Engineering: British university prepares teachers for polar expedition

 

University of Portsmouth scientists are putting forward four school teachers from across England through intense training in preparation for an Antarctic Expedition.

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The scientists have sent the teachers to the university’s new high-tech sports science centre for the specialist groundwork.

Two men and two women make up the team of teachers that will venture to the Elsworth Mountians in Antarctica in November.

Sponsored by the Fuchs Foundation, the teachers will carry out science projects while coping with the extremes of the climate.

They will also map out the ecological footprint of the expedition itself to determine the environmental impact of the group's polar mission.

Each teacher has been tested by scientists at the university's Department of Sport and Exercise Science to make sure they are up to the task of going into one of the planet's most inhospitable regions.

The scientists, led by Professor Mike Tipton, looked at different aspects in two days of tests including anthropometry (body shape), psychology, aerobic and anaerobic fitness, cold injury and peripheral vascular responses, thermal sensitivity, and thermoregulatory function.

Once in Antarctica, the teachers will interact with students back in England live via weblogs, chat forums and streaming video on the internet.

Students will suggest experiments

"We will be on the ice taking cues from our students back in England who might want us to experiment with various things that they are curious about," said on of the teachers involved, Phil Avery, who teaches geography at Oxted School.

"It's a fantastic interactive way of taking science into the classroom in a way that really captivates the students' imagination.

"I will be looking at how humans survive the extremes of cold temperatures - sometimes as lows as -90ºC plus wind chill," he commented.

"This information will be used to stimulate discussion with students such as how fat or fit do you need to be to deal with the cold? Should you eat lard or Weetabix?

"The team will be lending their bodies to the study and while surviving in Antarctica we will have our faces and hands regularly plunged into iced water to see if it really does cause the heart rate to slow," he said.

The other teachers, Ruth Hollinger, Amy Rogers and Ian Richardson, will be conducting their own projects.

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