This past week, I had the fortune of talking with students in nine different classes in the INSIDE/OUT! summer program. Our conversations ranged from using wireless communications and satellites to expand the ability to do science in remote areas to sharing our ideas across continents and cultures using art as our tool.
Mark shows future rocket scientists how to track the location of a satellite with the satellite terminal he will be taking to Siberia to communicate with.
We also discussed what living in the Siberian Arctic would be like this time of year. Students were amazed how many mosquitoes we are likely to encounter due to the high amount of surface water in the area. One student even tried on my Xtra Tuff rubber boots and my awesome Bug Shirt – a tightly woven piece of clothing that covers my head and sides with mesh to keep those angry blighters away.
A student models the Mark’s Xtra Tuff rubber boots and Bug Shirt for her peers and teacher in the “Mural, Mural on the Wall” art class at INSIDE/OUT!
Curiosity Always Strikes More Than Once
While talking to one particularly curious class from INSIDE/OUT! Summer Program, I mentioned that there will be 24 hour daylight in Siberia during our expedition. This class, “Wacky Weather,” had earlier conducted an experiment of watching how the shadow of a stake changed locations and size as the sun moved from east to west. This brought up a really great question by one very curious student:
If the Sun Never Sets, Where Does It Travel?
To answer this question, I hope to perform the same shadow experiment in Cherskiy, weather and time permitting. Additionally, I should be able to make observations of the location of the sun in the sky as well to share in a future journal – but this time from Siberia. I leave in just a few days!