Teaching Profession

Resource Watch: Virtual Field Trip to Mt. Kilimanjaro

By Francesca Duffy — September 25, 2012 1 min read
  • Save to favorites
  • Print

Middle and high school science teachers might want to take note of a free virtual journey being offered to classrooms this week and next. Students and teachers can follow online as an expedition team made up of scientists, teachers, and students from the U.S. and different parts of the world go on a nine-day trek to gather scientific data on Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania. The trip, which is being undertaken for the 5th straight year, is part of The GLOBE Program, an international science and education program that advocates for the collaboration of students, teachers, and scientists on inquiry-based investigations of the environment.

On the expedition’s website, teachers and students will find a journal entry from each day on the mountain, activity worksheets and lesson plans that explore climate science and the area’s resources, a virtual safari, and the opportunity to sign up for two webinars. The first webinar, on September 26, will take place before the climb and will be hosted by the scientists, who will discuss hydrology, mountain ecology, and the permafrost research taking place on the mountain. The second webinar will take place October 1 and will be broadcast from 15,000 feet up on the mountain. It will be hosted by the students and teachers on the trek, who will show what it’s like to perform real scientific research on a mountain.

Related Tags:

A version of this news article first appeared in the Teaching Now blog.