Teacher and student discussed ways to access information about the Antarctic. e.g. visit the Antarctic exhibition, ask people, read books/magazines/newspapers, write letters, watch television programs and videos, use CD-ROMs, see what the Internet could offer.

Resources for Investigating:

Print:

• Antarctica - a very different environment, A Newspapers in Education page compiled by Joan Steinman, The Courier, Ballarat, Monday, May 20, 1996
• Antarctic Life Nature's Cross-sections - a Sunday Herald Sun Series, No. 3, June 2, 1996.
• Mawson Hero of the Antarctic by Nikki Barrowclough in Good Weekend, The Age Magazine, June 29, 1996. A description of the tragic expedition in 1911 by Douglas Mawson who is featured on the $100 note.
• Floss - The Wandering Albatross (1995) Linda and Warren Newton, Waterhole Publications, Elphinstone, Victoria. ISBN 646-24112-5
• The Wonders of Weather, Bureau of Meteorology, (Available from AGPS Mail Order Sales GPO Box 84, Canberra ACT 2601. Freecall 132 447)
• Antarctica, Macmillan, Southern Cross (children's book)
• Notes from 66 DEGREES SOUTH - Tales from an Antarctic Station
• Comprehension exercise about Robert Scott's race with Amundsen to be the first to reach the South Pole in January, 1912.

Interactive multimedia:

• CD-ROM What's for Dinner Thank you! Food web in Antarctica
• CD-ROM Grollier's Encyclopedia
• CD-ROM Compton's Interactive Encyclopedia
• The World Book Multimedia Encyclopedia (printouts of text and images from home computers and brought to school by the children)
• CD-ROM Encarta Encyclopedia (printouts from home computers) World Atlas to print maps from computer

Videos:

• ABC Video Heading South (1996) Tim Bowden
• Catalyst Video Gaia

Internet sites:

• Antarctic and Southern Ocean Commission go to links page

For Antarctic Treaties:

• Environment Protocol to the Antarctic Treaty (Madrid Protocol)
• Antarctic Treaty (1959), the Convention for the Conservation of Antarctic Seals (1972) and the Convention on the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (1980):
• The Traveling Penguin's Home Page - located at . This distraction from the topic begins with a John Ruskin quotation :

  "I find penguins at present the only comfort in life. One feels everything in the world so sympathetically ridiculous; one can't be angry when one looks at a penguin."

  Click to find out about the penguin travels and to see where he has been. Many links to more conventional penguins.
  
  
• Gateway Antarctica Home Page  - located at http://icair.iac.org.nz
• Australian Antarctic Division - located at http://www.antdiv.gov.au
  Australian website with links to other sites. Contains a map, photographs, information about expeditioners, history, etc. At Mawson there are live video pictures via a permanent satellite link to the Antarctic Division Headquarters in Tasmania.
• MET on the NET - located at http://www.bom.gov.au
  Bureau of Meteorology website which provides general information about weather and climate, including the seasons. At the Reference Climate Stations map you can click on the three Antarctic stations in the Australian Sector for current weather conditions.

Search Engines: use these to find other useful websites.

Learning outcome:
Document the steps to collect data and to produce information for different audiences.
The children formulated questions individually and in groups to ask the Antarctic expeditioners. Final decisions on particular questions were decided by the class as a whole. Each child chose one question to ask.