The Vital Ice STEM Kit has model ice cores that let students explore real data collected in Denali National Park. Students will create a permafrost model, study glacial ice core data and learn about climate change.

Big Concepts: include: 1) permafrost; 2) glacial ice cores; 3) climate change; and 4) cultural context.

Scientific Inquiry Skills include: 1) data collection and analysis; 2) using a multimeter; 3) graphing; 4) scientific illustration; and 5) use of science notebooks.

Vital Ice STEM Kit Tutorials

Vital Ice STEM Kit Resources

Other Helpful Resources

Borrowing Vital Ice STEM Kits

Educators in Alaska should contact Stacia Backensto at stacia_backensto@nps.gov or 907.455.0669 for information on how to borrow the kits – there are sets in Fairbanks and at Denali and Kenai Fjords National Parks that can be mailed out to teachers around the state.
Educators outside of Alaska should contact the NSEOC through the loan applications below.

There is no charge to educators who wish to borrow any of our STEM kits. Send the appropriate application form via email to Laura Schoenfeld (laura.schoenfeld@colostate.edu) or fax (970-491-2005). We appreciate applications to be sent 2 weeks in advance to the desired use date.

When one tugs at a single thing in nature, he finds it attached to the rest of the world. – John Muir

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