PENGUIN High
Polar ENgagement through GUided INquiry for High School
PENGUIN modules give High School students the opportunity to use powerful computational tools to work with real-world data in the classroom, while learning about polar regions and climate change. The modules are at the intersection with disciplinary skills in fields from Geosciences, to Economics, to Algebra.
PENGUIN modules
PENGUIN is an NSF-funded project to bring polar research and data into undergraduate classrooms. For PENGUIN High, the modules have been modified for the High School level to provide an easy entry into powerful computational tools.
Choose from Excel, Python, or R. Modules in Python and R are completed on an online platform, with no downloading or prior coding experience required.
Sea Level Rise
Students learn how melting polar ice is raising sea level, and use cost-benefit analysis to determine how high to build a wall in a coastal city to hold back the seas. (Excel)
Penguin Populations
Students learn about Adelie, Gentoo, and Chinstrap penguins and learn concepts in Algebra by fitting straight lines to data on penguin populations, and breeding.
(Excel or Python)
Permafrost
Students learn what Permafrost is, why it is thawing, and why it matters. Students learn the Physics concept of heat flux, and calculate heat flux through Permafrost. (Python)
More to come!
PENGUIN modules for the High school are still in development. Check back for more on topics including sea ice melt, the green-house effect, image processing, and more.
Acknowledgements
PENGUIN modules were created with funding from the National Science Foundation. Creative Commons Copyright. You may freely use and share with attribution to the PENGUIN project as follows:
Rowe, P.M. et al, Integrating polar research into undergraduate curricula using computational guided inquiry, JGE, 2020. (link)