Polar Outreach Catalogue

The IPY provided an enormous amount of science resources, arguably the largest influx of science curriculum materials ever. One unique and creative use of Antarctica's Climate Secrets (ACS), developed by the ANDRILL (ANtarctic geological DRILLing) science program, was to incorporate these materials to teach Spanish in the 100 and 200 level courses at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. ACS consists of five themes of climate change science, including posters, videos, and inquiry science activities based on the themes. The posters were already available in English, Spanish, Italian, German, French and New Zealand English, so with the help of a graduate student in the department of Modern Languages, the 200 page activity book was translated into Spanish. The Spanish courses already taught vocabulary, grammar and syntax, but by incorporating climate change materials, another dimension was added. The students interact with real world issues, learning vocabulary and consulting websites. The science of climate change becomes a vehicle for incorporating more content into the language courses.