarctica! Ms. Ellwood, the 8th grade science teacher, reports success with ScubaDooba Doo! ScubaDooba Doo is a remotely operated vehicle (ROV) that was created by last year’s 8th grade students!

The vehicle has 3 propellers, a PVC frame and underwater camera. The ROV was launched in the icy waters of Antarctica and provided photos and video under the ice! A flag created by Giselle was also attached for the inaugural “swim.” Other scientists in the area gathered round and cheered the students’ success! This project was developed to correlate with the launch of Dr. Doran’s ROV, called ENDURANCE. Ms. Ellwood has been providing experiential ways for students and teachers to duplicate research skills and tasks performed in Antarctica. For more information and video of both of the ROVs, go to http://ryejrhigh.org/ellwood. From there, you can click on her journal index and go back to the summer’s entries too.

Links for the ROV's - Under the Ice - Nov. 14th

Scientists check it out - Nov. 16th

Our school was very fortunate to be able to speak with Ms. Ellwood this week while she was in the field at Lake Hoare. She taught us a lesson and then opened it up for questions. Can you believe she sleeps in a tent near a glacier?

Our school has also had other opportunities to connect with scientists and teachers headed to Antarctica. We interviewed Dr. Robin Bell, a researcher headed to the internal mountains of eastern Antarctica. Jeff Peneston, a teacher from NY, skyped with us from his school about his upcoming trip to McMurdo aboard the icebreaker ODEN. He will be carrying two flags the students created to represent our school, one was designed by Sofie, while the other is from the 7th grade. Watch their interviews at http://ryejrhigh.org/antarctica2008/media.htm Look on the lower right hand side for the links.

NEXT LIVE CHAT - Monday, Nov. 24, 2008, 1 pm EST. Anyone can join the chat.

• Media coverage that we could discover.

• We created "keychains" and distributed them in Portsmouth and Rye.  (See below.)

• Had a display at RES for election day.

• Connected with a researcher who just arrived in Antarctica, Dr. Robin Bell. She was interviewed in one of our webcast before she left on her trip. She is working for Scientific American and Nat'l. Science Foundation. Afterwards, she sent our students patches of the expedition and 2 reprints of her research journal. (Front lobby.) Webcast is archived on the media page.

• Students spoke with another PolarTREC teacher via skype and this was streamed out to the internet. It was archived and can also be found on the media page.  Jeff Peneston is taking two of our school's flags to fly on the icebreaker, Oden. He will be participating in research while making the voyage to McMurdo Station.

• Clustr map was added to her home page. Check out where others are from.

• Have been using Twitter to provide updates at Antarctica_NH.

• Students have been and will be blogging about the polar regions. (Click on the classes to the side.)

Related media:

• Mr. Jeff Peneston - PolarTREC teacher
  • 12 Nov 08 - Interview with Jeff Peneston - PolarTREC teacher heading to Antarctica on an icebreaker.  (Ustream.tv)

 

• Dr. Robin Bell

• 12 Nov 08 - Scientific American article (blog)
• 27 Oct 08 - Student webcast with Dr. Robin Bell.