SPRINTT: Student Polar Research with IPY National (and International) Teacher Training

SPRINTT brings cutting-edge science research and Alaska Native traditional knowledge into K-12 classrooms, bridging the science and society divide while inspiring the next generation of polar explorers. SPRINTT is using an innovative, live, online training format to train hundreds of teachers in how to teach life, Earth, and physical science content in a polar context. Polar scientists directly inform the content and participate in the training. SPRINTT provides teachers with existing and adapted, high-quality, standards-based curricular materials and collaborates with science and education partners to simplify research data and create a user-friendly interface from which students perform their own authentic polar research projects. Students from around the world share their research findings through a collaborative space within the SPRINTT website. The aim is to prepare hundreds of teachers to teach about the significance of the Polar Regions within the Earth system and to present materials and tools with an Alaska Native lens. Through synchronous (live) and asynchronous collaborations, teachers share best practices as they infuse and adopt polar science into their curriculum and learn to effectively facilitate student research.

SPRINTT impacts more than 25,000 upper elementary, middle, and high school students around the world. The majority of U.S. students are from underrepresented groups including Alaska Natives, and those from urban and rural areas. SPRINTT spreads the work of IPY-related partners including the Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research, the Inuit Circumpolar Council, Alaska Native Science Commission, the International Polar Foundation, the National Snow and Ice Data Center, ANDRILL, WWF International, NOAA, Bering Sea Ecosystem Study, and GEOSummit. The project is engaging the public in polar discovery through guided student research projects. Innovative teacher training brings Earth's polar systems into the classroom, and promotes international cooperation as students examine the critical role of the polar regions in global processes and the changes to the Arctic as viewed by native peoples.