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

  1. What is Antarctica? (e.g. geographical/meteorological/geological/biological setting)
  2. "Antarctic Geography" - Where is Antarctica and what is nearby?
  3. "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?)
  4. Has Antarctica always been covered by ice?
  5. What is the Antarctic Treaty? When and why was it signed?
  6. "Antarctic Science " - What do scientists study about this region and how do they do it?
  7. "Antarctic Flags" - What do your Antarctica Day flags represent?
  8. "Global Connections" - What links you and where you live with Antarctica?
  9. Why is international collaboration particularly important in Antarctica?
  10. Why is it important to study, understand, and preserve Antarctica and its surroundings?