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It's just one lesson fifth-grade students in Kim Bautista's class at Ravenwood Elementary School are learning this winter as they take a variety of weekly measurements at Birch Lake for a study being conducted by cold weather researchers at the University of Alaska Fairbanks.
"It's a rare opportunity for students," said Crystal Wrabetz, an Anchorage School District science expert who came out to the Birchwood Camp facility in mid-December to help Bautista and university researchers teach the fifth graders the proper ways to measure snowfall on ice, ice thickness and temperature. "It's really exciting that they will get to take real time data to apply to an authentic research project."
This winter marks the first entrance of data from Birch Lake into UAF's Alaska Lake Ice and Snow Observatory Network (ALISON) program. According to the project's Web site, the program is designed to increase knowledge and understanding of scientific inquiry and to promote polar science in elementary and secondary classrooms. The data also contributes to the scientific knowledge and understanding of lake ice and snow in Alaska. Also, the program offers the opportunity for Anchorage K-12 educators and university level faculty to work together.
In reality, it boils down to university researchers out on a frozen lake in crisp temperatures teaching eager pre-teens the proper methods for measuring snow depth and taking ice temperatures.
"You are going to be our scientific partners," said Martin Jeffries, a research professor of geophysics at UAF's Geophysical Institute, one of two scientists handling the Birch Lake project. "We have to be very fussy when taking measurements so that we are as accurate as possible."
Jeffries went on to explain the scientific necessity of accuracy while the experiment site stood out on the middle of the lake with its series of markers spread apart at five-meter intervals across a 100-meter line.
"When we get out there, you have to stick to the trails that are already in the snow because we want as little disturbance in the snow as possible," he said. "If not, our science won't be as good as it could be, If you run all over the place, you will ruin our site."
The students tromped out to the middle of the lake where Jeffries and Kim Morris, a UAF staff research professional working with Jeffries, divided the children into groups of two and three for trips down the line to take measurements at 21 different markers.
Some wanted to round their measurements off, but as Jeffries repeated the findings aloud to Bautista, who recorded them in the log book, he once again reminded them that scientific measurements have to be exact.
His patience perhaps stems from his own experiences when he was just a few years older than the young "scientists" on the lake.
Included in his bio on the ALISON Web site is information regarding how his seventh-grade geography and geology teacher inspired him to pursue his chosen career path.
Wrabetz is hopeful that scenario may somehow play out again with Jeffries interaction with the Ravenwood fifth graders.
"You just never know what influence something such as this might have on a student," she said. "It might just be the thing that gets them hooked on science."
If nothing else, the ALISON project might help imbed the need for appropriate winter clothing, at least for Chris Bottini, a fifth-grade girl.
When asked if she was looking forward to making repeated trips to the lake to take measurements, she said, "Well, maybe if I remember to bring more layers of clothes."
Her measuring partner, Lindsay Carbonell, echoed that sentiment.
"Yeah, more socks," she said. "But it was still pretty cool to walk out on a frozen lake and see all the ice."
To learn more about the ALISON project online, visit www.gi.alaska.edu/alison.
Reach the reporter at amyarmstrong@gci.net.