Climate

Essential Question:  How is Earth's climate connected to its geological, biological, and cultural systems?

To address this question we first need to be able to define climate.  This is not as easy as it seems.  There is so much information that is needed to understand Earth's climate and the change in it.

Explain: What new learning or reflections have you taken from this module?

One of the most interesting things that I learned about in this module was the role of Cyanobacteria  in the production of oxygen and how it completely changed the atmosphere over 3 million years ago.  It is mind boggling to think that something so small could be responsible for creating oxygen that would allow us to survive on Earth.  Here is an image that show the simplicity of the Cyanobacteria.  Although there are many species most seem to have them same basic appearance.

I also learned a great deal from the Teachers' Domain video the Origin of the Elements.  The idea that the nuclei of hydrogen and helium were created right after the Big Bang really made me think.  I guess I never really thought about it before and assumed that the all elements had just always been there.  Almost a philosophical concept... forget what came first the chicken or the egg it should be what came first the Big Bang or the element.  The cultural connection videos made me think about how the change in the climate affects all parts of life for various native peoples.  Although this is not new information to me I think it sunk in on a deeper level and I realize how complex and far reaching the problem really is.

Extend: How might you use this week’s information and resources in your lessons? What other resources can you share?

In my years of teaching I have noticed that students often use the words weather and climate interchangeably.  Students need to have a strong basic understanding of this concept before they are ready to learn about climate change.  While reviewing various resources of Teachers' Domain I came across this resource by NOVA explaining the difference between atmosphere and climate that I think will be very useful.  This video not only does a great job at that it also connects with many of the other topics and ideas that we have discussed in this class.

Biogeochemical process are hard for students to grasp.   Lots of information that students will need to know including a very basic understanding of elements and cycles.  One activity that I think is useful in the classroom to teach about elements is called Adopt an Element.  This activity comes from the The Science Spot  website that has lots of other great ideas for teaching basic chemistry.  I found an image for the carbon cycle on Teachers' Domain that I like more than the one I usually use because it fluxes in the system.  This would lend itself to some great discussion about why.

While I was looking around I found this great video on climate as a system.  This does a great job of tying together lots of different concepts that deal with climate.  At the end it gives a great introduction to the idea of climate change.

As educators I believe it is our responsibility to present and discuss controversial issues with our students.  I found a great website that presents the opposing sides to the climate change controversy.  This information would be a great place to have kids start researching the issues and follow up with a Socratic seminar.

Evaluate: How useful, insightful or relevant are this module’s information and resources?

I think this weeks module's information will be very relevant to my classroom.  Some of the resources are too complex for my middle school students but the video's lead me to other links and ideas on Teacher's Domain as well as other sites.

Three Colleagues 

Dan Adair 

Dan, thank you so much for the illustration looking at the change in temperature in the various layers of our atmosphere.  I was really surprised when I looked at it especially in the upper layers further away from earth.  I am going to have my students think about and hypothesize what they think it will look like and then show them this.  I am going to have to investigate a bit further.

Marilyn Burgess

Thanks for the reminder that we can have fun in our classrooms while learning in the Element Song.  I tried to connect to it from your link and it brought me to something else.  I was able to find it though.  Here is a you tube video of the song.

Winsor Demore

I agree with you when you say Atmosphere is hard to teach.  It is not something that I have a personal interest in and I often wonder how this plays out in my teaching.  However I have found it a great time to use data in my class.  Kids can look at long term data pertaining to one place or they can look at data over places very different from their own.  Let me know if you have any great ideas that I can use!

Atmosphere

Essential Question:  How are Earth, atmosphere, and cultures, all connected?

When teaching the content of Atmosphere to middle school students I have found it most helpful to start with weather.  All students come into my classroom with some knowledge of weather and how it affects their daily lives.  There are some great websites and resources that are available.  One of my favorites is called the GLOBE program.  GLOBE stands for Global Learning and Observations to Benefit the Environment.  I have had the privilege of being involved with this program for many years both as a classroom teacher and as a teacher trainer for them.  I have even been able to train teachers on an international level in multiple countries including Kazakhstan and Madagascar.  In the atmosphere section of GLOBE kids learn about various topics including temperature, relative humidity, clouds, barometric  pressure, and water vapor, just to name a few.  Besides activities that allow kids to learn about these topics there are also protocols that allow kids to submit their local data to a website for others to use.  It is also a wonderful place to get data to have kids analyze from all over the world.  I encourage everyone to take some time and explore the website.


During the cultural connections section the bush pilots in the Arctic Haze video reminded me of the importance of observation skills.  About a mile from my house sits the Mendenhall Glacier which is receding at an alarming rate.  It is estimated that within only years it will become a hanging glacier.  For some strange reason The Ocean Temperature and Climate Patterns Teachers' Domain video made me think about extensions and how  a change in one or both of these would affect various fisheries in Alaska.  We know that different fish and marine mammals are very sensitive to even small change.  This would be an interesting project for kids to research.  How

There were many great resources in this weeks module, some that I will use in my classroom and some that I think are at too high of a level.  For example, I found the Making Ice Boiling Water You Tube video interesting although I think for middle school students the content might be too much.  It reminded me of the question  does warm water freeze faster than cold?  This is a great question to pose to students when teaching the scientific method.  It is easy for students to form a hypothesis, and design an experiment.  It also is a great diving board for lots of other topic including evaporation, convection, and heat transfer.  Another great resource this week was the vertical structure of the atmosphere interactive site on Teacher's Domain.  I really appreciate anything that kids can interact with.  The Phun Physics Phase Change Lab would be way too much for my students although I did enjoy looking at it.  There is a great website called Chem4Kids that does a great job of taking pretty complex concepts and breaking them down to a level appropriate for middle school.  I find that students have a hard time comprehending things like molecules since they can't see them.  Visuals, like the one below help students understand.

 3 Colleagues

Amy Peeke

I agree with Amy when she wrote about how scary it was that the bush pilot Dennis Miller could see the change in the density and frequency in the Artcic Haze. 

Alison Larson

I agree with what you said Alison about everyone being a contributor to the problem.  We all share this problem and it really does not good to point fingers at one another.

Carolyn Rudzinski

Carolyn your picture of the Fox River captured me.  My grandmother grew up on the banks of the Fox and told us many wonderful stories and took us there to visit.  It took me back to a wonderful time.  Thanks!

Module 5

Essential Question:  How are climate, cultures and oceans all connected?

Growing up in the middle of the United States left me with little or not knowledge about oceans except for the brief vacations, and what my various science teachers decided was important for me to know.  They say that experience is the best teacher and I learned a few lessons when I moved to Alaska fresh out of college armed with a degree in biology.  The first lesson was to respect the tide and learn to live by it.  This lesson came after pushing a Boston Whaler up a shallow slough which had been a part of the ocean when I left.  Out of necessity I quickly learned how to live with the ocean.  

There was a great deal of scientific information this week.  I really enjoyed the various resources that were included.  Some of them I will plan to use in my class and others were interesting because they lead me to different resources that will be valuable in future lesson plans.  For example, after viewing the youtube video What Causes Earth's Seasons I found a different video that I thought would be more appropriate for middle school students Why Does the Earth Have Seasons.  It really is almost overwhelming the amount of resources that are available.  Time would get away from me as I went from one resource to another, leading from one topic to another.  Seasons are one place where there is a great deal of misinformation and misunderstanding.  Students, and many adults, often think that it is colder in the winter because we are further away from the sun.  I think the above resources will be valuable to help with this misconception.

Latitude and longitude is a hard thing to teach kids.  I have just finished a unit in my classroom looking at the surface features of the earth.  After reviewing the district science curriculum I realize that by 8th grade they should have been introduced and taught these concepts 3 time in science and social studies.  I am always amazed how confused kids are.   I wonder if maybe teaching them one at a time would be a good idea.  After watching going over this weeks module and thinking about the importance of latitude on seasons, weather, etc I think maybe teaching about latitude would be really helpful giving them and then later teaching about longitude.  Unfortunately it is too late for this year but next year I am going to focus on latitude.  It will be interesting to see if it helps.

As a district and a building we are focusing on Math and Language Arts.  I must admit this is extremely frustrating as a science teacher but, that is a different story.  My task this year has been to focus on reading and writing skills in science.  One of the cultural connections that I see is not only the scientific Native Ways of Knowing, but also the myth's and legends that surround various scientific phenomenon.  There are many great resources that I found but the most helpful one is Native Languages.  You are able to search this sight by either phenomenon or by culture.

The cultural connection were very interesting.  Lately in the news we have heard a great deal about the loss of ice and its affect on the polar bear population and other animals.  It wasn't until this weeks videos and information that I really stopped to think about the affect of this one the communities.  This following video about whaling also made me think about issues that might be controversial.  What issues are facing southeast communities and villages?  One issue that I can think of that might be of interest is subsistence.

This month's NSTA magazine Science Scope is has a great activity called Save the Penquins: Teaching the science of heat transfer through engineering design.  I think
As I mentioned above one of the things that I have found valuable in the past few weeks is the various paths that I have traveled looking at all the different resources.  One of these paths this week took me to the Pacific Gyre.  The Pacific Gyre is a garbage patch in the Pacific Ocean that is estimated to be anywhere from twice the size of Texas to as large as the continental United States, depending on the source.  Below is a picture of it.

 Three Colleagues

Sabrina Sutton

I really enjoyed reading Sabrina's life experience and her enthusiasm for place-based learning.  She also turned me on to a great resource called The Alaska Tsunami Education Program.

David Wages

Like David I also have taught that the Coriolis Force incorrectly.  It made me really wonder what else I have learned and taught wrong.  It did make me do some additional research and it seems that at one point it really was believed.

Nick Pader

I was caught by Nick's picture of the sunrise in Barrow.  I  can't imagine how exciting that must be.  He later went on to say that people from the village do not even get excited about that moment.  Not me, I get excited if I see the sun even for a brief moment during the course of my day.