Week 9 Module

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

Image take from "Losing
Permafrost in Alaska"

I found the video clip “Losing Permafrost in Alaska” very fascinating. I was shocked when I heard that repairing permafrost damage is costing Alaskan’s about $35 million a year. At the end of the video there was a man from Arctic Village, Alaska who was talking about putting in solar panels. I think it is wonderful when people turn to green energy. I have not heard of many examples of solar panels in Alaska. Most of the villages in our district us wind turbines. I am curious as to how well solar power works for them.

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

I enjoyed doing the two activities “A Drop in the Bucket”, “1000 Snow Flakes” and “Glacier Ice—Sea Level”. I think it will make a great anticipatory set for my students when we talk about the water cycle and where water is located on the planet. I like given students examples that are easy to visualize. “A Drop in the Bucket” could even be turned into a hands on activity where the students measure out the drops into different beakers to represent each place on each.

Image taken from
"When Sea Levels Attack"

One thing I really like to point out to my students when we talk about the rise of sea level is the elevation of Gambell. It wouldn’t take much for the village to be covered with water. The information from “Glacier Ice—Sea Level” is so nice because it shows at what point Gambell would become covered with water. The picture from “When Sea Levels Attack!” is also an amazing visual. A few years ago I saw a map similar to the ones on the right hand side of the picture. It is very scary thought that a map of the world might look like that in the future.

I enjoyed the “Earth System: Ice and Global Warming” video clip because the narrator made it clear that it isn’t proven global warming is caused my greenhouse gasses. I noticed it right away when I was listening to the video. It is very easy for my to glance over the fact that there are some scientist who don’t believe we have increased the rate of global warming. I often find myself talking about greenhouse gasses as a given for the reason our climate is changing. It is always good to show students this isn’t a proven fact.

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

Image taken from "Climate Change"

The video “Climate Change” was very fascinating and will be a great clip to show to my Earth science class. I like how the video points out the difference between weather and climate. In the past my students have had a hard time distinguishing between the two. Anything I can use that will help them understand the difference between the two is wonderful to have. I really like the graph that showed the climate change over the past 45,000 years. It really put climate change in perspective.

Friday afternoon during my prep one of my students came into my class and told me she was doing her senior research project on the melting of permafrost. She wanted to know if I had any good resources on it so I showed her the video clip “Melting Permafrost”. She loved it and watched it three times to get all the information out of it that she could. She told me that the area out by her camp looks very similar to areas on the video where mud was sliding. She then went on to watch two other video clips on Teachers’ Domain. 

3 Colleagues

One her blog “Living and Learning in Alaska” Kris commented on the concept of “Food Sovereignty Areas”. It is very important for the land to be kept clean so that people can continue their traditional ways.

On her page “Emerson’s Explorations” Cheryl commented that she can imagine her students saying “euwwww” to the fact that the water they drink could have been any number of places. I also enjoy telling my students this. I usually say something like “the water you drink could be the same water George Washington drank”. Some kids like that, some don’t.

On his page Kevin commented on how he thinks he placed too much ice in the cup for the melting ice experiment. I also ran across this when I tried it out at home. The second time I put a little less in and it worked beautifully. Always a good plan to try stuff first before you do it with students!