 An important part of our job as scientists is communicating our research and its importance to others. This communication happens on many levels. We have well established methods of sharing our research with others in our field and with the broader scientific community through our publications, conference presentations, posters, etc. Our ways of communicating with the general public, decision makers, teachers and students are less formalised and often less practised, but this communication is essential for the greater impact of our research.
The IPY placed strong emphasis on education and outreach in its planning and many early career polar researchers are using this momentum to get involved in broader communication of their work and the importance of the Polar Regions. Here find out about polar science outreach activities and how to get involved, share experiences of outreach involvement, and find tips and resources for communicating research.
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 The International Polar Year (IPY), organized through the International Council for Science (ICSU) and the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), is actually the fourth polar year, following those in 1882-3, 1932-3, and 1957-8. Thousands of scientists from over 60 nations are involved in over 200 projects examining a wide range of physical, biological and social research topics. For further information about the IPY please refer to http://www.ipy.org/.
Polar research comprehends every kind of scientific investigation conducted in the Arctic or Antarctic regions of the world. It is not necessarily restricted to them, but can also include areas further south or north, the so-called subarctic or subantarctic respectively. Of course, research does not only take place on the continents and there are a lot of studies dealing with the ocean or the atmosphere. In the following there are the most popular ‘polar research issues’ listed:
• Melting sea ice
• Changing snow conditions
• Permafrost
• First Nations
• Polar Law
• Endangered species and habitats
One major goal of the IPY is to make research more transparent for the public and hence several scientists discovered new possibilities to present their results. They produced and used 'flying' explorations of geographic and geo-referenced data, zoom and rotation of 3-D data, animated and sequential displays of X-Y, position and time series data, and video vignettes - unusual aspects of science presentations but familiar to the public as the normal (and expected) graphic and video features. In doing so, the presentations were much easier to understand for non-scientists and the general public, even though their content was scientific.
Research results are much more valuable if wider audiences know about them and grasp the content. Our international team, consisting of 5 university graduate students led by David Carlson (director of the IPY), started this project in order to raise the public awareness of the sensitive polar ecosystem. As a first step we intend to explore available software tools and to produce simple animations of our own research. In this context we wanted to learn how to deal with students as a very open-minded and inquiring target audience and this is why we would like you, as an expert in education, to help us by answering this short questionnaire! It should only take 15 minutes.
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Fill Out the Survey
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Written by Polaradmin
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 Dear Polar Research Friends,
As you know the IPY observational period has come to a close, but the momentum to continue the great work started during the IPY continues.
The Association of Polar Early Career Scientists (APECS) would like to help sustain this momentum by engaging everyone to share your polar enthusiasm by organizing a presentation about polar environments for your local Rotary, 4-H, Boy Scout/ Girl Scout troop, church group, school association, city council, university, or wherever your community gathers!
One of the great accomplishments of the IPY was the establishment of International Polar Days that were held 4 times a year between 2007-2009. This concept has now morphed into biennial Polar Weeks, held in the fall and spring. During the most recent Polar Week, 4-9 October 2009, over 50 lectures were hosted in over 10 countries as part of the "International Lecture Series". The next Polar Week will be 15-19 March 2010 and has the theme “What Happens at the Poles Affects Us All.”
APECS, working in cooperation with the International Polar Year Programme Office, is taking a leading role in this year's Polar Week by asking everyone interested in the polar regions worldwide to give a public lecture on some aspect of polar research during 15-19 March.
Making this happen on your campus or in your community would not require a lot of effort, but can have a huge impact. A list of arranged presentations worldwide will be posted at www.ipy.org to show the presentations taking place around the world! You can access a number of helpful resources in planning your event below!
Please contact Kristin Timm, APECS Education and Outreach Chair, if you have questions or are interested in participating at kristin @ arcus.org.
For more information on other Polar Week activies, please visit the IPY website.
Thank you for your contrubtions to polar science and education!
View the list of March 2010 Polar Week Lectures
View the list of October 2009 Polar Week Lectures
Event Planning Resources:
Please feel free to utilize these resources for planning public lectures as you see fit.
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Written by Jose Xavier
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During the International Polar Year, Portugal was highly involved in science, education and outreach. One of the most amazing activities was organizing a national contest to take students to Antarctica, in which APECS has been alsways directly or indirectly involved.
This Christmas, another two students, Viviana Oliveira and Pedro Menezes, from the Azores Islands went on the most amazing trip ever to Antarctica on the Students on Ice expedition. With close to 70 students from around 10 countries from all over the world, fun is a word that surely will be mentioned a lot during the expedition.
Viviana e Pedro left Lisbon on the 25 December and are due back to Portugal on the 10th-12th January 2010.
Have a brilliant trip!!!!! |
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Written by José Xavier
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What are the penguins doing in Christmas? That was the question that children between 5 and 12 year olds tried to answer during Christmas hollydays at the Museum of Science of the University of Coimbra in Portugal. With the young polar scientist José Xavier, an APECS council and APECS member, just arriving from Antarctica where he studied penguins and albatrosses, nothing could be better.
The morning and afternoon sessions combined good fun talks on the biology of penguins along with hands-on activities on how penguins survive such extreme environments, how climate change is affecting them, and what can we do to help them...of course, everyone also wants to know what most penguins are doing in Christmas...breeding!!!!!
A huge success activity from APECS PORTUGAL, where polar science and education and outreach are intimately linked....
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Written by Polaradmin
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The APECS Education and Outreach group is developing a book for young researchers and teachers that will showcase some of the outreach initiatives that APECS members have been involved in for the IPY.
The APECS EOC group meets regularly via conference calls and communicates via a Google Group. To find out more about APECS Education and Outreach Activities and professional development, please join the APECS Education and Outreach Committee by contacting any of the chairpersons. |
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