Homeschool Now kindergarten teacher Emily Martin wanted to teach her students more about the world. After going on a trip to Antarctica, the Kilauea resident got the perfect opportunity to do just that.
On Nov. 2, 2023, she left on icebreaker ship National Geographic Explorer from Ushuaia, Argentina, after flying into Buenos Aires. She was destined for the seventh continent located, as she says, at “the bottom of the world.”
While on her trip, the teacher of more than 20 years and National Geographic certified educator, got to see a variety of wildlife from walruses to emperor penguins. Seeing the emperor penguins was special, Martin pointed out because about 90 percent of the people who go to Antarctica do not get to see them, and she was excited to share the experience with her students.
She also teaches them to be conscious of the impacts we have on our world and the animals that inhabit the planet.
“What we do here on our little islands in Hawai‘i affects what happens in Antarctica or South America or Europe, we’re all connected by these oceans,” she said.
Always wanting to step foot on the seventh continent, Martin was thrilled when she got the rare experience of walking on the icebergs of the Antarctic Peninsula. The trip was 21 days in total, and there were some pit stops that the crew of about 130 had to make first.
The next destination after Ushuaia, at the southernmost tip of South America, was the Falkland Islands, which are located east of the tip of South America.
“The first week we spent going east to the Falkland Islands and visiting some of the largest albatross colonies; we saw lots of rockhopper penguins, different kinds of species of penguins there,” Martin said. “And we spent time investigating the history of Stanley and the Falkland Islands because it has a lot of colonial history and the Falkland War.”
The ship passed Stanley, the capital of the Falkland Islands, and continued east to South Georgia. There the ship circumnavigated the island and went to numerous ports. Along the way, the crew encountered wildlife, including one of the largest colonies of king penguins.
Another highlight of the trip was visiting the same island that Irish explorer Ernest Shackleton went to. Shackleton was known for his endeavors to reach the South Pole and his misadventures as well.
“He had many unsuccessful missions where the boat got stuck,” Martin shared. “For a year and a half they survived by living on ice palates and icebergs, and then finally took one of their 20-foot rescue boats across the Drake Passage back to South Georgia and hiked all over the entire island until they got to a whaling station and saved all the 20 people that were aboard the boat.”
Martin was in Antarctica for a week, a period of time which changed her life forever.
“As you start going on the boat and getting closer and closer to Antarctica, you know that you’re about to arrive because there are icebergs that you basically are navigating through,” she recalled.
”There’s actually an ice navigator on the boat to get you through the ice on the boat and do not get caught in them, like some of the past ships in history.”
Martin describes moments when the ship would be “parked” by being wedged in between gigantic masses of ice. There she experienced blizzards and whiteouts, where she could only see a few feet in front of her, the rest of her view shrouded by swirling snow.
The trip, as one can imagine, gave Martin the perfect learning material she needed to bring home to her students. Together the kids focused on learning about four different kinds of penguins and how to tell them apart, using knowledge of their size.
Applying mathematics, they drew life-sized versions of the animals by measuring objects of the same size, as well as measuring tape to show them what the world uses as a standard unit of measurement. Next they measured how tall a kindergarten child was compared to the size of the penguins.
Everyone in class was close to the size of a king penguin, which is 40 inches tall, but no one was as tall as the emperor penguin, which is 48 inches tall. Then the kids also used their knowledge of science to tell the different species apart, by looking at the coloring of their feet, the way that they build their nests, coloring, and beak size.
Martin was excited to broaden her students’ horizons in general.
“We grow up in these tiny little islands and the kids think the whole world are tiny little islands and so they don’t really understand how small they are in the great big world,” she said.
The children got to participate in animal projects where they chose to learn about an animal that is from somewhere outside of Hawai‘i. Her students were excited to learn about the animals they chose and where they come from, and they were inspired to want to travel and see other places.
Martin adds, “So I think it’s important in kindergarten to show them the world maps, to show them the globes, and to be able to name the seven continents. And have an idea of all different people and all different animals come from all different areas of the world.”
Most people are only able to visit the Antarctic peninsula, whereas only scientists have the resources and are permitted to visit the center of Antarctica. It is the fifth largest continent and is 40 percent larger than Europe.
Being the southernmost continent in the world, it is the site of the South Pole, and is an almost entirely uninhabited ice-covered landmass. Also located in Antarctica is the Lemaire Channel, Paradise Harbor, and Port Lockroy. Port Lockroy was once a British research station, which is now a museum.
Antarctica is not a part of any country and is governed under a series of recognized guidelines and agreements called the Antarctic Treaty System. There are 12 countries, which signed the Antarctic Treaty in 1959 with the agreement having 54 signatories.
