Exploring Shackleton’s Antarctica

Overview and context: The Endurance Expedition

In 1914 Sir Ernest Shackleton set out on another Antarctic expedition – this time to cross the continent. He failed. However he achieved one of the greatest feats of turn of the century polar exploration; he returned with all his 27 men – alive.

Centenary 2014-2017

8 August 2014 marked the start of the centenary of Sir Ernest Shackleton's ‘Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition’ - The Endurance Expedition. On this day 100 hundred years ago, The Endurance set sail from Plymouth. Throughout 2014 to 2017 there will be opportunities to forge links to past and present stages of the extraordinary expedition. The Society will be launching The Enduring Eye exhibition on 20 November 2015 which is kindly supported by the UK Antarctic Heritage Trust, the Governments of the British Antarctic Territory and South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands, Rolex and the Royal Commission for the Exhibition of 1851. Several real time expeditions are planned and will provide a meaningful link for learners for then and now comparisons. For additional information about Antarctica go the the Discovering Antarctica website.

‘Exploring Shackleton’s Antarctica’

The aim of the module is to develop an enquiry on the Polar region of Antarctica focusing on Shackleton’s 1914–17 Endurance Expedition. This sequence of lesson plans will demonstrate geographical based, hands-on, cross-curricular activities such as role play to nurture pupils’ fascination with and curiosity about this significant remote landscape and extreme environment. 

Proven case studies linked to this topic demonstrate how these lessons engage pupils in the geographical skills of developing knowledge within a context and define the physical and human characteristics and processes of a locality. Pupils will progress with their atlas skills, interpreting a range of sources of geographical information and be provided with opportunities to communicate their findings in a variety of ways. The lesson activities develop geographical and context specific vocabulary and literacy through a series of re-iterative activities that expect pupils to develop and use language in a context-specific way. Moreover, opportunities for cross-curricular subject links will be suggested as a starting point to embed this topic to create a half term or full term’s worth of work. In addition children will be offered opportunities to write at length within this geographical context.

Find out more about the Endurance22 Expedition, which located the wreck of Endurance, Sir Ernest Shackleton's ship, in March 2022.

Emma Kerr is the Headteacher at Egloskerry Primary School in Cornwall and author and editor of the Shackleton in Schools website. Her interest in Antarctica stems from her great grandfather who was the second engineer on Shackleton’s Endurance Expedition and First Engineer on Shackleton’s final voyage – ‘The Quest’. She is also a member of the Geographical Association Early Years and Primary Committee.