Week 8 Module

1. Explain: What new learning have you taken from this module?

I have never really thought about the relationship of the location of ice and if that will cause a rise in sea level. I really enjoyed doing the ice in a water glass from the “Watching Ice Melt!” series. When I read the activity I could not wait to try it. As the ice was melting I was thinking back to the properties of water and ice.  I will be sharing this activity with my students. It will be a really great to have my students make a prediction before we do the activity. I am sure the students will not all agree on what will happen. I love hearing what the students think will happen with activities like this.


2. Extend: How can/will you use this week’s resources and/or others in your community in your lessons?

I will be showing the video clip “Arctic Climate Perspectives” to my advisory class. It is a wonderful video from a science perspective, however, it is also great for a career point of view. My students have a unique and wonderful opportunity when it comes to studying climate change. This clip shows researchers who come from all over to study in Alaska. It would be wonderful if more Alaska scientists from these villages studied it. My students have a very high interest in global warming and they know first hand how the climate has changed for them. All of my students can verbally tell me what changes they have seen over their lifetime.

Image take from "Artic Sea
Ice Satellite Observations"

I will be sharing the interactive activity “Arctic Sea Ice Satellite Observations” with my students. I really like how you can see the dramatic change in the sea ice over the years. I also like the feature that allows you to zoom in and show Alaska close up. You are able to specifically see St. Lawrence Island, which is really nice for my students.


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

I am really looking forward to showing my students the video clip “Global Warming Threatens Shishmaref”. My students love to watch anything that mentions Alaska, and they are really going to enjoy this clip because Shishmaref is in our school district. Many of my students have been there for sports, and academic events. It is such a wonderful thing when you can show your students something they can really relate to. Also, as I have mentioned before in this blog, my students love to learn about the effects of global warming.

I was reading this module in the airport as I was waiting for my flight to Gambell. The section “Sea Ice – Sea Ice” was on my mind for the flight back. The Gambell runway is located right between the ocean and a lake. As we were landing I saw the ocean with no sign of ice and on the other side the lake completely frozen over. It would be a really cool activity for my students to record the dates and temperature for when the lake freezes and when the ocean freezes.

3 Colleagues

Esther commented on her page about how she has first hand experience of listening to the elders talk about how global warming is changing where she lives. It is such a great resource to be able to talk to elders in the community.

I agree with Alicia when she comments on how large of a problem climate change is, and we often don’t see it that way. It is easy to put it at the back of your mind because it is such a slow process.

Like Dan, I also learned that Inuit people are collecting data. It is really wonderful to see that their data is being recorded. It is very valuable and useful information for us to have.