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International Polar Year 2007–2008 - WMO

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PA R T F O U R : I PY PU B L I C PR O G R A M S; NEW G E N E R AT I O N O F P O L A R S C I E N T I S T S;<br />

A R C H I V I N G A N D PU B L I S H I N G I PY<br />

4.1 IPY Education Activities<br />

Lead Author:<br />

Sandra Zicus<br />

Contributing Authors:<br />

Miriam Almeida, Karen Edwards, David Hik, Louise Huffman,<br />

Bettina Kaiser, Rene Malherbe, Nicola Munro, Margarete Pauls,<br />

Mare Pit and José Xavier<br />

In June 2010, 114 teachers from twenty countries<br />

joined together in Norway at the Oslo IPY Science<br />

Conference. The teachers came to take part in<br />

a ground-breaking event – a conference that<br />

merged science and education in a unique way.<br />

After a two-day workshop in which they attended<br />

background science talks and participated in handson<br />

polar science activities, the teachers spent the rest<br />

of the week attending conference talks and poster<br />

sessions, giving oral or poster presentations, and<br />

interacting with scientists and other educators (Box 1).<br />

The Oslo <strong>Polar</strong>TEACHERS Workshop was just one<br />

of the culminations of several years of hard work by<br />

a dedicated group of scientists, education and communication<br />

professionals, and the IPY <strong>International</strong><br />

Programme Office (IPO) staff. By the end of the official<br />

observing period of IPY <strong>2007–2008</strong>, there was an active<br />

Box 1 Quotes from participants in the two-day workshop<br />

I have also been able to build collaborative relationships<br />

with other professional educators, but more importantly<br />

with scientists actively working in the field. There is now an<br />

open window to incorporate hands on interactive real-time<br />

science into my classroom, thank you.<br />

J. Worssam, U.S.A.<br />

Through the many posters and sessions, I have seen an<br />

incredible array of classroom applications relating to polar<br />

science – many of which I plan to have in place within the<br />

context of my own class for September start-up. I have a<br />

new-found network of educators and scientists with whom<br />

to collaborate as we inspire youth to become both curious<br />

and actively engaged with our planet.’<br />

J. Phillips, Canada<br />

and engaged community of approximately 750 teachers,<br />

media officers, journalists, early career scientists<br />

and IPY national contacts from more than 30 countries.<br />

Many of these people served as hubs for further propagation<br />

across their own local and national networks.<br />

IPY <strong>2007–2008</strong> also stimulated the active engagement<br />

of thousands of teachers, students and other citizens<br />

around the world in learning and communicating<br />

about the polar environment. This was accomplished<br />

through a combination of international collaboration,<br />

the cultivation of a global community of enthusiastic<br />

professional scientists and educators, and the creative<br />

use of free and low-cost technologies.<br />

This chapter reviews a few of the many successful<br />

international education, outreach and communication<br />

(EOC) initiatives that took place during IPY <strong>2007–2008</strong>.<br />

(Box 2)<br />

I also feel that the opportunity to experience a really<br />

professional, international, science conference has given<br />

me an insight as to what I should be helping students<br />

learn to do to make it in the critical world of the scientific<br />

research.<br />

H. Demynchuk, U.S.A.<br />

In our country, among the scientific community there is no<br />

harmony regarding global warming. The way education<br />

and outreach were recognized here, as equally important<br />

as science itself is not the case in our country!<br />

D. Garasic, Croatia<br />

P u b l I C P r o g r a m s a n d e d u C a t I o n 481

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