Data to the Rescue: Penguins Need Our Help!

Data to the Rescue: Penguins Need Our Help!

• Grades: 5-8
• Additional Resources: Facilitator Guide Sample

Highlights:

You’re invited … to join a polar expedition. Although remote from much of human society, the Polar Regions are facing unprecedented change that will have significant consequences for us all. Scientists are studying and documenting the impacts of climate change and how they are unfolding at an accelerated rate in the Polar Regions compared to other areas of the earth. Youth are invited to join the seabird research team of the Long-Term Ecological Research (LTER) program to explore the penguins at Palmer Station, located on the Western Antarctic Peninsula!

Data to the Rescue: Penguins Need Our Help Science Kit 

This program supports educators, parents, and afterschool providers in facilitating Data to the Rescue: Penguins Need Our Help! with young Explorers grades 5 to 8. Facilitators help youth follow their natural curiosity while they gain important STEM skills in collaborating, asking questions, analyzing data, and sharing ideas.

Curriculum or Lesson Topics:

This program encourages learners to actively participate in science, including working with actual scientific data and addressing the real-world problems of climate change.

Club Meetings - At a Glance

#1: Let’s Pack Our Bags – Go to the Antarctica to plan the research expedition. 

#2: Join the Team! – Review scientists’ jobs and how they are studying climate change. 

#3: Dive into Data – Learn basic data skills to support the science mission. 

#4: Penguins Need Our Help! – Identify species of penguins and analyze habitat maps.

#5: Penguins of Palmer – Explore population data of penguin populations. 

#6: Questionland – Generate questions about what is happening to the penguins. 

#7: Exploring Ice as Habitat – Learn about sea ice and how to analyze and explain changes. 

#8: Communicate Science with a Data Jam – Demonstrate understanding through a creative project called a Data Jam.

What's Included:

The following materials are included in this Data to the Rescue kit. Each kit includes enough consumable items for 12 youth. Additional youth items are available to purchase individually. 

✓ Facilitator Guide (1 copy) 

✓ Penguin Data Laminated (1 copy) 

✓ Facilitator backpack  (1) 

✓ Research Journal (12 copies) 

✓ Youth postcards (8 cards, 12 sets) 

✓ Common Online Data Platform (CODAP) guide and checklist (6 copies) 

✓ Stickers of badges (6 stickers, 12 sets) 

✓ Free access to online materials