Annual Report for Dora Nelson
January 15, 2003 - January 15, 2004

Teacher Info Page | Annual Login Page

Field Experience

Were you in the field this season? Yes

Dates in the Field: July 14 - Aug. 29

Approximate Number of Student E-mails: 3

Approximate Number of Teacher E-mails: 15

Apporximate Number of Other E-mails: 25

Approximate Countries Represented: USA

Additional Comments: My experience was extraordinary. The only regret that I have is that my school was out of session and I did not get the student parcticipation that I wanted. Although I prepped the students before school ended, they did not interact with me in the field -- many of them were at summer camp, vacationing, etc. The date for the webcast was released after school was out, and even though we published it (and other updates) on our school website the response was minimal at the time. I am positive that I will more interaction during the followup trip -- in fact, it will be required for my AP students! The Lower School students will be parcticipating also. When I returned to school in September, it was clear that they had read my journal entries and had completed the summer readings about the arctic that I had assigned in the spring. My AP Environmental Science class and AP Biology class have continued to use my experience and arctic research in general as part of their course work. Deb Meese anticipated that it would be more problematic to communicate with students during summer trips, even with careful preparation beforehand. I will be returning to Alaska in March/April and I am certain that I will have much more student interaction (they will be, afterall, a captive audience). I am also returning to BASC (Barrow Arctic Science Consortium) as a volunteer this summer (June-Aug. 2004) and I am planning to take 2 or 3 students with me for part of the time.

The principle project to which I was assigned was fascinating. Much of the work was weather dependent, and there were several days when we could not work. It was very fortunate that I was "stationed" at a research facility because when my research team could not work we were able to observe other research projects and even accompany scientists into the field. The benefits to me are incalculable -- how often does a teacher get to experience such a variety of research? Each project somehow "spoke" to a different type of learner, and I came away with myriad ideas to share with students and teachers back home.

Support in the field was wonderful. VECO supplied everything that I needed. The only problem I had was that my hard drive literally fractured -- when we opened the computer it was in several pieces -- about two-three weeks into the trip. Parts of my journal were lost, as well as images -- it took another two weeks to recover the data. I have three spiral notebooks full of journal notes and am still in the process of transposing them. The journal is written, but not posted. I am afraid that I was overly optimistic about the amount of time that it would take to do this.

Did you maintain a daily (or as often as possible) electronic journal while in the field? Yes

Is your journal complete? No

Continued Collaboration with Research Team Members

Type of Interaction / Outcomes / Dates / Locations / Parcticipants: Email and telephone contact with Aerosonde team -- Dennis Hipperson, David Wright, Brett Solanov, Dennis Fowler -- on-going since September -- updates and plans for the March mission

email -- Leanne Lestak -- on-going -- sharing data from Barrow GIS/DGPS maps about coastal erosion

email -- Craig Tweedie -- BASC Digital Working Group -- on-going -- discussion of developing educational outreach -- one goal would be to have student involvement in developing DGPS databases

SEARCH conference in Seattle, WA -- October 2003 -- Judy Curry (Ga. Tech), Jim Maslanik (UC), George Divoky (UAF), Anne Jensen (BASC), Jerry Brown (IPA), Craig Tweedie (MSU)

George Divoky, Judy Curry are willing to visit my classroom within the next year. I have contacted local universities and colleges to join my school for presentations. I contacted the local county and city school science specialists, but have had no response as yet.

Brenda Mulac -- UC; Aerosonde -- Wallops Island Flight Facility Brenda and I stay in regular telephone and email contact. She is relocating from Colorado to Wallops Island, VA and will be an operations manager/science liason for Aerosonde. We have discussed the possibility of taking some of my students to Wallops for field experiences.

Has a member of your research team visited your classroom in the last year? No

Transfer

How are you sharing your research experience with your colleagues, district, community, etc? Presentations 3rd, 6th, 11th, 12th grades at Carolina Day School Earth Science Museum in Asheville, NC Givens Estates Community in Asheville, NC

Developing a science elective -- Arctic Research -- for juniors and seniors. This will be a 1/2 credit course. I am researching funding possibilities for Arctic travel opportunities for my students and for teachers.

Newsletters One of my arctic arcticles was given a 10th-place national award by the American Federation of Minerological Societies and a 2nd-place award by the regional Southeastern Federation of Minerological Societies. As a result, I received numerous emails from earth science teachers from throughout the US

A school-wide presentation is planned for April. I have contacted both the county and city school systems, but have had no response. I have had better luck contacting individual science teachers. Warren Wilson College, a local small liberal arts college with a strong environmental science program is interested in collaborating.

TEA Collaborative Learning Group

Name: Dave Fortney

Active? No

Contact Hours: 3

Name: Bill Wolfe

Active? No

Contact Hours: 3

Name: Andy Lammers

Active? No

Contact Hours: 3

Name: Joe Kirstein

Active? No

Contact Hours: 3

Have you submitted your TEA Collaborative Learning Group Annual Report? No

Associates Network

Number of Associates in local network: 3

Presentations and Real Audio Sessions

Presentation Date, Title, Number of Attendees, Etc. Webcast -- July 27 2003 -- attended by 3 students and several teachers and administrators

Presentations planned for NCAIS (fall, 2004) NCSTA (fall, 2004)

I am unable to attend the NSTA in April 2004 as I will be in the field. I am planning to attend NSTA in 2005.

Have you presented to your local board of education this year? N/A

Activities Development

Has this activity been submitted to the TEA Web Site? No

Has this activity been submitted to the TEA Web Site? No

Has this activity been submitted to the TEA Web Site? No

ECW gear monitoring

Have you submitted all press-related materials concerning your TEA experience to the TEA Archives? No

Have you submitted 20 digital images to the TEA Archive with electronic captions? No

Have you submitted 6-8 photos to the TEA Archive? No

Release Days

Number of Release Days Covered by School/District for TEA Program/Activities: 0 days in 2003

Reasons for Release: so far, all activity has been out of school

Approximate Daily Rate of Substitute and Number of Substitute Days: 0 days in 2003

TEA Meetings Covered by School/District/Corporation

Permanent Materials and Equipment Provided by Institution/Corporation/District for the TEA Program

Other Grants

Other Shared Costs

no expenses outside of TEA budget for 2003

follow-up trip in March/April 2004

summer work at BASC 2004

presentations: NCAIS (NC Association of Independent Schools) Conference -- Fall 2004