Resources for Educators
Listed below are our available resources and opportunities for educators 鈥 from the field to your classroom! Have a need for something not listed below? Or want to collaborate on a new resource? Let us know! Reach out at uaf-iab-toolik@alaska.edu.
Polar STEAM Polar Educators
The Polar Educators program facilitates virtual and field deployments to the Arctic and Antarctic for both formal and informal educators in the United States. The program, funded by the National Science Foundation, works with faculty from community colleges, middle and high school educators, as well as informal educators who can incorporate polar science education into their work.
Polar STEAM often pairs educators with scientists based at Toolik Field Station. Educators can learn more about the program and .
Arctic Long-Term Ecological Research program
Located at Toolik Field Station since 1987, the Arctic LTER seeks to understand and predict the effects of environmental change on Arctic landscapes, both natural and anthropogenic. Through a mix of long-term ecological monitoring, experimental manipulation, and modeling, Arctic LTER scientists gain an understanding of ecosystem structure and function, with the aim to predict how Arctic ecosystems respond to environmental change.
Each summer, the program hosts between two and 10 K-12 teachers to provide field research experiences and co-create lessons using real-life data.
Contact the Arctic LTER鈥檚 education coordinator Amanda Morrison at arcticlter.education@gmail.com for more information.
PolarTREC
The PolarTREC program provided field research experiences for teachers in the Arctic and Antarctica. Researchers at Toolik Field Station have hosted 19 PolarTREC teachers. As of 2025, PolarTREC is no longer in operation. Past PolarTREC educators at Toolik are:
- - Liza Backman
- - Alejandra Martinez, David Walker, Kate Steeper
- - Melissa Lau, Svea Anderson, Kim Young
- - Jennifer Baldacci,
- - DJ Kast, Nell Kemp
- - Andre Wille, Lauren Watel, Regina Brinker,
- - Alicia Gillean, Bruce Taterka, Nell Kemp,
- - Melissa Barker, Susan Steiner, Nick LaFave
Mosquito Diversity in Alaska
Learn all about in this module for undergraduate biology students. The learning module features real-world data collected by the National Ecological Observatory Network (NEON) at five sites across Alaska, including Toolik Field Station. Students explore data on the abundance and timing of several mosquito species common to the Arctic and analyze connected temperature and soil moisture information.
It was created by Toolik鈥檚 SEDC manager Amanda Young in collaboration with others from the University of Alaska and the National Ecological Observatory Network, with funding support from the National Science Foundation award #2120710.
A research assistant holds a block of tundra, sampled for vegetation and soil analysis.
Data Nuggets
are free classroom activities, co-designed by scientists and teachers. When using Data Nuggets, students are provided with the details of authentic science research projects, and then work through an activity looking for patterns and developing explanations about natural phenomena using the scientific data from the study. Below are Data Nuggets that have been created from research at Toolik Field Station.
- : Nutrients Control Algal Growth
- : Arctic Watersheds as Indicators of Change
Arctic LTER
The following lesson plans were created by K-12 educators who visited Toolik Field Station as part of the Arctic LTER鈥檚 Research Experiences for Teachers program.
- What is the Density of Water Bears in your Local Habitat? (High School)
- (Middle School)
- (Middle School)
- (High School)
- (Middle School)
Toolik scientist Austin Allison handles an arctic ground squirrel while demonstrating safe trapping techniques to a visiting group of high school students.
PolarTREC
While PolarTREC is no longer in operation, you can find educator resources, including videos, reports, and presentations, on the .
Below are lessons and activities created by PolarTREC educators at Toolik Field Station.
All Grades
Elementary School
Middle School
High School
Polar STEAM
- (middle school)
- (middle school)
- (middle school)
Want to create your own lessons based on real-world data? All of the data collected by Toolik Field Station is free and available for anyone to download and use. First, agree to our conditions of use. Then you鈥檒l be able to download full datasets for free.
We have both biotic and abiotic data available to download on our Environmental Data Center鈥檚 webpages. You can also find open-access data from the Toolik region in the .
Additional data is available from the site and the .
Toolik Field Station is located in Alaska鈥檚 remote Arctic tundra, offering countless opportunities to experience the region鈥檚 rich natural history. Our station鈥檚 naturalist and other staff share their observations in the Toolik Naturalist Journal.
We also have guides to the region鈥檚 mammals, birds, fish, and plants. More information about the region鈥檚 natural history is shared in our virtual herbarium, animal sighting interactive data visualization tool, and our annual summaries of weather and wildlife.
Take a Virtual Field Trip with 360藲 Videos & Photos
Join Toolik scientists as they venture out to research sites in our 360藲 videos and photos. Measure lake ice, kayak on the lake, take water samples from a warm spring, and more. Videos can be viewed on any screen but work best in a VR headset.
A selection of videos is available on our 360藲 content webpage. Contact us at uaf-toolik-edc@alaska.edu for higher-quality images and more options.
Virtual Classroom Visits
Learn about Toolik research and the station in a video between your class and a Toolik scientist or science support staff. We鈥檒l share some photos and videos about our work and answer all your students鈥 questions. Calls range from 15 to 60 minutes, depending on what works best for you and your class.
Sign up for a virtual classroom visit by contacting Haley Dunleavy at hdunleavy@alaska.edu or call 907-474-6407.
Have questions about the Arctic or life at a remote research station? Write to us! We鈥檒l send a letter back with answers to your questions and some free stickers or postcards for you and your students. Send snail mail to:
Toolik Field Station
c/o pen pal
2120 N. Koyukuk Dr. #138
Fairbanks, Alaska
99775-7005
Or you could email us a letter at uaf-iab-toolik@alaska.edu with the subject 鈥淐lassroom pen pals.鈥
Looking for more information about what's happening at the station? to receive email updates and our quarterly newsletter. Read more about our Toolik in our Stories from the Field.

