Cryosphere Introduction

Essential Question: How are Arctic sea-ice, climate, and culture all connected?

 image from nsidc.org

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

As a Earth Science teacher most of the information in the module is not new to me.  However, the way it was presented was.  For example the Teacher Domain videos on Shishmareff, and on hunting got me thinking about how the science is played out in the daily lives of people.  The following image is of Shishmareff by NOAA.  I had the opportunity to visit this community many years ago when I was still a biologist.  These images are amazing.

I have had an informal conversation with my students and the word cryosphere seems to be new to them.  As I was researching this topic I found this diagram on the Global Greenhouse Warming website.  I plan to use this with my students to show them how important our cyrosphere is.

This class has really taught me how important it is to apply the scientific concepts that we are learning to the lives of the people in our schools, communities, state, and world.


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

To begin, I really like the career connection video with Steve McLean.  I think the more role models, and career paths that we can show our students the better.  This made me want to research the local elders and natives here in Juneau and bring them into the class.  We have many wonderful people resources here in Juneau that would be happy to come in if we only remember to call upon them.  It also got me to go back and look at some of the other people we have learned about during this course.  One of my favorites is the geologist Richard Glenn.

While I was learning about the cryosphere I found this great website called national snow and ice data center.  There are lessons on what the cryosphere is as well as studying it.  I was also excited because this is from the University of Colorado where I grew up.  Next time I am in Boulder I will have to go and visit them.

Another resource that I found was a video tour of the cryoshpere on the NASA website. The education link in the nasa.gov site has many other place to explore.

http://www.igospartners.org/cryosphere.htm

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

Although I have not necessarily taught about the cryosphere I think this information is very relevant.  In the spring I do an ecology unit where I am going to spend some time discussing and discovering the cryosphere with my students.  I am looking forward to adding this exciting information to the unit.

Final Project

As most of you know I currently teach 8th grade Earth Science in Juneau.  Currently we are working on a unit titled Earth's Changing Surface.  The main emphasis of this unit is mapping the earth's surface, weathering and soil formation, and when we return from Christmas break erosion and deposition.  Because of the topics that I teach I have already been able to incorporate many of the Teachers' Domain videos and other resources that we have used in class as well as many of the resources that I have found during the work on the modules.

For my final project I am going to focus my attention on the erosion and deposition part of this unit.  I will also be writing it using student learning objectives and developing common formative assessment that will be used by the other Earth Science teacher here at Floyd Dryden.  The idea of these common formative assessments  is a big part of the direction the Juneau School District is moving in forming professional learning communities.



Alaska Grade Level Expectations (GLE's)

The student demonstrates an understanding of the forces that shape Earth by:

SD2.1(7) identify strategies for minimizing erosion
SD2.1 (9) recognizing the dynamic interaction of erosion and deposition including human causes.
SD2.3(7) describing how the surface can change rapidly as a result of geological activities.

Changing Earth's Surface

Learning Objectives:

1.  Student's will be able to describe the process that wear down and build up Earth's surface.
2.  Student's will be able to identify the force that pulls rock and soil down slopes.

Key Terms: erosion, sediment, deposition, mass movement (landslide, mudslide, creep, and slump)

Resources:

1.  Natural forces on Earth that cause erosion and deposition  can be constructive and destructive.
2.  This discovery education experiment shows students how different soils affect the type of landslides that occur.
3.  This quest video called looks at landslides in the San Fransico Bay area.
4.  This Teachers' Domain video will show the the connection between the melting of the permafrost, the increase in mudslides, and the effect on Native cultures.

Water Erosion

Learning Objectives:

1.  Students' will explain how water erosion is mainly responsible for shaping Earth's land surface.
2.  Students will describe land features formed by water erosion.
3.  Students will describe land features formed when rivers and streams deposit sediment.

Key Terms:  runoff, rill, gully, tributary, drainage basin, divide, flood plain, meander, oxbow lake, alluvial fan, delta stalactite, stalagmite, karst topography.

Resources:

1.  A Teachers' Domain Nature documentary on water erosion and the Hawaiian islands.
 2.  Thinkquest for students by students on water erosion.  This site has information and activities that are appropriate for middle school students.
3.  A Teachers' Domain interactive site on cave formation which includes the biogeochemical processes that lead to the formation of stalactites and stalagmites.
4.  A Teachers' Domain site from the National Park Service that includes not only cave formation like the site above but also has information on Karst Topography.
5.  The website geology for kids has many great ideas for kids.

Glaciers

Learning Objectives:

1.  Students will name and describe two kinds of glaciers.
2.  Students will describe two processes that erode land.
3.  Students will explain how glaciers deposit sediment.


Key Terms:  glacier, valley glacier, continental glacier, ice age, plucking, till, moraine, kettle.

Resources:

1.  This Teachers Domain site  by the National Park Service has good basic information on the formation of Glaciers.
2.  This Thinkquest site has many a great deal of information and activities on Valley Glaciers.
3.  This Teachers' Domain video by NOVA  looks at the formation and movement of ice in Antarctica.
4.  This NOVA Teachers' Domain site looks at how this glacier that is suspected to be the fastest moving glacier is changing the surface of the earth.

Waves

Learning Objectives:

1.  Students will identify what gives oceans their energy.
2.  Students will describe how waves shape a coast and create landforms.

Key terms: beach, longshore drift, spit

Resources:

1.  Here is a quick wave demonstration shows that the water is not really moving.
2.  This Teachers' Domain video shows how the coastal processes including waves, tides, and currents work together to form our coasts.
3.  This Teachers' Domain video shows the constructive and destructive forces working together to build our sandy coasts.

Wind

Learning Objectives:

1.  Students will describe the process by which wind causes erosion.
2.  Students will identify features resulting from deposition from wind.


Key terms: deflation, sand dune, loess

Resources:

1.  This article on wind erosion is more geared for high school, but I will go through this with my class.  Non-fiction reading is a point of focus for us as a building this year and this is a great article to help with this focus.
2.  This activity from Lesson Planet looks at the the great dust bowl.  Lesson Planet is a good site but it takes a great deal of time to sift through and find good ideas.
3.  This website called Earth Facts has a great deal of information on many different  topics.  There are also many great images associated with this site.

Terrestrial Cyrosphere

How are climate, terrestrial ice and Alaskan indigenous cultures all connected?

Explain


Once again, there is some of the information from this module that really stood out to me was logical and not particularly hard conceptually but I never really thought about it.  For example, in the introduction the concept that terrestrial ice is frozen fresh water instead of frozen salt water was discussed.  Even though this makes sense I had never thought about it. 


In the activity Drops in a Bucket with 1000 drops of water I was able to guess pretty close to what the answer was going to be, but it always surprises me.  What most people consciously identify as water, atmosphere, lakes and rivers, and in plants and animals,  only makes up 3 drops.  I also liked the related activity 1000 Snowflakes.  This one really did surprised me.  I had thought there would be more snowflakes in North America.  This is one that I am going to use with my class.

The Teacher Domain video about permafrost was a good reminder that when we are talking about climate change and its effects even a small change in temperature (1.5 degree centigrade) makes a huge difference in the lives of the people.  When they were talking with the residents of Alaska Village and that the lakes were sinking because of the loss of permafrost I had never thought about that.  The ripple effect is amazing.  You start with a degree or two of temperature change, which leads to permafrost loss, which leads to the disappearance of lakes, which leads to habitat loss, which leads to less beaver and ducks that are part of the native food and clothing.  It just continues on and on. 


It also excites me because with new technology we are able to change and adapt what we know.  I think this is a real key to I thought it was very interesting but what worries me is people viewing it and using it as an excuse to be lazy.  If the change we are experiencing now if just a "blip" then why worry.  The graph that they showed was interesting on how dramatic the climate change was 8,000 BC.  Even in the average age of a persons life.


I loved seeing the videos of Dr. Kenji Yoshikawa.  My classes have been doing a service learning project with Dr. Kenji (Tunnel Man) for two years now.  In a previous blog I discussed the GLOBE program.  What I found so valuable about this program, service learning projects, is that students are out doing real science.  They are contributing to a body of knowledge that is useful.  The data that they are taking for Dr. Kenji is very simple yet important.  We have a frost tube that students go out and measure how far down the ground is frozen.  The tools that are needed is a measuring stick.  Last year when the station was put in students were able to help him and kids were surprised at how simple the materials were and yet he continually stressed how important all these stations are to him and his work.


Extend


While I think much of this information is important and could be adapted and used in my classroom I think I would have to start at a much more basic level.  I am amazed at how many students know nothing about glaciers considering they have one in their own back yard.  I have found a few resources that I think would be helpful to lay some basic ground work.  This Teachers' Domain video on glaciers gives some great background information.

From NOAA's Arctic Theme Page I found a link for Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History this page had a ton of information on atmosphere, el nino, and the arctic. There was so much information here that I recommend everyone spend some time.  Lots of great ideas for the classroom.  One of the links that I am going to use in my classroom is the climate roller coaster.  It looks at the idea of climate change in the Arctic but addresses some of the concerns that I expressed earlier about giving people an excuse and being able to say that the change we are experiencing is natural and that our use of fossil fuels etc. is not the problem. 

Another resource that I found is National Snow and Ice Data Center.  There is a great deal of information of Glaciers including the education center.  


Evaluate


The information in this module will be very useful to me.  Currently I am teaching a unit on Earth's Surface.  In January we will be finishing this unit with Glaciers.  I will be using some of these Teacher Domain videos and the other resources to compliment the unit.  One of the frustrations that I have is the limited access to technology that my students have.  The more resources and activities that I find on line the more I feel the limited access my students have to technology.  As educators I think it is our responsibility to embrace the fact that the face of education has changed and is going to continue to do so.  At what point do we allow our students to use their smartphones and other devices to support their education and face the fact that we are losing this battle.  Okay I will jump off my soapbox.


Three Colleagues 


Janet Reed



Tell your husband great picture!  I really liked your activity from NOVA "Whats Up With the Weather".  I am going to use that with my students.  I also really appreciate the comment that you made about active vs. passive learning.  I really enjoyed this module and it is a great reminder as a teacher that we need to have active learning in our classrooms.


Amy Peeke

Amy that you for sharing that video clip.  I am going to try and use it in my class.  Like Carolyn I am shocked about the amount of money that goes into repairing permafrost damage.  Add that to the money spent on moving villages due to water level rise and erosion and it is staggering.  





Cheryl Williams 

Thank you for your blog.  I had never heard of ALISON before and was interested after watching your video to learn more about it.  I am amazed at the opportunities that are available to teachers.  These opportunities allow our students to do real science and to contribute in ways that our teachers never would have dreamed of.  

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.  

Catastrophic Events and Culture

How do stories of cataclysmic events help inform students about geosciences and cultures?

On January 12, 2010 I walked into my classroom and threw my lesson plans in the trash.  You see I teach Earth science and was in the middle of teaching the Catastrophic Event unit which I had spent many hours with various colleagues designing the summer before.  We had all these great articles, experiments, and demonstrations that would teach students all about earthquakes, volcanoes, and tsunamis.  On January 11th a 7.0 magnitude earthquake devastated Haiti.  As a classroom and as a nation we read articles, watched the news, and waited.  In school we learn about teachable moments and this is one that I will remember forever.  Technology changed the way we interact, learn, and respond to disasters.  When the Alaska Earthquake happened in 1964 it took days, weeks, and months for the nation, let alone the world, respond.  Forty plus years later when a disaster happens it is a matter of moments and we were receiving live feeds, sending aid for relief and watching with the rest of the world as the saga unfold.  How is this changing our culture?

I really enjoyed the Teacher's Domain videos this week.  I spent some time getting to know the website and learning how to save videos and lesson plans to folders.   I noticed that most of the videos that we have been watching were from a larger lesson called Alaska Native Ways of Knowing.  As I mentioned earlier I would like to organize a Native Knowledge Science Fair.  There were plenty of resources and ideas on this site that I can use.

Check out the November 2010 issue of Science Scope.  There are great activities about Maps and Mapping.  There is a great activity on using Google Earth to study the basic characteristics of Volcanos.  There are some parts that I will have to walk my students through (tangents) but I think it will be a great activity. 


3 Colleagues

Martha Gould-Lehe

I enjoyed reading Martha's blog.  She had two very interesting resources on Volcanoes.  One in particular was looking at art of beautiful picture of volcanoes. 

Tyler

I really liked the Global perspective that Tyler offered in his blog.  It made me really think about the globalization of our world and the affect it will have on our culture.

Kristine Owens

I really related to Kristine's blog this week when she talked about the things she learned this week being how to make a link in her blog.  Me too!!