This 5E lesson on glaciers opens with a clip from Ice Age and a demonstration of glacial melt involving ice cubes on various surfaces. For the Exploration, students execute experiments to model environmental conditions on glacial melt through using flubber, concluding with a webquest to connect these concepts to glaciers and changes in climate overall. Next, students graph […]
Students will explore the history, climate, and ecosystem of Antarctica as they access various documents and real scientific data collected by researchers during field experiences along the West Antarctic Peninsula. Significant events in Antarctic Exploration, Research, Technology, and Policy will be discussed and relevant concepts and principles relevant to climate and polar literacy standards will […]
The use of technology is critical in studying Humpback whales. Students will explore the use of tagging technologies in the research being conducted in the southern ocean around Antarctica. Students will simulate this tagging data in the classroom and will need to analyze, model, and interpret their data.
This lesson allows students to access personal narratives of marine scientists talking about the equipment that they use to study the ocean and the data that they collected. Students will use a VoiceThread with short scientist videos and pictures of their data to deepen their understanding of the process of science.
Help the penguins find their lunch! Students will be solving the Adelie Penguin Mystery of the missing lunch based on the data collected in Antarctica by Dr. Josh Kohut. The clues will help the class unlock the boxes and solve the mystery with the BreakoutEDU game platform. Students will work collaboratively to problem solve and […]
The lesson incorporates the Polar Literacy Standards with Polar Ice Data Stories (data from scientists in polar regions) as a game that culminates with student creation of a research project that is voted on for funding by their peers. Students will investigate differences between Arctic and Antarctic regions through game questions and analyze data provided […]
What does the color of the water tell you about conditions in marine and freshwater environments? What are the variables that affect that color? In this lesson students will participate in a variety of activities that allows them to brainstorm what impacts the color of our global water. They will perform research, analyse graphs and […]
Underwater gliders used by scientists are the future of oceanic exploration. Follow the steps in this mini-unit to learn about data collected off the coast of Antarctica and how science and technology blend to collect data where humans cannot venture. Students will also engage in an engineering design challenge to assist scientists as they continue […]
Research programs at the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI) encompass the entire ocean, from the surface waters to the deep seafloor, and from the coastal zone to the open sea. The need to understand the ocean in all its complexity and variability drives MBARI's research and development efforts.
