In keeping with last year’s tradition, a team of scientists and teachers will put on snow gear and brave subfreezing weather conditions to participate in the second annual History of Winter (HOW) camp in Lake Placid, New York, from February 17-23, 2002. HOW 2002 is a science learning camp for teachers and pre-service teachers who have an opportunity to live among and work alongside snow and ice scientists. Teachers will endure wintry conditions for seven days, and observe the history of winter as recorded in the metamorphism of the snowpack and the crystal structure of ice.
Peter Wasilewski, of the Laboratory for Extraterrestrial Physics at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., and Tony Gow, from the U.S. Army Cold Regions Research and Engineering Lab, will manage the 2002 winter camp program. Lake Placid, New York., hosted the 1932 and 1980 Winter Olympics, therefore, it is an ideal location to perform studies for non-polar snow-ice-cold investigations.
Wasilewski notes, “we could not have snowflakes and lake ice at the winter Olympic cities without water in the clouds and on the ground. The history of snowflakes is related to the meteorology which is dictated by geomorphic features, atmospheric changes, relationships to water masses all happening in response to the position of the tilted Earth in its yearly orbital path around the Sun”.
After the snow and ice studies are complete, teachers will use their history of winter experience to develop an innovative science curriculum that meets National Science Education Standards. Thirty teachers from twelve states are participating, from New England, the mid-Atlantic region and from the District of Columbia.
The Northwood School in Lake Placid, New York is the host site for the HOW 2002 winter camp. The event involves several partners such as the Northwood School, NASA, MU-SPIN (Minority University Space Interdisciplinary Network), CASE and Blue Ice International. In addition to Wasilewski, other Goddard attendees will include Rosemary Milham of the Education Office, Valerie Thomas of MU-SPIN and Gunther Keltetschka.
http://www.blueiceonline.com/howsite/lakeice_about.html
