Interview: bringing Polar Science to the classroom
The Belgian team: teachers Arjan van der Star, Wim Van Buggenhout and Alex Baiverlin
© International Polar Foundation
IPF interviewed the three Belgian teachers who participated in the Teachers Workshop that was organised in conjunction with the Oslo Science Conference in June 2010. How do these teachers bring their insight and experiences in the classroom? Tips and tricks from the frontline.
Who are you?
Name: Wim Van Buggenghout
Education type: technical secondary education, 3rd grade (age 16-18)
School: Gemeentelijk Technisch Instituut Londerzeel
Orientation: industrial sciences, electromechanics, mechanical design
Courses: electricity, mathematics, geography
Remarks: Wim and his students of the 3rd grade industrial sciences (2006-2007) are the authors of the website “sustainable living”.
Name: Arjan van der Star
Education type: 1st to 3rd year, bachelor in teacher formation (age 18+)
School: Groep-T Leuven Education College
Orientation: teacher formation (geography + one other freely chosen course)
Courses: geography
Remarks: Arjan would be happy to reply to any question you may have: mail to Arjan.van.der.star@groept.be
Name: Alex Baiverlin
Education type: secondary education (general, technical and professional formation, 4th to 6th grade, age 16-18)
School: Athénée Royal de Pepinster
Courses: mainly physics, but in the professional and technical education I also teach “scientific formation” which includes biology, physics and chemistry.
Remarks: a website is under construction, contact information: alexbaiverlin@gmail.com
What do you consider particularly attractive in polar sciences, and why is this interesting to you?
Wim: I was raised as an environmentally aware person and have been living with respect for nature since the day I was born. I really care about global environmental problems, and climate change being a hot topic these days, you really can’t ignore the Polar Regions and polar sciences (see question 3).
Arjan: Polar science is a good way to explore what geography is all about, because it strongly depends on modern research techniques and scientific explorations. These are the two pillars that made geography to what it is. Besides this, I am interested in the Polar Regions both as a geologist and a fan of the outdoors.
Alex: First and foremost, the unknown and the adventure attract me. Secondly, almost all scientific domains can be covered through polar sciences, which are relevant for both the history and the future of our planet. Also, polar sciences can be an excellent opportunity for interactive exercises during foreign language courses.
Why do you think this is important for students to learn?
Wim: The poles are indicators of climate change, and it is important for the students to know about the consequences of climate change on a global scale. The “Zero Emission” concept of the Princess Elisabeth Antarctica (PEA) Station makes it possible to motivate students to live in a sustainable way. This can be accomplished through implementing small, individual solutions, as well as larger, common infrastructural changes in function of urban and environmental planning.
Alex: First of all, we can raise awareness among young people about the importance of science and research in their daily lives as a whole. In this context, for example, our school already received the label “School of Tomorrow” from the Walloon Ministry of Environment. In addition, the poles represent the extraordinary, which easily captivates them, and helps them understand and memorize theoretical scientific data, through examples.
How much of your time do you dedicate to polar topics during your courses? Are there specific subjects in polar science that have a strong priority in your opinion? Why? How do you apply this to your classroom, in concrete terms?
Arjan: In high school, students get both theoretical and practical courses. For the latter, they are actively involved in scientific and outreach projects, such as the Polar Quest contest organized by the IPF. The theoretical courses consist of main courses on topics described in the educational attainments, and some smaller courses, let’s say "side steps" to interesting themes. For instance, I teach “Meteorology and Climatology”, a course linked to “Extreme weather” and “Arctica and Antarctica” as side courses. Taken together, these keep us going for about 12 hours (2 weeks). I have courses on the natural aspects of the Polar Regions as well as on the history of human polar exploration, from Mercator to Alain Hubert.
Alex: The younger students (grade 1-3) are given entire courses on the Polar Regions, so in the higher grades I only mention the poles as examples when dealing with general geographic subjects and concepts in my courses. I try to do this for all kinds of polar topics, whenever I can. For example, when the course is about energy, I describe the energy production and consumption in the Belgian Princess Elisabeth Antarctic Station. Similarly, the role of the oceans in climate regulation is addressed during courses on thermodynamics, etc.
Wim: During the geography courses, the following themes are addressed:
- The atmosphere (2 courses); including the ozone problematic and the greenhouse effect
- The Arctic (1 course): general characteristics, melting ice, new ‘cold (energy) war’, …
- The Antarctic (2 courses): general characteristics, but also the technical aspects of the PEA “Zero Emission” concept.
- Besides these courses, I refer to polar topics during other courses whenever I can, which (in total) takes another two full courses.
Besides the geography courses, our students have primary knowledge on polar science through interdisciplinary projects. During the courses of Dutch, French and English, they received listening- and comprehension exercises about the PEA Station, the life of Alain Hubert and the International Polar Year. During the electricity/electronics courses we pay more attention to the technical aspects of the PEA Station (e.g. the production of electricity through windmills and photovoltaic solar panels, and the way these devices function).
In addition to this, we are involved in different intra- and extra muros activities, such as the IPF’s Class Zero Emission workshop, we invited Johan Berte (project coordinator of the PEA Station) to give a lecture about the station, visited Antarctic exhibitions at the PASS science museum in Mons, organized guided tours in our ‘Technical Ecological Recycle Garden’, participated in the webquest ‘Sustainable Techniques at Home’, and selling ice cream (‘Ice for Ice’) in support of the PEA Station.
Are there specific websites that you regularly visit and that are useful for your courses?
Wim, Arjan, Alex: There are many interesting websites containing general information on polar sciences. There is, for example, the website of the British Antarctic Survey, NASA or ESA, and the websites of the IPF (Sciencepoles, Polarfoundation and Explorapoles). A topper for educational material would be the Educapoles website.
Wim: I also often work with recent newspaper or journal articles.
Did you bring polar sciences in the classroom on your own initiative?
Arjan, Wim: Yes, we did. That happened on the occasion of the new Belgian Antarctic Station (PEA) in 2007. We both went to visit the building when it was inaugurated at Tour & Taxis in Brussels, and followed the media attention it received.
Alex: Yes, on the occasion of the ‘Pole-Position’ contest, which my class won in 2006-2007.
How did your school principals react on this? Did you get support?
Arjan: I work on my courses independently, and as I am the only geography teacher, I do this alone. Our deanery is not directly involved in the contents of the courses, but what I do entirely fits in the vision of our high school.
Wim: I am grateful that our principal gives me a lot of freedom, as long as I teach topics that fit in the official curriculum. Some years ago, I presented my ideas about polar science and global change to my colleagues, and made some suggestions to them to integrate these topics in their courses. While some of them immediately applied these tips to their teaching, others worked out new ideas they had for these subjects. Together, we prepared a ‘polar school expedition’.
How did you become involved in the Oslo-2010 Science Conference?
Wim, Arjan, Alex: The IPF notified us about the possibility for teachers to go to the International Polar Year Oslo 2010 Science Conference. We submitted an abstract on the current and future integration of polar sciences in our courses. We were among the lucky ones to be selected for the conference.
Arjan: Part of my travel was funded for by a grant of Grundtvig, a European exchange program for teachers.
How did your presence at the 2010 IPY Oslo Science Conference influence your course preparations for the next years? And how did it influence you in general?
Wim: Some of the workshops from the Teachers conference, as well was the book ‘Polar Science and Global Climate – An International Resource for Education and Outreach’ that we received, were very inspiring. At the Science Conference, I was able to upgrade my scientific knowledge by attending lectures given by polar scientists. The maps and posters from the Polar Expo will further be of great use in the geography classroom. It was a true honor to be at Oslo, as it was the first time that a teachers’ symposium was directly related to a scientific conference.
All of this will form a basis for an update of my course preparations. Until now, the polar project in our school was limited to 5th grade students, but from next year onwards, I will extend it to the entire school. Right now, I am developping some new concepts on polar sciences.
Arjan: I updated my scientific background/knowledge during the lectures and had the opportunity to talk with different scientists and teachers from all over the world. I got a bunch of new ideas for student activities for the coming years.
Alex: The book with classroom experiments on its own will strongly widen the variety of experiments that I developed for my courses. The many new contacts have already led to an exchange of PowerPoint presentations and teaching resources. At this moment, I am planning to organize a debate at school for the general public, and I have already adapted the teaching program at school for next year.
We heard that you wanted to found a Belgian Polar Teachers network, do you have concrete plans for this?
Arjan: All ‘polar teachers’ that were in Oslo are now staying in touch with each other through a Facebook group. Wim, Alex and I hope to inspire the Belgian teachers to integrate polar sciences in their courses. In order to do this, we would like to collaborate with the IPF. We are thinking about having a digital forum to exchange ideas and teaching resources, and we hope to get pupils involved in this project too.
Wim: Arjan, Alex and I are very motivated teachers and we believe we have something to offer to other teachers. I hope we can inspire many teachers: we are thinking about organising teacher training sessions about how to integrate polar sciences in courses.
Alex: From my side, I’d like to sensitize primary school teachers from my region, and hopefully extend this to the entire French Community, which could then contact us to organize activities in different schools. We are now trying to set this up on a regional scale, and after an evaluation (next year), we will see if we can extend this concept. The most important, at the moment, is to raise awareness among the youth about the size of the problem, and to make them realize that polar sciences are exciting and that the future of the earth partly depends on our level of understanding of the Polar Regions.
