Let the Andrill Adventure Begin!
Let the Andrill Adventure Begin!
Have you ever wanted to venture into a new place, a place so remote that only certain times of the year you could even go there? Have you ever wondered what the continent of Antarctica would be like? Well, the 6th graders in Mrs. Brown's Science class will get to experience Antarctica for real, right from their own seats in the classroom. Yes, they are going to Antarctica this year via the scientists and teachers that will be studying the core of our Earth through the Andrill Project. Andrill stands for ANtarctic geological DRILLing project which has its beginnings right here at the University of Nebraska. Go to andrill.org to find out more and check out the videos from last year's successful project.What We Have Done in Class
We have already started this adventure. Here's a short list of the kinds of things we have done in class.
1. We have watched last year's Andrill videos that detail the geological core study that completed its first season during 2006-2007. More than 200 scientists from around the globe, from Italy, Germany, United Kingdom, United States, and New Zealand, will once again descend upon Antarctica's beautiful continent to recover more of its core samples. They want to discover as much as they can about the history behind Antarctic's climate changes, and thus help us understand what we need to do to preserve our world for the future.
2. Created an Andrill Venn Diagram that compares and contrasts our own unit on Earth's Changing Surface to the Andrill project.
3. Dug up our own soil samples from around our school, used microscopes to see the particles in the samples, described, drew, and labeled our findings.
4. Asked questions of one of the Staff Scientists of Andrill, Dr. Richard Levy, about the Andrill Project and his role in this amazing and collaborative experience. Dr. Richard Levy, a professor and geologist with UNL, gave a presentation on Sept. 13 at Pound to our 6th graders before he leaves for Antarctica.
5. Our Science classes are part of a nationwide Project Circle, linking us with several other science classrooms around the United States all studying and using activities related to Andrill. These other classrooms will use a web Blog to check in with each other from time to time to share information and explore questions about Andrill and our experiements. These schools are located in Indiana, Illinois, Alaska, California, and our classroom right here in Lincoln, Nebraska. Other classrooms in participating countries may be included soon.