To help you prepare to field questions during a school visit, UKPN has compiled and categorised a list of questions most commonly asked by schoolchildren for polar scientists below:
Flora and Fauna:
- Have you been attacked by wild animals?
- Will dogs or animals that are meant to be in warm places be able to survive there?
- Who discovered polar bears?
- Why are polar bears called polar bears?
- How do you know if a polar bear is male or female?
- How big and cute are polar bears?
- Have you ever met a polar bear, a polar fox or a polar cow?
- Some people live in polar bear igloos; the polar bear might come back, what do you do then?
- Do penguins really dance like in Happy Feet?
- Is there really a yeti?
- What’s the most interesting thing a marine biologist has ever seen?
Travel to and from the poles:
- How many days do you stay in Antarctica?
- What did you take in your suitcase?
- Did the ship get attacked by a giant squid on your way south?
Geography and climate:
- How does ice break into water?
- How do people work on the ice?
- Why does snow melt into water?
- How cold is the south pole?
- How cold is the sea in south pole?
- Why is the sea warmer than standing on the ice?
- How thick can ice get?
- How cold is the water?
- What is the average temperature?
- How long is it dark for?
- What is the coldest temperature you have ever experienced?
- Are the auroras really that cool?
- Did you ever find meteorites in the Antarctic?
- The ice has been melting over thousands of years, how has global warming affected this speed?
- What will you study once the ice melts?
- Why is it so important that the ice is there anyway?
Life in the poles:
- Do you have any pets in Antarctica?
- What’s it like when it’s dark all day?
- How many layers of clothes do you need?
- How do you go to the loo?
- How do you shower in the Antarctic?
- How do you sleep when it’s light all day?
- How can you get to school?
- How do you feel running around in snow boots?
- Do you get a good mobile phone signal?
- Where do you get your electricity from?
- Can you make telephone calls?
- How do you cook?
- What do you eat?
- What is your suit made of?
- Do you work and sleep in the same house?
- Is all your food frozen?
- Have you ever had frost bite?
- Does anyone die?
- Do you play in the snow much? And do you ever make a snowman?
- Do you ever feel like packing up and going home?
- Have you ever got lost in the snow?
- Does anyone get diseases such as swine flu in the Antarctic?
- Are there kids there?
- What do you miss the most?
Miscellaneous:
- Who first went to Antarctica?
- Who was the first crew to discover the Antarctic?
- Why was the world invented?
