Why would hundreds of scientists from around the world freeze a ship in; Arctic sea ice for an entire year, braving subzero temperatures and; months of polar darkness? This may sound like a fictional adventure; movie plot, but from September 2019 through October 2020, the MOSAiC; (Multidisciplinary drifting Observatory for the Study of Arctic Climate); Arctic research expedition did just this. Currently, the Arctic is; warming twice as fast as the global average (a phenomenon known as; Arctic amplification) and due to a lack of observations, there is; considerable uncertainty in climate models projecting the Arctic climate; of the future. The MOSAiC expedition aims to better understand the; changing Arctic climate system by gathering data from ground zero over a; full seasonal cycle to augment satellite observation data. Using the; expedition as an engagement hook, scientists and curriculum developers; developed a high school earth science curriculum anchored by the; phenomenon that climate scientists are actively trying to explain:; Arctic amplification. The curriculum follows the model-based inquiry; instructional framework where each lesson provides students with; learning experiences (e.g., virtual reality tours of MOSAiC field sites,; analyzing authentic Arctic satellite datasets) that relate back to the; phenomena. Focusing on explaining natural phenomena provides an; authentic context for students to learn and apply scientific; understanding, which research shows can help engage students in NGSS; scientific practices. Here we present an overview of the learning; sequence using refinement of mental models throughout the unit and; present preliminary results from pre-post assessments from two educator; workshops (~100 teachers) that show that participants’; understanding of Earth’s climate system improved significantly after; engaging with the curriculum. Based on these results, we expect this; curriculum to be an important tool in engaging students in Earth’s; systems thinking.
