Blog Gets Kids Excited for Science

WASHINGTON -- An Air Force officer's Antarctica-based blog is bringing science to life for students from the Department of Defense Education Activity and a Maryland-area school.

 

The blog's author, Lt. Col. Ed "Hertz" Vaughan, was stationed in Antarctica for 50 days in support of Operation Deep Freeze, the military's support of National Science Foundation Research. He wrote about his day-to-day experiences of living and working there in the blog "Dispatches from Antarctica," which is featured on the Armed With Science website.

 

John Ohab, who coordinated this series for the Defense Department, shared Vaughan's posts with students and science teachers worldwide and asked them to submit questions to Vaughan.

 

Ohab then passed on their questions to Vaughan, whose responses will be featured in three posts on Armed with Science this month. Questions submitted by Arnold Elementary School in Arnold, Md., already are posted and questions from DoDEA students will be featured Jan. 14.

 

In last week's post, students wanted to know about everything from the food Vaughan ate to whether there were bugs in the frigid climate, which often plummets to minus 20 degrees Fahrenheit.

 

Vaughan's responses include a mix of humor, science and some great video he shot while there.

 

I hope you take the time to check these blog posts out and to share them with your children or students you may know. They offer a great glimpse at life in Antarctica and the important work the military is supporting there.

 

For more on this project, read Navy Lt. Jennifer Cragg's American Forces Press Service article "Antarctica Blog Connects Students With Science."