A research cruise to Antarctica.

Hanneke Luijting (UEA) and Sam Farringdon (Tuckswood Community Primary School)

Last year Hanneke took part in a research cruise to Antarctica and kept in touch with her class while on the ship with a web-diary. The aim of the cruise was to deploy 40 drifters (buoys equipped with GPS tags), and the school followed the trip closely,  http://lgmacweb.env.uea.ac.uk/adelie/ADELIEPhotos.html)

“The children were fascinated by Hanneke’s journey to the Antarctic. We followed their progress every couple of days through the on-line journal they had set up” said Sam, “The children were always eager for the next instalment and to keep track of their drifter.”

Hanneke asked all the children in her class to decorate a polystyrene cup with a waterproof marker before she left, flying to the Antarctic with her hand luggage full of polystyrene cups and flying back with a load of crushed cups! The cups were attached to one of the instruments on the ship and were lowered to the ocean bottom (up to 4000m deep!). The cups were crushed by the water pressure at such depths, and returned to the surface as miniature versions of what they were before.

Both the trip and Hanneke’s visits to the school have been a valuable experience for the pupils “They learnt so much from Hanneke about different aspects of the trip, from the animals they saw to life on the ship. The class found the cup experiment particularly exciting and could not wait to take them home and show them off.”

So what does Hanneke think about her partnership, “It was great fun, and I enjoyed talking to the children. The partnership has been very rewarding for me, though I do have to disappoint the children sometimes. The first time I came to the school, one boy asked me what the meaning of life is. He was truly disappointed that I couldn’t give him the answer – he thought scientists knew everything…!

Sam was similarly enthusiastic "It was fantastic for the children to have a working scientist come in and explain some of the ideas behind these topics. They learnt much more than my subject knowledge would have allowed."