The objectives of this lesson are:
* Students will know that climate change is happening most quickly in Arctic regions.
* Students will know that a warming climate is causing permafrost to thaw.
* Students will know that thawing permafrost is impacting infrastructure in Alaska, including roads and buildings.
* Students will design an engineering solution to create stable
PolarTREC (Teachers and Researchers Exploring and Collaborating) is a program in which formal and informal educators spend 3-6 weeks participating in hands-on field research experiences in the polar regions. The goal of PolarTREC is to invigorate polar science education and understanding by bringing educators and polar researchers together.
Students will use a model to explore the relationships between sunlight and release of carbon dioxide (CO2) from thawing Arctic watersheds.
After studying the carbon cycle, students are asked to reflect on how natural phenomena – thawing of permafrost, interactions of soil microbes on dissolved carbon, and amount of sunlight – interconnect and influence the release of CO2
Soil decomposers, such as some bacteria and fungi, obtain energy needed for life from dead and decomposing plant and animal remains, known as soil organic matter. Soil organic matter is important to local ecosystems because it affects soil structure, regulates soil moisture and temperature, and provides energy and nutrients to soil organisms. It is also important globally, because
The report is written by teacher participants upon return from their field expedition portion of the PolarTREC program. It summarizes the benefit of the expedition to the teacher, a description of activities, and a summary of how teachers plan to link this experience in classrooms and communities. This is a public document that will be posted in teacher portfolios and
Article in regional newspaper describes Regina Brinker's PolarConnect event and invites readers to participate at home or as the event is projected at the main public library branch.
There is so much media hype and public misunderstanding regarding the issue of climate change that advanced students need to be equipped to sort through the information available, find data from appropriately moderated scientific data bases, and learn to support their views with good scientific evidence rather than emotion. This lesson provides the outline for giving students some preliminary
How can the ocean be colder than 0 degrees C, the temperature at which water freezes? As it turns out, the concentration of the particles (in this case, the ions from the salt) in ocean water lowers the temperature at which the saltwater will freeze. Students will learn how ocean water freezes at a lower temperature than freshwater by
Just as the increase in atmospheric CO2 is causing the global air temperture to rise, the container with the added CO2 will trap more heat inside and will show a higher internal temperature.
Overview
This activity/demonstration can be used directly following lessons on greenhouse gasses and their effects on warming the atmosphere by allowing shortwave UV energy