Virtual Posters

Field research is exciting and engaging, but students rarely experience it. Through the use of an interactive website and multiple classroom activities related to the research, we change that. Students learn what scientists really do, how they gather and analyze data and what tools and skills are required to be successful as a field scientist. During the austral summer Dr. David Ainley and his team travel to Ross Island, Antarctica to study Adelie Penguins. Using the penguins as a hook we engage students in the research giving them an opportunity to use a field journal as they gather data on the penguin families. Students record weather, date of first egg, chick hatch, length of foraging trips of the adults and how many days until the chicks fledge, comparing data between breeding pairs and breeding seasons. Pictures and individual penguin information is posted daily on the website so students can record their own data and create their own graphs. In addition classrooms are given an opportunity to take part in the annual penguin count using satellite photos of the colony. Combining art and geography, classrooms create penguin postcards, self address and stamp them, then send them to us at the research station. We answer the questions and send them back with the official Antarctica Postmark. These outreach efforts engage over 300 classrooms during the breeding season encouraging students to follow educational and career pathways in the STEM fields.