Beyond Penguins and Polar Bears will maximize the impact of International Polar Year on elementary classrooms by capturing student interest and fostering the ability of elementary school teachers to integrate polar concepts into their teaching by 1) selecting, augmenting, and contextualizing quality learning resources from the National Science Digital Library, the Ohio Resource Center, and other IPY-funded projects; 2) creating 20 issues of a multimedia cyberzine with a combined focus on inquiry-based science and content-rich literacy learning; 3) modifying communication, production, and cyberinfrastructure tools that amplify resource discovery and access to resources and increase the ease of reuse and repurposing of content; 4) disseminating deliverables through presentations, publications, and push technologies; and 5) evaluating the impact of project deliverables on teachers and students.
