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
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
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.
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