Science Lectures in the Arctic's "Science City": Barrow, Alaska

Abstract

... Beginning in spring 2002, the Science division of the Utqiagvik Iñupiat Corporation (UIC), Barrow's local village corporation, took over the renovated original powerhouse building at the Northern Arctic Research Laboratory, formerly the Naval Arctic Research Laboratory (NARL). The newly named UIC Science Center, about three miles north of Barrow, has become the venue for a number of programs. One is the Barrow Schoolyard lecture series, funded under the Long-term Ecological Research (LTER) program of the National Science Foundation, which includes a science-education outreach component. Toolik Station, an LTER base on Alaska's North Slope, did not have a community associated with it. Under the urging of Dr. Jerry Brown, Barrow was appointed as the location for the Schoolyard Project. The program teams scientists with local teachers for public presentations of the researchers' projects or areas of interest, and is administered by the Barrow Arctic Science Consortium (BASC). ... A main objective of the Schoolyard Project talks is to make them attractive to students. The Schoolyard funds have also been used to sponsor an ongoing series of tundra experiments involving small greenhouses and fertilizers, similar to those being run at Toolik Lake. ... While it is too soon to measure results, clearly the injection of high-quality science into the community will have a positive effect on science education in the local schools. The hope of NSF and the local scientists is to make science accessible and useful to the community and to stimulate young people to consider a career in science.