-
Bulgaria
Antarctica Day was a big day for Bulgaria! They organised several events first based on a exchange with the schools. 3 talks were organised with kids at kindergartens. On top of that, 2 schools participated in the confection of Antarctica flags that were then sent to Antarctica where the researchers participating to the event took a photo of them.
To symbolize the importance of the day, a Polar Week was organised in the largest mall of the capital city, Sofia. During that week, people could participate to an Antarctic photography exhibition and at a polar scientific workshop. The latter consisted of several kiosks with interactive demonstrations in the fields of geology, mineralogy, zoology, geodesy and cartography among others. The event was opened by a speech from Prof. Christo Pimpirev – director of the Bulgarian Antarctic Institute. The audience interest was huge, with parents and children spending a total of two hours at the event. A member of the parliament of Bulgaria together with his family was among the visitors as well. Various prizes – ice-creams, wall calendars, pens, etc. were awarded to the children.
Finally, an APECS talk highlighting the goal of APECS was held at the Bulgarian Geological Society’s conference.
-
Italy
APECS-Italia organised a seminar at the Scientific campus of The Ca Foscari University of Venice. The seminar has the aim to introduce the students to the Antarctic world as well increase their attention and interest for this "strange continent". The seminar has been divided in 6 lectures, all of them presented by early polar career scientist. The first lecture was focused to explain the Antarctic and the Antarctic day as well the Antarctic treat. The other lectures were focused on the scientific activities and daily-life in Antarctica base on personal experience. In total there were about 1000 persons, 80 of them were students.
-
Spain
The Antarctic Day 2015 was held by APECS Spain on the 1st of December 2015. Early career scientists in polar science organized some events in Barcelona and Madrid.
In Barcelona, a couple of talks and as well as hands-on activities for students were carried out in several schools. In particular, at IES Joan Brossa and IES Jaume Balmes the talks were addressed to secondary school students, and they learnt about the Antarctic treaty, as well as about Antarctica in general, besides watching a video with images of Antarctica filmed by an APECS-Spain member. All of the participating students enjoyed the “The Antarctic flag” activity, where each child drew and painted a unique Antarctic flag while increasing their creativity and condensing on a paper their knowledge on Antarctica.
These flags will travel to Antarctica and will be shared with Antarctic scientists from all over the world! At Escola Sant Gregori, secondary school students learnt more about Antarctic sea ice and observed sea ice diatoms under the microscope; at this same school, as some of the 4-year-old students belong to the “Penguins class”, they received a talk combined with hands-on activities about Antarctica and, in particular, about penguins. They observed some real penguin feathers and krill samples, too! These children also drew flags for the “Antarctic flags activity”.
Two different events were organized in Madrid. In the morning, at the National Museum of Natural Science, around 70 children from 6th grade learnt about Antarctica through pictures and videos. Moreover, and thanks to the collaboration between the Museum and the “Friends of the museum” association, a small cycle of four outreach conferences about science and conservation, lichens, fauna and contamination of the white continent was organized. Furthermore, and together with the staff of the library of the museum, an exhibition of books from the firsts Antarctic expeditions were shown (for example, the Robert F. Scott British expedition “Terra Nova” and the second French Antarctic expedition led by Charcot). With the present books, APECS-Spain organizers wanted to show the adventurous nature of exploring a new continent, and the quality and amount of research done in Antarctica since the beginning of the 20th century. Finally, assistants had the chance to see authentic Antarctic biological material such as lichens or penguin feathers.
-
UK
December 1st marked the internationally recognized ‘Antarctica Day’. This day celebrates the signing of the Antarctic treaty in 1959 and its importance throughout history. To promote the day, and organize an event for it, the UKPN teamed up with Our Spaces charity, and Dr Julie Hambrook Berkmann, director of Our Spaces. The UKPN participation was in organizing an activity: Antarctic Flags. For the event, we asked participating schools sending us their renditions of Antarctic flags. The flags will then hitch a ride all the way to Antarctica with polar researchers, and we will send proof of travel with a certificate and photos of their journey. Through this project, schoolchildren learn about the importance of Antarctica as a symbol of international cooperation through science, and the 1959 Antarctic Treaty that encapsulated this belief into law.
These flags were then sent south with volunteer flag-bearers, who were already travelling to the pristine continent for science, heritage, exploration or research purposes. From this journey, we send proof of travel with a certificate and photos of their journey. The age range of the pupils involved ranges from 4 to 16, and the nationality of these pupils includes British, Irish, Spanish, Egyptian, Arabic, American, Australian and many, many more!
This international event was celebrated across the globe. We had flags sent in from 38 schools in total to give a total of 284 flags, which travelled down south with 18 research teams to 13 different bases on the Antarctic continent, all showcasing the international reach of polar science taught and conducted. The schools had a chance to liaise with their paired researcher, and learn more about their research within the context of polar science.
As not all flag-bearers were travelling to the same place in the Antarctic, the flags have been distributed around a large proportion of the continent from Port Lockroy to the UK’s Halley research station, to the American McMurdo station, to deep in the field. One set of flags is even circumnavigating the continent on the JCR ship travelling around the Southern Ocean, as you are reading this newsletter!
Some of the fantastic flags are displayed below, showing the creativity of the pupils, and the many important features within the Antarctic. We would like to thank all teachers, pupils, parents, flag-bearers and committee members who participated in this event and made it the most successful Antarctic Flag campaign since its inception in date.
Antarctica Day 2015
APECS, Our Spaces - Foundation for the Good Governance of International Spaces, the UK Polar Network, Polar Educators International (PEI), PolarTREC, the International Polar Foundation, the Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research (SCAR), Gateway Antarctica, the International Association of Antarctic Tour Operators (IAATO), the British Antarctic Survey and the Sultan Mizan Antarctic Research Foundation celebrated Antarctica Day 2015 on December 1st, 2015.
Antarctica Day 2015 - Virtual Balloons
On the map below you see ll Antarctica Day events as a Virtual Baloon.
Do you want to know more about the Antarctic treaty?
Click HERE to download a pdf version of "CELEBRATING ANTARCTICA" The Antarctica Treaty in book form for young audiences, illustrated by school children from around the world ! It is presented in English, Chinese, French, Korean, Polish, Portuguese and Spanish. ( coming soon in other languages )
You can find more information about the Antarctic treaty and Antartica Day Celebration with this link. Or have a look at this video !
Do you like music ? You can also share the song for Antarctica on the 1rst of December following this link.
Antarctica Day 2015 - Flags and Books
Antarctica is an amazing place, filled with fascinating forms of marine life, mountains of ice, and vast polar deserts. It is also a place of peace and scientific Discovery because of the Antarctic Treaty which was ratified on December, 1st 1959. Continuing in this spirit of international cooperation, UK Polar Network, in conjunction with APECS and Our Spaces, once again invited educators and their students from around the world to express their own knowledge, curiosity and amazement about this incredible frozen continent in the form of Antarctica Flags and Books.
UK Polar Network, APECS and Our Spaces partnered again to offer the chance for students to see their flags displayed at research camps in Antarctica!
-
Antarctica Day Flags and Books
Antarctic Flags and Books are creative ways for students or anyone to express their questions, ideas, and knowledge about Antarctica or Antarctic science. For Antarctic Flags students were invited to draw or use the best way (collage with magazine clippings and glue, coloured pencil, marker, crayon, water colour, etc.) to express their questions, thoughts, and knowledge concerning any part of this fascinating continent.
Advanced students could also create their own books that demonstrate a small research project on a particular Antarctic topic. These books could be made of a maximum of 20 drawings on different sheets. It was important that the book represented the idea of a group of students and each school could send one book to be included on the site and released. Some Antarctic Flags could be chosen to be included in the books. They were requested to choose the best flags of your students and creatively put them together into a book adding text. The book could be created by scanning or photographing the drawings and inserting these drawings into a computer program such as Power Point or Word. Here is a sample class plan for Antarctica Flags, as well as a sample PowerPoint that has been most popular over the last couple of years should help to implement the activity within your classroom! We have also included the sample class plan translated into Chinese, French, Spanish, Portuguese, and Dutch.
-
Suggested themes for students to address on either a flag or in a book
- What is Antarctica? (e.g. geographical/meteorological/geological/biological setting)
- "Antarctic Geography" - Where is Antarctica and what is nearby?
- "Antarctic History" - What is the history of this area? What was important to this region's discovery (explorers / expeditions, whaling, fishing, science?) Who were the first humans to get there?)
- Has Antarctica always been covered by ice?
- What is the Antarctic Treaty? When and why was it signed?
- "Antarctic Science " - What do scientists study about this region and how do they do it?
- "Antarctic Flags" - What do your Antarctica Day flags represent?
- "Global Connections" - What links you and where you live with Antarctica?
- Why is international collaboration particularly important in Antarctica?
- Why is it important to study, understand, and preserve Antarctica and its surroundings?