Santee Students to Meet and Learn From Polar Scientists

A group of Santee third graders will get to meet some of the scientists they virtually followed earlier in the school year at the San Diego Natural History Museum on Friday.

The class received a grant to visit the new “Ends of the Earth: From Polar Bears to Penguins” exhibit, which some of the scientists will attend.

Jordan, 9, said she is eager to meet the “brave scientists” and learn if they were “afraid or nervous” when they embarked on their voyage.

“I am excited, and I’m looking forward to just seeing the scientists and how they survived that temperature and got to see all those animals that we couldn’t have done,” Jordan said.

In January, Pamela Barber’s class followed scientists from the Antarctic Ecosystem Research Division who studied the animals and environment in Antarctica. The research team sent the class daily emails that included facts and pictures.

WhaleTimes, a nonprofit that offers educational programs, provided the virtual research mission called “The Bold in the Cold.”

“They got to connect to the scientists,” Barber said. “They knew this isn’t just reading a book, this is really happening and going on right now. These people are really there, really doing this, so it was more interesting to them.”

The scientists studied at a penguin camp for one week, at a seal camp for one week and at sea for two weeks. Barber’s students said they enjoyed learning about the animals most of all.

"I liked this because we all like science," Tyler said. "In science, sometimes you get to do fun experiments, and when you’re dong science, you get to learn about animals, which is really fun. I love animals."

The 9-year-old said he learned about krill, penguins, seals and more.

“Our science books are no match for this,” he added.

Max, who is also 9, said he enjoyed writing letters to the scientists. Every student sent questions to the research team and they sent back some responses. 

“I want to know how many animals they saw, if they got all our questions and what they felt like when they went on this voyage,” Max said.

Because her students enjoyed the experience so much, Barber plans to follow scientists again next year, which her students think is a great idea.

“This is a really good thing that kids should look into and research animals,” Jordan said. “They’ll learn things that they have never knew.”

Max added: “I would say people should follow them, because the science that they did was really interesting. You could learn a lot of things that you probably wouldn’t have learned without it.”