Key Concepts in Polar Science: Coming to Consensus on the Essential Polar Literacy Principles

Abstract

For many people, the Polar Regions remain distant locations, unconnected to their lives, and far from their daily concern. Funded by the National Science Foundation, the goal of the Polar Interdisciplinary Coordinated Education (Polar-ICE) program was to engage the public in understanding how Polar Regions influence our lives while improving their understanding of how scientists work to measure and understand the changing Polar Regions and the global climate system. Through this work, the need emerged for a unified set of messages about the Polar Regions that identify the “big ideas” all people should know about the Poles, the regions which regulate the Earth’s climate. The messages can save as the infrastructure to enable scientists to construct more effective Broader Impacts Projects to engage the public in learning about the Polar Regions end for educators to integrate these big ideas into their STEM teaching both in school and out-of-school learning environments.