Currently in it's fifth year, XL Catlin Arctic Live is the northernmost live education stream that connects classrooms globally to members of the UK science expedition team based at the UK Arctic Research Station in Ny-Ålesund, Svalbard.
This live education event is designed to ignite students’ curiosity for extreme environments; develop their scientific literacy and skills; point them toward STEM careers and inspire their environmental stewardship.
Between 1 and 10 May 2018, the expedition team will be in the frozen north studying ocean acidification and microplastics. Arctic Live will have sessions appropriate for students from age 5-18. You can take part with your class, as an assembly, or as a STEM club activity.
Through a series of YouTube Live broadcasts, there are a range of activities that you will be able to take part in:
Live investigations direct from the Arctic - these are practical activities guided by the expedition team. They can be replicated in the classroom simultaneously. Topics include: Arctic food webs, insulation materials, ocean acidification, microplastics ice core sampling and sea level rise. You can view the lesson materials here.
Interviews with the polar science team - students can ask researchers and explorers about their work and lives. To increase a chance to get questions answered it is recommended that these are submitted by the end of April. You can find out more about the speakers here.
Open Q&A sessions - classes can speak to polar educationalist, Jamie Buchanan-Dunlop, about life and science in the Arctic.
More Teacher guidance and advice on signing up to sessions can be found here. They have also produced a pack for teachers working with KS1 children which can be found here.
You can also follow the event on Twitter by following Digital Explorers and you can use the #ArcticLive to see updates.
Polar Exploration from LGfL would be a fantastic resource to use alongside this event. LGfL worked with the Scott Polar Research Institute at Cambridge University in creating this comprehensive resource, which provides a unique insight into the 'Heroic Age of Scientific Discovery'.
Featuring exclusive access to the historic archive of the most famous polar expeditions of the 20th Century, the resource includes:
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- Video footage of equipment and artefacts from the most famous expeditions, complete with text transcripts of the expert explanations
- High-resolution photographs of objects featured in the video footage
- Journal extracts read by a descendant of a member of Captain Scott's Discovery expedition
- Interactive map of the Polar Regions with plotted locations of the multimedia assets
- The opportunity to meet a modern-day polar explorer and hear of his experiences living for extended periods of time in some of the world's most extreme environments.
- A wide range of learning materials to support KS2, KS3 and KS4
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If you do use any LGfL content in your school to inspire your students do let us know by posting them on LGfL’s twitter or Facebook pages.