Expressions of Intent for International Polar Year 2007-2008 Activities

Expression of Interest Details

PROPOSAL INFORMATION

Polar First: An educational passport to the poles. A project for pupils aged 11-14 that uses an exciting pole to pole journey to share and enhance understanding of our impact on, and responsibility for, our planet and its fragile polar environments.  (Polar First: An educational passport to the poles)

Outline
- The project uses the Polar First record-breaking helicopter journey around the world via the two polar regions as a focus for stimulating and engaging young people worldwide in understanding and sharing knowledge of changing environments - in their country and in the polar regions - and the impact of their lifestyles on polar environments in particular. - This educational and outreach project is focussed around a specially developed free website aimed at 11-14 year old pupils (the critical age in which they start to learning about the processes affecting the wider world) and their teachers. - The project will work with 30 key partner schools in the 24 different countries visited for refuelling during the journey. Each partner school will work alongside another, disadvantaged, local school. All materials produced by the schools and their pupils will be made available worldwide via the website; and will provide a unique resource created for and by pupils and teachers. The project will be designed, managed and quality controlled by the education team at the Royal Geographical Society (with IBG) working in partnership with Polar First. The aims of the project are: 1. To inspire young people with a feeling of awe and wonder about our diverse world, and especially the fragile polar areas, by living it from the air over 5 months with the helicopter team, Jennifer and Colin. The website will show in-air interview, aerial and satellite photography and commentary of the regions being flown over. 2. To share a better understanding among young people of the current state of our environments - from polar to tropical, via desert - as told by young people themselves. Each of the school partnerships will create resources for the website that describe and illustrate their own environments. 3. To raise awareness in young people of the impact of their lifestyle on the planet and to enable them to compare the impacts of lifestyles in the different countries and environments along the Polar First route. Each of the school partnerships will provide data, calculate and describe for others the impact of their pupils on the planet, using ‘ecological footprint’ tools. 4. To challenge young people to understand links between the polar and other areas by exploring how our collective lifestyles may be impacting on our planet, and what effect this is having on polar environments. Online lesson plans and resources for teachers will be developed, building on the footprint data. The high quality, curriculum relevant learning resources on the dedicated website will be augmented by several interactive elements to ensure people return to the site regularly. Other teachers outside the core schools will be encouraged to submit resources too.

What significant advance(s) in relation to the IPY themes and targets can be anticipated from this project?
This project should create an increased interest and understanding of the current state of the polar environment among young people aged 11-14; and hence help to encourage the next generation of polar students and researchers. Through the combination of adventure and learning from each other, the project should engage young people directly in the issues. It will help to ensure that young people in countries far removed from the poles understand how their lifestyles directly affect polar areas and environments. The intention is to engender a better understanding of polar - global linkages, and by personalising the learning to make it more accessible.

What international collaboration is involved in this project?
There will be strong international collaboration through schools involved in the creation of website resources. The schools are from 24 countries spanning the polar regions; north, central and south America; and Russia and Europe - e.g St Paul’s School, Sao Paulo, Waco High School, Texas etc. They will be networked into the project partnership and lasting collaborative links will be created between them.

FIELD ACTIVITY DETAILS

Geographical location(s) for the proposed field activities:
There is no fieldwork involved. (Details of the helicopter flight route are appended for information as a guide to the areas of the world from which schools will be drawn.).

Approximate timeframe(s) for proposed field activities:
Arctic: n/a
Antarctic: n/a

Significant facilities will be required for this project:

Will the project leave a legacy of infrastructure?
The website and its information content will be a substantial legacy of the project and the Royal Geographical Society (with IBG) has undertaken to continue hosting the website and making the resources freely available after completion of the Polar First flight programme.

How is it envisaged that the required logistic support will be secured?

Has the project been "endorsed" at a national or international level?
Yes - Discussions have been held with Professor Stephanie Pfirman, Department Chair, Department of Environmental Science at Barnard College, USA, who supports the project. No formal approach has been made yet to the UK national level committee; this application seeks to do so.

PROJECT MANAGEMENT AND STRUCTURE

Is the project a short-term expansion (over the IPY 2007-2008 timeframe) of an existing plan, programme or initiative or is it a new autonomous proposal?


This is a new project that links directly to the Polar First flight programme, which is not itself a component of IPY but which is largely taking place co-incident with the IPY time frame (December 2006-April 2007). This proposed project is very different from, and highly complementary to, the BAS-FCO-RGS/IBG educational polar project for teachers.

How will the project be organised and managed?
The education and outreach project will be self-managed by the Royal Geographical Society with IBG (RGS-IBG) and Polar First partnership. The creation and management of the web micro-site and the co-ordination and quality control of the educational materials will be handled by the RGS-IBG. Interaction with Polar First flight programme will be handled by Polar First through the micro-site. The RGS-IBG has a full time educational team, all of whom are qualified teachers, and they currently lead a substantial education programme with schools and pupils, including the production of award-winning online educational resources. The delivery of the project would be accountable to the Society’s Education Committee.

What are the initial plans of the project for addressing the education, outreach and communication issues outlined in the Framework document?
The whole project addresses these issues, as set out in the project outline.

What are the initial plans of the project to address data management issues (as outlined in the Framework document?
N/A in terms of new scientific research data. The website and its data will continue to be made available by the Royal Geographical Society with IBG after the end of IPY as part of its suite of online educational resources.

How is it proposed to fund the project?
Funding will be sought independently through commercial sponsorship.

Is there additional information you wish to provide?
None

PROPOSER DETAILS

Dr Rita Gardner
Director, Royal Geographical Society with IBG
1 Kensington Gore
London
SW7 2AR
UK

Tel: 0044 207 591 3010
Mobile: 07710 401065
Fax: 0044 207 591 3011
Email:

Other project members and their affiliation