Sunday, January 12, 2014

Adelie Penguins and Climate Change


Some of the most dramatic evidence of climate change is occurring in the polar regions. 
I recently received an email from a teacher in Newton, Massachusetts, telling me how her first graders are reading my book A Penguin’s World as they follow the development of real live penguin chicks growing up at Cape Royds in Antarctica.  The students are learning about penguins via the internet with science teacher Jean Pennycook who is spending three months in Antarctica.  Students all around the world are able to  learn about penguins and follow the research process through the National Science Foundation penguin science program. The students in Massachusetts share the observations of "their" nest (#8) with their project partner, an elementary school in the Republic of Mordovia, Russia. The female is named 'Mordovia' and the male is "Jackson' after their own school name.


Here is a link to photos of the colony and of the  nests that are being followed this year.
http://www.penguinscience.com/education/royds_nestcheck.php
Here is a terrific video explaining the goals of the penguin science program.  It has great visuals of penguins at their nests, walking across the ice, and diving and swimming in the ocean.
http://www.nsf.gov/discoveries/disc_videos.jsp?org=GEO&cntn_id=126692&media_id=73765


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