Teacher to go on trip of a lifetime to the arctic

Teacher to go on trip of a lifetime to the arctic

Jana Dean teacher her students about global warming at George Washington Bush Elementary in Tumwater.

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Story Published: Feb 6, 2007 at 6:02 PM PDT

Story Updated: Mar 31, 2008 at 5:48 PM PDT

By John Sharify

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TUMWATER - Beginning next week for two weeks, a substitute teacher will teach Jana Dean's math class at George Washington Bush Middle School in Tumwater.

Jana is headed someplace she's never been. Few of us have.

The arctic!

After publishing an article about global warming and how to teach it, the Earthwatch Institute and the National Geographic Society contacted her and offered her a trip of a lifetime. She's going to the arctic to join researchers who will be measuring arctic ice and snow pack temperatures.

"I'm jealous of her, I want to go," says Nik Steele, one of her math students. "I think it's a scary topic and we have to do something about it before we can't reverse it."

The students have learned there are no easy answers when it comes to global warming. As controversy swirls around this topic, Jana Dean tells her 8th grad mathematicians, it's all about the science.

"It's a complex topic but these students have the analytical skills to look at variables and understand and interpret graphs, and understand the data scientists put together to come up with their own conclusions," says Dean.

When she gets there, Jana Dean will begin blogging on Janadean.blogspot.com. This way her students will be able to track what she's doing and thinking.

I asked her: "Will your students miss you?" Jana paused and turned to her class and asked: "I don't know will you miss me?" They screamed "Yeah!"

Right answer.

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