IPF assisted in Professional development for teachers in Italy
Teaching about polar sciences
© International Polar Foundation
The Italian Polar Summer School has come to an end already!
Sandra Vanhove, head of the IPF education team, was invited to share her educational expertise during the first "Scuola Polare Estiva per Insegnanti 2011", designed to equip teachers with the knowledge and skills they require to perform polar climate education effectively in their classroom and school.
On Thursday 21 July a conference was given to guide the prospective polar climate teachers through the IPF's educational projects and resources available on our website. Equipped with a mind map the secondary school teachers went on to develop them further on Friday morning by performing hands-on activities, illustrating the wide variety of polar research. Bringing her 15 years of Antarctic marine biology experience to bare, Sandra led them through the experiments and outlined the different types of polar research.
The attached pictures show 12 enthusiastic summer school teachers from all over Italy in the centre of environmental education in gorgeous Portovenere.
Imbedded in the Italian Antarctic Program (PNRA) the Summer Polar School was organized by the National Museum of Antarctica, in collaboration with the Ministry of Education and several others Italian institutions of research and education. The aim of the summer school was to establish an Italian network of polar teachers who incorporate polar research into the formal education system. Within this framework, they have the opportunity to meet Antarctic researchers, and discuss and exchange ideas with them. To close the SPES, a contest is organized for one science teacher to accompany the next Italian Antarctic research expedition.
