2006 Annual Meeting and Arctic Forum | Abstracts

Teachers and Researchers Exploring and Collaborating (TREC) experienced by students in Brownsville, Texas

Ute Kaden^1
1Brownsville I.S.D, School District, 2864 Fleet Street, Brownsville, TX, 78521, USA, Phone 956-546-2795, ukaden@aol.com

In Teachers and Researchers Exploring and Collaborating (TREC), K-12 teachers participate in arctic field projects, working closely with researchers to improve science education through experiences in scientific inquiry. TREC builds on the scientific and cultural opportunities of the Arctic to link research and education through topics that naturally engage students and the wider public. TREC immerses teachers in scientific research across the Arctic.

I am a physics teacher at Homer Hanna High School in Brownsville, TX and was selected as a TREC teacher on the USCGC Healy during the HOTRAX 2005 expedition transecting the Arctic Ocean from Dutch Harbor, AK (August 4,2005) visiting the North Pole (September 12, 2005) to Tromsoe, Norway (October, 01, 2005). The program enabled me to work with Dr. Bernie Coakley and a group of U.S., Swedish, and Norwegian investigators collecting an integrated geophysical data set including bathymetry, sub-bottom profiles, geomagnetic properties of sea ice and cores to create a cross-basin sedimentary transect.

While in the field, Captain Dan Oliver, of the USCGC HEALY, Coast Guard members and researchers from the US, Sweden, Norway and Russia communicated with students and teachers at Homer Hanna High School in Brownsville, TX, the Goethe Gymnasium in Saxony, Germany, and the Peroa College in New Zealand using satellite phones, online journals, and interactive "webinars" (web-based seminars).

TREC impacts the minds of students, educators and scientists, it keeps their curiosity alive and encourages careers in math, science and technology- listen to them…