A Major Discovery
By Peter Barnes

It sounded like a terrific opportunity for my students: a marine science professor and his graduate students were heading for a research expedition to Antarctica. They wanted to link via the Internet with a classroom. "Would you be interested?" asked our county science coordinator.

I immediately had two thoughts:

1. What a great learning opportunity for my students!
2. How in the world am I going to make this fit the Virginia Standards of Learning?

As a result of the standards, my curriculum schedule was already crowded. Integrating this experience would take work. Here's how I made it happen:

Math. For graphing and chart reading, we used data about Antarctica's 10-year penguin populations sent by the team. At the same time, we learned vital math terms such as mean, median and mode while discussing Antarctica's declining penguin numbers. To review estimating and problem solving, the students planned their own imaginary Antarctic expeditions, created budgets and calculated expenditures for fuel, food and supplies. They plotted their virtual expeditions' progress on coordinate maps of Antarctica, another Virginia learning objective.

Reading and Writing. We read about Antarctica's wildlife, human life and polar exploration. With graphic organizers, the students located main ideas and supporting details, differentiating between fact and opinion. The rich vocabulary of Robert Burleigh's book Black Whiteness: Admiral Byrd Alone in the Antarctic (Simon & Schuster, 1998) inspired figurative language and vivid imagery in our own Antarctica short stories. My students also corresponded weekly with the Antarctic team via e-mail.

Science. Illustrations of imaginary animals such as the pontoon bird and the gorgol fish filled our walls. To reinforce the concept of animal adaptation (a state objective), my students dreamed up these Antarctic creatures, whose physical characteristics and behaviors had to be designed to adapt to Earth's coldest place. Each student-designed creature relied on its ecosystem's resources just as members of food webs throughout the world do.

The project's highlight was a visit from the Antarctica team, who brought video footage and exciting accounts of their adventures. We showed off our extensive knowledge of Antarctica and presented a penguin quilt that the students had made with the help of our art teacher. Our learning adventure reaped rich rewards for all. At the same time, we managed to stay focused on important state objectives.

Peter Barnes teaches fifth grade at Rawls Byrd Elementary in Williamsburg, VA.

February, 2004, Vol.34, No.5