Overview
The lesson will be in two parts:
Part one will involve the students making layers of sediment with clay also including particles (such as beads to represent pollen, etc.) and then they will make core samples using a drinking straw as a coring tool.
Part two will involve the class taking a mud core sample from one of the ponds found on campus with a coring tool (See Sediment Coring with Students lesson plan and resources in this Google Drive provided by PolarTREC teacher Mark Goldner).
Objectives
At the end of this lesson, students will learn how to use sediment cores to determine what the climate was like over a period of time.
Lesson Preparation
An understanding of annual cycles and varves.
Procedure
Students make layers of sediment (different colors) with varying colors of beads to represent pollen grains. They then take ‘core samples’ from the layers that they have made, illustrate the sample and interpret them.
Collect sediment cores from an on campus pond. Cut and describe the core based on student observations.
Extension
Additional lessons found in PolarTREC Google Drive folder:
- What Happened at Lake McCarrons?
- Climate Change in the Sahara
- Climate Change at Lake El’gygytgyn
- Ocean Sediments and African Rainfall
Resources
Google Drive Folder created by PolarTREC teacher Mark Goldner
Assessment
Students will illustrate the core samples on both the clay/beads core samples as well as the pond sediment samples and interpret the layers.
Author / Credits:
Robert Carson of Skyview High School in Soldotna, Alaska created this lesson plan as a capstone project for the 2016 teacher training course entitled: Climate Change: Seeing, Understanding, and Teaching, held in Denali National Park. The course is facilitated by the Arctic Research Consortium of the U.S. (ARCUS) in partnership with Alaska Geographic and the National Park Service.
This two part lesson was adapted from an idea from an on-line source and the PolarTREC folder previously listed.
Standards
ESS2.D Weather and Climate
ESS3.D: Global Climate Change
ESS1.C The History of Planet Earth
ESS2.A Earth Materials and Systems
Alaska Science Standards
(6-8)D1 SD3
(9)SA1.2
Standards Other
ESS2.D Weather and Climate
ESS3.D: Global Climate Change
ESS1.C The History of Planet Earth
ESS2.A Earth Materials and Systems
Alaska Science Standards
(6-8)D1 SD3
(9)SA1.2
| Attachment | Size |
|---|---|
| Download Lesson (PDF - 76KB)75.64 KB | 75.64 KB |
This program is supported by the National Science Foundation. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed by this program are those of the PIs and coordinating team, and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.