Members of the Congressional Science Committee heading to Antarctica prepare to journey to the bottom of the world to review research ongoing both on the Antarctic coast at McMurdo and at the South Pole.

Learning about the earth’s most extreme environments was never like this.

Thanks to technology and the good graces of a local Congressman, a group of fourth- and fifth-grade Gifted and Talented students at Woodholme Elementary School got a first-person account of life in Antarctica during a special teleconference on January 9.

“Distance learning,” indeed!

The special teleconference was held by U.S. Rep. Roscoe Bartlett, who communicated to Woodholme students during a visit to McMurdo Science Station on the Antarctic continent. Rep. Bartlett, who visited the remote station as a member of the Congressional Science Committee, chatted via long distance with excited students and answered questions for about 40 minutes.

Students lined up to ask the Congressman questions.

“This is a remarkable opportunity for our students,” said Lori Zimmerman, a resource teacher in the Office of Science for Baltimore County Public Schools. “From a lot of different angles, he is a very credible person to be speaking to students about science.”

She referred to Bartlett’s experience as a scientist and former professor. In addition to taking questions, he presented a lesson on Antarctica for students about the experiments going on at McMurdo, where because of a 17-hour time difference it was early in the morning of the next day.

Rep. Roscoe Bartlett prepares to board a U.S. Air Force flight to Antarctica by way of New Zealand.

“I want to do everything I can to encourage our young people to study and consider careers in science, mathematics, and engineering,” said Congressman Bartlett.

“Antarctica is larger than the United States and Mexico combined,” he added. “Federally funded research . . . is making unique contributions to advancing our knowledge about the origins of the universe, the origins of life, and the global climate. . . . It’s summer now in Antarctica, but it will be well below zero if the weather permits us to land at the South Pole Science Station.”

The trip was the second to the frozen continent for Bartlett, who is part of a delegation from the Congressional Science Committee to review the research of the National Science Foundation.

Woodholme Principal Maralee Clark listens intently to students as they converse with Rep. Bartlett in a call from Antarctica.

During the teleconference, students were well prepared to discuss the harsh conditions at the bottom of the world. The lesson dovetailed with current instruction available to Woodholme students through the JASON project, a program that has ties to NASA scientists and that has sparked students’ interest in science careers. Students at the Pikesville school currently are studying a “Life in the Extremes” course, part of the larger JASON lesson on “Mysteries of Earth and Mars.”

Students and Congressman Bartlett noted that much of the work being done in Antarctica has links to space and to Mars. Among the students’ questions were how those living at Antarctica survive, how animals survive, and what scientists have learned about Mars by studying the Antarctic environment.

Story by Charles Herndon, Communications Specialist. Photos by Lori Zimmerman, BCPS Office of Science, and courtesy of the office of the Honorable Rep. Roscoe Bartlett.