“I’m Melting, I’m Melting!”
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 selected glacier data and use the Bigger Picture lesson to convert their graph into a work of art. Then, students complete a PhET simulation on glaciers, changing variables such as temperature, precipitation to see how the rate of melting might be affected. As a summative assessment, students identify glacial ice forms via the CER method.
Authors: Kristina Hayda, Cathy McBride, Stacey Sebert, Patrick Murray; EARTH 2017
Lesson Resources
- What Is Happening To Our Glaciers PowerPoint
- Lesson Plan | Teacher Edition with Answers
- Flubber Lab Activity [Student Worksheet | Answer Key]
- Glacier Webquest [Student Worksheet | Answer Key]
- Student Graphing Data | Graph Analysis Worksheet
- PhET Model Glacier Landscapes Lab [Student Worksheet | Teacher Answer Key]
- Evaluation—Summative Assessment
