Module VIII - Cryosphere

 Live From the North Pole: 
"The value of research coupled with nature's

own wondrous display"

Explain

         This module focuses on the Arctic sea ice and the term cryoshpere, which was new to me.  I learned several things about the cryosphere during this exploration and enjoyed it very much. This coming week I'm attending a symposium on placed based learning in New Bedford, MA, so this module couldn't have been more appropriately placed. 

         I found the article:  “When Contemporary Science and Indigenous Knowledge  Collide: Two     Ways of Knowing How to Survive and Thrive as the Climate  Changes,” very insightful. That coupled with with the Anchorage Declaration renewed the commitment we must all make if indigenous peoples all over the globe are to survive with any authenticity. They are pleading with the global community to validate their way of life and to recognize their right to retain a life style unique to their cultures.

        When a people have a traditional heritage that becomes threatened because of an endangered species being over harvested then I believe compromises need to be made. This is important for the heritage to continue. 

       For example, when I was a little girl I remember loving beaver feet. Beaver feet was a real treat. My family moved away from the area and I haven't eaten beaver feet in 20+ years. They no longer have a draw for me, and that is sad. Beaver are not endangered, but I offer this example trying to show how restricting the harvesting of traditional foods for indigenous people can affect future generations. My kids have never tasted beaver feet, and if they do they almost certainly will not like it like my traditional uncle and his family do. Culture dies when its traditions are not generational.

       

Cultural Connections: 

  "Let us walk softly upon the earth for it does not belong to us, but to our children and their children and their children and ..."

• People of the Arctic    This site has several resources concerning Alaska Native Perspectives on Land and Climate with clips on the cryosphere. It also offers lesson plans and student activities. 

•  Lessons and Activities about Arctic Peoples This is a great site for teachers wondering just how to teach a unit on Arctic peoples. It will help "...your students understand that the indigenous cultures of the Arctic - like other cultures of the world - change over time, incorporating modern technology while retaining traditional values and activities? In this article, we've highlighted resources that can help you design a lesson or unit about Arctic cultures."

Extend 

I am going to use the experiments with the ice cubes melting in the glass and the one with two glasses -  one covered in white and the other in black paper. I'll do this when I return as I am out all of next week. I bookmarked the page. So, I'm not sure if my graphs will make it onto the blog or not. Time is running out. I'm wondering if this site will remain up so it can be accessed after the class is over? I know I would use it. I wonder at the time Clay must put in to find the  resources and write the modules!

Technology: 

• YouTube videos on Arctic Ice Melt

 Several great selections.

• Interactive Arctic Food Web

Great site for students to see the interconnectedness for species.

Creating Inquiry:

• CHALLENGE 1: ARCTIC SHELTER

This site asks students to identify the challenges involved in building a structure in a remote area of the Arctic. They then build and explore. A wonderful lesson for grades 5 and up.

Three Colleague:

• Dave Sather: I loved his "Carl Sagan's Cosmos - Star Stuff" from Module VII. Fabulous resources! 

• Esther Gust   From Module V. I liked that she is learning as much as I am, and enjoying it. She is even sharing the information with her students, and that's so appropriate as they are on the ocean 

• Alicia Weaver   I appreciated her photo of Quinhagak. It brings me back to my roots - village Alaska.

Changing Climate

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

Explain
“The sun also rises, and the sun goes down, and hastens to the place where it arose. The wind goes toward the south, and turns around to the north; the wind whirls about continually, and comes again on its circuit. All the rivers run into the sea, yet the sea is not full; to the place from which the rivers come, they return again. All things are full of labor; man cannot express it.” Ecclesiastesastes 1: 5-8a

 I could not express the concepts in this week’s module as eloquently as King Solomon, so I used his quote. The last sentence captures the essence of Module VII.

Our dynamic universe and planet is living. The complexity of cycles, even  positive feedback types,  to stars creating the elements to the microbial factories is fascinating. All of this makes me want to learn more, and possibly, regret not working in a science field. It is very apparent that things seen and unseen are hard at work producing material that affects earth’s climate.

I learned a lot from this week's module, and added several TD resources to my folders. I didn't know that H and He are the foundational gasses for forming all of the known elements on earth. The video  does a super job of showing how this works. I wish I'd found this out earlier in my teaching career. I think it would have helped my students better understand the earth's elements and the periodic table.

Cultural Connections:
It is very difficult to study ancient Athabaskan culture, beyond the 1700’s, because the microorganisms have played their role in the cycling of matter and energy so well. The Athabaskan's used organic material for practically everything: birch for boats, cooking/eating tools, moose and other animals for clothing, wood for housing structures.  They traded for some items and used others like claws, teeth, and bones for amulets, etc. But, finding much evidence of  their daily life has been difficult because their resources were mainly organic, and thus the artifacts are likewise organic and have decomposed.

There are several Native stories concerning how things came to be or how they will be. One of the most extensive is the story of Maniixaq. It is an Inupiaq, northwest Alaska,  story and it is quite long, but worth the read. A great read aloud for older students. This connection is tied to the science on Module VII through the quest for “intelligence”.

Extend
Technology:
“..and a flash of light filled the cosmos…” Evidence for the Big Bang would be a great introduction for students to the Big Bang Theory as well as the periodic table. Modern technology lends validity to science. Technology has advanced theories to where scientist can prove a hypothesis. This is huge in light of what someone like Galileo had to endure just because he did not have the technology to prove his theories.

Creating Inquiry:
The question: How do we know is important. Teachers should not spew scientific "facts" as if the facts are gospel. Students should always be made to question/hypothesize. Teachers and Students also need to consider that as new information is gained, old ideas will be impacted, and the current science "facts" may change. For example, when watching the TD video The Origin of the Elements , students should ask: How do scientist know what elements are being emitted from a super nova? The answer is not in the video. It comes in reading the background essay: "...two elements produce the same colors and line positions along a spectrum. By using instrumentation that reads light signatures from far away — a technique known as spectroscopy — scientists today know with great certainty which elements a planet or a star, or even a star's dispersed remnants, contains." This keeps inquiry alive, and advances thinking – pushing the limits instead of just receiving information verbatim.

Evaluate:
I found the resources in this week's module very useful for myself and my teaching. I will definitely use the videos and the background essays. The explanation of greenhouse gasses and the greenhouse effect on earth's climate were outstanding.

Resources:

 Maniixaq As A Boy listening to
the bird who guided him to
"intelligence".


Maniixaq

Global Warming with Al Gore

Three Colleague

Ernestine Hayes
I loved her quote from Module IV when she talks about events that have impacted earth through time.  ...and some within a history so distant that it is the earth alone who tells the stories

Tracy R. Pulid
I loved her Module VI comments and resources. I especially appreciated her comments about the freezing and thawing due to the Chinook winds.

Dominic (Nick) Pader
Very good blog about the Arctic haze and the accumulation of "scuz".

Atmospheric Systems

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

Explain

I thought this week’s module was great. I learned several things and am still puzzled by others.  I take so much for granted as an inhabitant of our terra firma. I knew of currents, but to explore them through the resources Clay provided was fascinating. I gained a new appreciation for the complexity of the elements in my daily life!

The main idea was currents, oceanic and atmospheric. The simulations on TD were wonderful visuals and provided information in a way that elementary students in grades 3+ could understand and make sense of the phenomenon.

I thought the cultural connections were scant, but much could be implied or researched. Native people are often thought of, as being good stewards of the land, but one problem every village in Alaska faces is garbage. Open garbage sites in rural villages are a source of pollution for both atmosphere and rivers/lakes/oceans. Many dumps are burned releasing carbons into the atmosphere. Other dump sites are near a water source and items are carried into the water system creating environmental hazards for life in and along the water way.

The garbage anomaly is in contrast to how precious the water is as it provides so many food sources for native people. It was painful for me to post the picture below of the garbage dump in Barrow, but it highlights a problem that villages are and have been trying to solve for a number of years. I feel, we each can do our part culturally for Mother Earth and dispose of our garbage in a more earth friendly way. It’s everyone’s problem.

In Google Earth I was astounded to discover the number of satellites orbiting earth.  This is space pollution (I guess I’m on a tangent). I’m wondering if the number of satellites are somehow lending to the greenhouse affect? And, it makes me wonder how the space shuttle is so adept at avoiding collisions with them. I wasn’t able to figure out the weather layers in Google Earth. I’ll have to go back and play around with that more.

Extend

I will definitely use many of the resources in my classroom. I have several folders created in TD and add to them with every new module. This weeks’ sites were particularly helpful in explaining weather fronts and ocean currents. Below are new links I found useful. They address the concepts of coastlines, oceans, and the last is a link to Aleut stories and legends. There’s a wonderful story about how the wind originated.

Three Colleague

Dave Sather 

The painting was very intriguing and the information on the explosion of Krakatoa was great.
Dan Adair 

I liked his resource image of the currents. He seems very knowledgeable.
Janet Reed

She figured out Google Earth and inspired me to go back in and figure it out.

 




Resources:

http://www.teachersdomain.org/resource/ess05.sci.ess.earthsys.coastenv/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LrrJTzXwKx8&feature=player_embedded#!

Image of garbage dump in Barrow, AK












http://www.native-languages.org/aleut-legends.htm
Scroll down to Origin of the Wind: Aleut legend about the doll-warrior who released the winds.

Climate, Culture, and Oceans

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


    Climate, culture, and oceans are so connected it is like asking how arms and legs impact the body. One isn’t complete without the other. Oceans cause climate while climate influences oceans, and culture evolves, adapts, and utilizes both.
    At this point in the class, after reading, responding, and viewing all of the videos, I am even more in awe of our planet than ever. Our ancestors lovingly, and respectfully said, “Mother Earth” because they sensed the connectedness of everything.  And, as an Athabaskin, this planet “watches” and holds me accountable for my actions or lack of them.


Three ways I might use the resources in Module V in my classroom:
1.   You Tube! I really am disappointed that ASD blocks access to You Tube in district classrooms. After watching What causes Earth's Seasons, I was so impressed.  The simplicity of the illustrations and the explained science behind “seasons” was something any kid could get. ( I need to find a way in behind the firewall!)

2.    I’m also going to use Try this Trick – (I’ve bookmarked it). I am going to use a circular surface and shine a light behind it and then tilt the object to show the shadow gets smaller – less direct surface area to absorb direct hits from our source of physical existence – the sun. I hope this works, as it is so elementary to understanding earth science.

3.   I didn’t really understand Check Out the ThermoHaloPycnocline Graph Found Here. I understood the whale dive and the difference in temperature and density, but I didn’t get the plot the yellow line because I didn’t see a yellow line ☹. This module was full of information, some advanced and very useful for high school teachers, so I didn’t feel too badly “not getting it”.
  
Resources:
Climate videos
    

Several Climate Videos.
Preview and download short, broadcast quality video clips on a range climate topics. Each clip is accompanied by a web preview and suggested script.



Climate change in Alaska

 Bear in Denali National Park.
One of the many species climate
may affect in Alaska.











Three things I learned:

1.  I had never thought of the different densities of water at the surface, although I knew different densities existed with depth. I’ve certainly observed surface densities mixing when muddy river water met clear mountain streams, but I had never thought about them resisting mingling. My mind’s eye takes me to the muddy Yukon meeting a clear flowing tributary and seeing the clear water hold its own for several hundred feet before being swallowed by the more powerful river. I always felt badly seeing the clear water swirling and mixing and then disappearing, but I had not connected it to the resistance because of differences in density.

2.  The experiment with the balloons was so eye opening. It really showed how water has such density that it can absorb heat to a large extent. It was a great demonstration of how water holds heat to the earth.

3.  I also found our that icebergs in the cold regions of earth do not get so heavy that they sink.  It is the salt that gets squeezed out of them as they freeze that settles beneath due to its density. Then when the salty mixture comes up, it replenishs the top layer of the ocean with nutrients. Who would have thought!

Three colleagues:
1.    Cheryl Williams. I was impressed with her understanding of the content. So much so that she found humor! I was straining to digest much of the material!

2.    Dan Adair. I liked his comments of using more visuals in the classroom. They are out there. We just need to find them.

3.    Janet Reed. I liked her bringing us back to cycles, and I liked her link to Shishmaref and the ocean erosion there.