The starting point for these Classroom Antarctica activities, and for comprehensive information on Australia’s Antarctic program, is the Australian Antarctic Division website.

Besides the sites listed below, there are many more excellent sites offering information and other materials on a variety of Antarctic-related themes. These are referred to in each unit of Classroom Antarctica when they are of use for particular activities.

• Australian Antarctic stations
• The Bureau of Meteorology at http://www.bom.gov.au
• The Antarctic Climate and Ecosystems Cooperative Research Centre Cooperative Research Centre ( ACECRC)
• World Heritage information at http://www.ea.gov.au
• Tasmanian Parks and Wildlife Service’s Macquarie Island site.
•  Antarctica and Sir Douglas Mawson page of the Australian Government's Culture and Recreation web portal at http://www.cultureandrecreation.gov.au/

Other  Antarctic programs and organisations

are listed on the AAD website at http://www.aad.gov.au/default.asp?casid=660

Antarctic education and information sites

About Antarctica at http://lrs.ed.uiuc.edu/students/downey/project is a great introductory guide designed for high school students and covering topics such as continental drift, weather, ice movements, global warming, seals, and penguins.

The Center for Astrophysical Research in Antarctica (CARA) includes a virtual tour of the South Pole at http://astro.uchicago.edu/cara/

Glacier at http://www.glacier.rice.edu is a project from Rice University, developed as a resource for teaching Earth Science and uses the Internet to provide students with an interactive exploration of Antarctica. Themes include weather and climate, oceanography, geology, meteorology and astronomy.

The Gulf of Maine Aquarium provides the useful classroom lessons focusing on Penguin Adaptation, Coping with the Cold, Blubber Glove, Salt Concentration, Chick Die-Off, Changes in Antarctic Ice, and Creating Plankton at http://octopus.gma.o rg/surfing/antarctica/index.html

Live from Antarctica 2 at http://quest.arc.nasa.gov/antarctica2/index.html was an integrated multimedia project which used online resources, hands-on print curriculum materials (including Classroom Antarctica and student worksheets) and live telecasts to bring Antarctica to life in the classroom. Classroom Antarctica and student worksheets remain a very valuable resource.

The National Snow and Ice Data Centre at http://nsidc.org/index.html is an information and referral centre supporting research about snow cover, avalanches, glaciers, ice sheets, freshwater ice, sea ice, ground ice, permafrost, atmospheric ice, paleoglaciology, and ice cores. It offers some good education resources for teachers and students on snow and ice.

The Scott Polar Research Institute at http://www.spri.cam.ac.uk/library includes a marvellous picture library database with many works of art and mainly historical photographs and a comprehensive Index to Antarctic Expeditions (historic and selected modern).

The Scott Polar Research Institute KIDS PAGE at http://www.spri.cam.ac.uk/kids/home.htm features information on some polar explorers and animals, and a collection on polar jokes.

Secrets of the Ice from the Museum of Boston at http://www.secretsoftheice.org/ is a great site that focuses on the geography of Antarctica and its importance as a scientific laboratory, with up-to-date information on current global change research.

70South at http://www.70south.com/home offers up-to-date news and information on Antarctica and Antarctic-related topics.

The South Australian Museum website at http://www.mawson.sa.gov.au/ie.htm explores the legacy of Sir Douglas Mawson - his adventures, his success in taking science to extreme environments and the scope of his achievements.

Science writer Janice VanCleave and Randy Landsberg of CARA (the Center for Astrophysical Research in Antarctica) invite students to join their expedition to the South Pole and try some experiments along the way at their South Pole Adventure Page at http://www.southpole.com

Private expeditions and personal accounts

The Australian Associated Press (AAP) Mawson’s Huts Foundation site at describes the story of recent attempts to conserve Mawson’s huts.

The website of Robert Holmes at http://www.theice.org/index.html, who travels annually to the Antarctic contains a good list of links to other individuals’ Antarctic pages, along with some good Antarctic photos and Frequently Asked Questions.

Ingrid’s diary, Ingrid on Ice, at http://www.abc.net.au/science/Antarctica/ingrid/default.htm describes Ingrid’s year at Mawson in 1998 as the wintering medical officer.

The Irish Antarctic Adventure website at http://ireland.iol.ie/south-ar is/index.htm

Terraquest’s Virtual Antarctica provides a good general overview of Antarctic ecology, history and science as well as journals of the Terraquest expedition and links to contemporary adventurers at http://www.doc.ic.ac.uk/~kpt/terraquest/antarctica