This activity is meant to help students authentically learn the scientific method through comparing and contrasting oral history (storytelling) as a way to pass along information and solve problems with the scientific method. It also helps connect the students' cultural identity with the curriculum.
Objective
Compare and contrast oral history traditions to the scientific method as a
Students will use marshmallows to simulate toxins in the environment. Concentrations of these toxins will be modeled and calculated as they bioaccumulate up the food chain. Methylmercury and POPs are substances that bioaccumulate in the Arctic food chain. OASIS scientists studied these in Barrow, Alaska. (See Ocean Atmosphere Sea Ice and Snow (OASIS) Project at www.polartrec.com)
Students will discover how a simple action such as turning on a television will lead to toxins in our food supply. Many of these toxins concentrate in the Arctic because of long-range transport of pollutants in the atmosphere. Scientists in the OASIS project (http://www.polartrec.com/ocean-atmosphere-sea-ice-and-snowpack-interactions) study these pollutants in the Arctic. Students will learn about actions that they can take to
Students will sort organisms found in the Bering Sea into food chains and gain an awareness of the flow of energy and nutrients in the Bering Sea Ecosystem.
Objective
Students learn about the different organisms that live in Alaskan waters by playing the Fabulous Food Chain Game. In playing the game, they become aware of the flow of energy
Students will create a bookmark to help them remember that diatoms (ice algae) are the main producers in the Bering Sea ecosystem.
Objective
To create a tangible reminder of how the Bering Sea ecosystem's main producers (diatoms and ice algae) use sunlight and transfer that into food energy for use by most other creatures that live there
The students' task is to produce a brochure for both the Arctic and the Antarctic. These brochures will be used by the representatives of "Here We Go Travel" to advertise the virtues of traveling to both polar regions. The students will produce a 45 second radio spot that they will write and record as part of their overall
Teacher leads class through collaborative lesson. Language Arts, Social Studies and Science Book "Good-Bye My Island". Chapters of the 16 chapter book are read, summarized and taught by teams of students.
Objective
General Learning Outcomes:
Academic Achiever-by reading the assigned chapter and summarizing the important points.
Community Contributor-by giving information to the rest of the class so
Much like an owl pellet, a bolus is all the indigestible material that is "thrown up" by an albatross. Shaped like a fat cigar, one can dissect a bolus to assess the health of our ocean, the foraging ground for thousands of albatross trying to gather enough food to feed their hungry chicks.