Many thanks to students
from Freyberg High School and St Peter's College, both in Palmerston North, for
helping start me off on my Antarctic project. I was there last week for some
(pre-arranged) school visits, but they had checked out my author
Facebook page and already found out about my Antarctic adventure.
At the end of each
session, I asked the students to get into groups and answer three questions for me:
What do you know about Antarctica?
What don't you know, or what would you like to find out?
Would you like to go there? Why or why not?
There was a huge buzz of conversation around the hall as they talked about their ideas. Of the 100 replies I
collected, most came from Year 9 and 10 students, aged 13 and 14. There
were many great responses and some very interesting results!
So what did I find out?
To start with, I think
there must be an automatic reply button to questions about Antarctica. (Try it
on people you know and see if I'm right.) The first three topics that come to
mind are overwhelmingly:
- cold! (89 replies)
- penguins (49 replies)
- snow and ice (34 replies)
 |
| Degrading iceberg, Cape Hallett. Photographer: Danielle O'Keefe. |
 |
| Adelie penguins on ice and water. Photographer: Rebecca Roper-Gee |
What also surprised me
was what these students didn’t mention. Only two knew that Sir Ed Hillary had
been to the Pole - in fact, only one mentioned the South Pole at all (calling
it the southern pole) and not many said anything about where Antarctica is (below NZ at the bottom of the world)
or how beautiful it is (amazing
views / it looks majestic / shiny and bright).
Only a couple knew for certain that polar bears don't live in Antarctica, whereas as many thought they did as mentioned killer whales. Some thought that dogs lived there. Three or four students referred to the aurora (once misnamed the northern lights). None mentioned any of the early explorers like Scott or Shackleton. None mentioned the Erebus tragedy of 1979.
Only a couple knew for certain that polar bears don't live in Antarctica, whereas as many thought they did as mentioned killer whales. Some thought that dogs lived there. Three or four students referred to the aurora (once misnamed the northern lights). None mentioned any of the early explorers like Scott or Shackleton. None mentioned the Erebus tragedy of 1979.
 |
| Scott Base sign with aurora at night. Photographer: Martin Meldrum |
But I also got these great insights from students who knew a bit more:
- There’s a place in Antarctica that is an ice free desert. The climate there is similar to Mars and only microorganisms live there. Scientists plan to research it to use in models for life on Mars.
- The weather changes drastically and during half the year it’s in complete darkness and the other half it’s in complete light.
- Antarctica is melting from climate change and the amount of CO2 in the atmosphere.
