Vol. 19, No. 2 - Winter 2003

Live from the Arctic: It’s Nomads Adventure and Education

Aaron Doering, a lecturer in the Department of Curriculum and Instruction who received a Ph.D. in instructional systems and technology in December 2002, wanted to find a way to meld his love of teaching and technology with his passion for the environment.

Now in its third year, reaching more than 1,500 schools and 6,000 students, with 50,000 students this year alone, Nomads Adventure and Education seems to be well on its way to helping him succeed. Nomads is an online education program for K–12 classrooms around the globe that Doering is helping to implement with Paul Pregont and Mille Porsild, who founded Nomads in 1996 to foster connections between schools and arctic expeditions. Nomads is an outgrowth of work Pregont and Porsild did with Minnesota polar explorer Will Steger in the early 1990s.

Nomads offers the opportunity for students in K–12 classrooms with Internet connections to follow Doering and his fellow adventurer-educators as they dogsled through the Arctic regions, interview and work with indigenous residents, and investigate environmental issues.

Students can send questions to the Arctic team via e-mail, which team members receive on their satellite phone—from how many dogs they have pulling their sleds, to how much impact global warming is having on the Arctic, to how an Inuit elder builds an igloo—and get immediate answers.

The Nomads program also provides a comprehensive 10-week curriculum guide to teachers that can be integrated throughout the disciplines of literature, math, science, geography, cultural studies, history, physical education, art, and music. The college offers an online training program for teachers who want to use the curriculum.

“We operate from an inter-active Web site that is a first in that students from all over the world can exchange projects on the subject of the week,” Doering says. “It’s a collaboration zone that allows students to learn, not just the lesson, but about each other. No expensive software is needed to access and use the site —just a normal browser—and translation software handles the different languages.”

For those teachers who don’t have access to the technology needed, Nomads can provide CD-ROM materials and the curriculum can be used successfully without Internet access.

“The program brings global awareness into the K–12 curriculum through adventure learning, exploration, and discovery,” Doering says.

“Through the expeditions and the online curriculum, students will understand their relationship with the Arctic. This will help them to have an appreciation for the interrelationships between humans and the environment from a local to a global scale.”

Doering, Porsild, Pregont, and Steger are currently planning next year’s expedition, Nunavut Transect 2004, a 3,000-mile expedition across Nunavut, Canada’s largest and newest territory, with visits to eight villages throughout the Arctic.

“The 2004 expedition will focus on raising awareness of the environment, especially global warming and climate change, to students through authentic learning within an online environment. It’s much like this year’s program, but with hopes of even a larger impact,” Doering says.

More information is available at www.polarhusky.com or by contacting Doering at adoering@umn.edu or 612-625-1073.