Talbert Students Taking Virtual Arctic Trip

Students in Fountain Valley’s middle school science classes have an exciting opportunity to connect with the Alaskan tundra as they follow the activities of John Wood, a science teacher at Talbert Middle School who is part of a research team studying changes to the carbon cycle in northern forests. As he treks through Alaska, Woods is multitasking, studying and teaching about the carbon cycle as he goes.

Prior to embarking on this exciting journey, Woods introduced himself and his work to students throughout the Fountain Valley School District. “I have been given the opportunity to visit and speak at every school in our district and I continue to be amazed at the positive response from the kids. They are excited to learn about polar regions and the science that is being conducted there,” Wood said.

Wood is sharing experiments that copy the setting of warmer and dryer tundra. Students in classrooms here in Fountain Valley (and anyone interested) connect with Wood and his team via internet.

Wood previously completed an expedition to Antarctica during 2008 and 2009, working with Dr. Phil Kyle from New Mexico Technical University, living and working on Mt. Erebus, the world's southernmost active volcano, and he was selected to attend and present a poster at the International Polar Year Conference in Oslo, Norway.

Wood was selected from about 300 teachers who apply each year to get on an expedition. Out of those, 12 teachers are chosen to participate. “It was very important to me to get involved with a project working in the Arctic regions so that I can begin to understand not only how systems work in the north, but also to get a larger picture of how both polar regions play a part in the world's climate and how climate change is everyone's concern,” Wood said.

Wood said that some of the difficult parts of the expeditions are being away from home for extended periods, along with keeping up and understanding the science in a way that can be passed on to the students. Field work is hard at times, but showing the students what real science looks like on a daily basis is very exciting, he said.

Wood feels that it is critical to our future that young people become motivated to understand how the world works and to predict the challenges they will face in the near future. “The students have the imaginations and the energy needed to tackle [science, technology, engineering and math] issues in an ever shrinking world,” he said. “My goal is to connect my district and community with the current issues in cryosphere research that already affects us all.”

Wood values the opportunity to teach current, real-life science and make those connections between education and research. Sharing his experiences with the Erebus expedition -- living and working on an active volcano -- excited him about teaching.