A Chilly Summer Vacation?
By Paul Larochelle – Editor
Tuesday, October 07, 2008 6:58 AM
For our readers not familiar with the adventurous Frank Kelley, a teacher at Chester - Andover Elementary School, he’s the kind of mentor you wish you had as a teacher in the fifth or sixth grade.
Unabashed as a member of his fan club, it’s my pleasure to bring a diary of his archaeological sojourn as a PolarTREC teacher as part of the Nuvuk Project in Barrow, AK.
Kelley will be Alaska bound as you read this, and will e-mail his updates to me, which I will pass on to our readers.
Paul Larochelle – Editor
Teachers have the best summer vacation options of anyone in the working world. Summers off, no work to do, lots of adventures, what more could anyone want?
Well, most teachers take advantage of the summer break to develop new programs for their students while also getting smarter themselves.
A very lucky few do that while traveling to distant places that one would usually not get to.
I’m taking the summer learning opportunities to a new level this year, heading to the northernmost part of Alaska to be part of an archaeological expedition uncovering house sites and burial mounds!
I’m one of 12 PolarTREC teachers from across the USA chosen to participate in National Science Foundation projects that connect classroom teachers with researchers working in the polar regions.
This critical research is documenting changes that are happening as climate patterns shift.
The Nuvuk Archaeology Project that I’m joining has been working for the last few years to find, examine, document, excavate, and relocate burial mounds and house sites of native people, known as Inupiat.
The Inupiat hunted whales and seals with stone tools, traded for caribou, built sleds and houses from driftwood and whale bones, and carved out a living for over 1,200 years!
The weather patterns, just like the sunlight, change quickly when you get that far north, above the Arctic Circle. At times it there is 24 hours of daylight, with blue skies and temperatures in the 60’s F. At other times of the year, the people experience 24 hours of darkness, snow, and extreme cold.
I’m wondering, “How did these people survive such difficult conditions?”
The archaeology work he is doing will hopefully shed some light on the native people.
Specifically, their customs, food, tools, clothing, building materials and what they found to be important.
Interviews with some of the native people will add a personal dimension to the exciting science and historical research.
I’m going to take these experiences and use them with students to illustrate the work that archaeologists do, explain about the polar regions, and connect to native cultures. Needless to say, I’ll certainly be busy during this “vacation”. You can participate in my project, Nuvuk Archaeology Expedition, or any one of the other PolarTREC projects, by going to www.polartrec.com and searching around.
There are teacher-scientists right now in Greenland, Norway, out in the Bering Sea, as well as up in Alaska.
Each teacher will post journal entries, pictures, audio clips, and you can even ask the team or the teacher questions about the work they are doing. Join me on my great archaeological adventure, it’s a once in a lifetime opportunity!
