Module VII: Changing Climate

by Kris Owens

Explain:  What new learning or reflections have you taken from this module?

The active role northern cultures are taking in monitoring climate change is highlighted in this module.  The Sila-Inuk project, in which the Greenland Hunters and Fishermen Organization is making first hand observations of climate change is one example.  The TD movie Alaska Native Teens Help Researchers provides another great example of citizen science monitoring, as is the work La'ona Dewilde is doing in building scientific databases in Alaskan villages.  

The list of readily observable changing conditions posted on the wall in the Teachers Domain movie Inuit Observatoins of Climate Change, is amazingly long.  It seems to indicate accelerated change and possible ways to adapt to the changes.  The movie also gives insight into the important role women play in contributing to the body of information on changes in the environment.  This is in part due to the role they play in processing  the foods that are harvested.   

So how did we get here?  The background on the formation of our planet and atmosphere, began to flesh out my understanding of what has led to the current state of our planet and atmosphere.  I quickly realized that this aspect of our planets history, has previously been a mystery to me.  

It is amazing to think of the Earth being formed from a star going Supernova.  The comparison of the forming of a planet, to that of a snowball, was one I could understand, along with the idea that denser materials settle in the center, with less dense materials occurring towards the surface.  

I had not realized that there was a time when almost no oxygen was present in our atmosphere, and that there were life forms, (single celled aquatic organisms)  that oxygen was poison to.  The evolution of cyanobacteria, which were able to photosynthesize, led to oxygen being released as a by-product into our oceans.  Eventually, when the oceans were saturated with oxygen, it made its way into our atmosphere.

As I progressed through the module, the delicate balance and interplay between Earth systems that led to a hospitable planet became clear.  The TD movie,  Global Warming: The Physics of the Greenhouse Effect helped me to understand that greenhouse gases are what makes our planet habitable.  Without them we would have an average temperature of 0 degrees. These gases absorb some of the infrared energy reflected by our planet back into space.  Adding more carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, as a byproduct of using fossil fuels, will cause the average temperature to increase.  

The TD video Global Warming: Carbon Dioxide and the Greenhouse Effect explained why CO2 is the problem it is.  Understanding that these molecules absorb infrared radiation, or heat that is reflected back into atmosphere by the earth, clarified my understanding of the problem.   The infrared camera demonstration of how carbon dioxide absorbs heat radiation and blocks the scientists image, is startling and informative.  Greenhouse gasses do not let the radiation pass through, they absorb it.  It was also interesting to learn that carbon dioxide stays in atmosphere for about one hundred years before being absorbed by the oceans.  

The role of soil microbes in the production of carbon dioxide in northern climates was revealed in the TD movie Soil Microbes and Global Warming .  Scientists have discovered that these microbes are active much deeper into winter then previously thought, producing carbon dioxide as they break down organisms.  It was surprising to learn that soil microbes contribute 1/2 of the CO2 produced in Arctic.  Snow protects and warms the permafrost below, allowing microbial activity deep into winter, releasing not only CO2, but nutrients beneficial to taller, shrub like plants.  These in turn, collect snow, warming permafrost even more efficiently, with increased microbial activity.  This is an example of a Positive feedback loop.  

The TD video Capturing Carbon brings an element of hope and possible solution into the picture .  The idea of pulling carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere, inspired by Claus Lacker’s daughter’s science project, seems in a way to be a simple and obvious solution.  As the movie pointed out, just as the Wright Brothers knew by looking at a bird, that flight was possible, these scientists knew by looking at trees, that it is possible to pull carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.  

Their challenge seemed to be to come up with a way to do this without an “energy penalty.”  This meant being able to pull more CO2 molecules from atmosphere, than is created by running the device. Through “leaf geometry” or finding the best leaf design for allowing air flow, and the use of a top-secret material that helps avoid using sodium hydroxide, they have a very cool, innovative tree that may become a part of our future.  

Extend:  How might you use this weeks information and resources in your lessons?  What other resources can you share?

Topics such as photosynthesis, which sometimes seem “ho hum” to students, can be energized by tying them into the bigger picture of how life formed on earth.  The video, “Life Before Oxygen” is one that could enhance a lesson related to photosynthesis. 

The changing landscape of the north, with forest taking over tundra, brought to mind a resource I have used in the past called, Alaska's Cold Desert“Alaska’s Cold Desert.”  This unit, as well as several others, are offered through the BLM Education website.  Alaska’s Cold Desert focuses on the arctic ecosystem and tundra.  There is a scientific perspective and investigations, while economic issues are addressed as well.  

Our World 2.0  also looks like a great site with many topics to explore.  The articles offered seem to address a wide score of topics and I look forward to exploring this site further. 

Evaluate:  How useful, insightful and relevant are this modules information and resources?

This module was incredibly insightful and relevant in terms of helping me to understand our planets origins, present state, and future.  It will allow me to be a more informed teacher and offers a variety of useful resources for instruction.

We are learning about matter and just last week the topic of the periodic table and elements was introduced.  The TD movie The Origin of the Elements is a  video-clip I intend to use to enhance and enrich this topic

The NOVA website  Origins, looks like a very useful resource that can spark the users curiosity.  Titles like, “Do Aliens Exist in the Milky Way?” make you want to dive right in and participate in the poll.  I did, and found out it is an interactive resource that provides a wealth of information in an interesting format.  This is the kind of site that students would love to explore independently.  As I explored this resource, I learned more about extremophiles, or microbes that thrive in extreme conditions.  

3 Colleagues -

Bobbi Anne Barnmowsky-Crouch

I like Bobbi Anne’s idea for a “Did you know...?” wall.  This does seem like a great way to get students thinking and wondering.  Her post also inspired me to revisit the

Ocean Facts page.

Dave Wages

I enjoyed the “I wonder...” type questions Dave poses in response to Module VII.  Including a photo of his students carrying out a recent science investigation is also a great idea.  

James White

James had a great idea about using the Google Earth measurement tools in mathematics class.  The idea of a “smoot’ as a unit of measurement recently came up in my math class as well! 

James also uses actual video links - you can see the video and just push play.  I need to figure out how to do that!

Module VI - Atmospheric Systems Introduction

By Kris Owens

Explain: What new learning or reflections have you taken from this module?

The pollution of the Arctic is a much more severe problem than I had realized.  It is stunning to think of polar bears, in what seems to be a pristine environment, having a higher level of PCBs than any other arctic species. The reasons for this were illustrated and explained, in a way that helped me to have a better understanding of why this severe pollution is the case. 

As I worked through the “Cultural Connections” section of this module, I found my understanding of bio-accumulation increasing.  A somewhat new idea to me is that of bio-magnification.   The idea that pollutants become more contaminated in organisms higher in the food chain has many implications.  The connection between this problem, and cultures of the north, was made very clear in the video, Contaminants in the Arctic Food Chain.  The effect on the health of people, and on traditional diets, is significant and disturbing.

The video Alaska Native Pilots once again illustrated the connection between western science and native ways of knowing.  In this case, traditional knowledge gained through growing up hunting and experiencing the land and environment, ends up being of great value to pilots. 

I especially enjoyed the idea of “signmakers” such as sundogs and snow drifts.  This kind of traditional knowledge, combined with meteorology, makes for safer, more informed, piloting.  Being able to read the weather, knowing patterns, observing the detailed information offered by nature, allows pilots to ‘read the weather’, and to be more informed and successful. 

The sections on our atmosphere, and wind and weather, were fascinating.  Thinking of our atmosphere as an ocean of air that we live at the bottom of, is a new perspective for me.  The idea of the weight of this ocean, being equal to a layer of water 34 feet deep, prompted discussion and questions in my classroom this week!  

The comparison of water waves and currents, to those in the atmosphere, was interesting and informative.  The example of the up to mile-high wave that forms over Australia,  shown in the National Geographic video, Reveal Earth’s Atmosphere, is  one that excited the interest of both my students and myself.   

When pursuing the extend questions from the atmosphere module, I also ran into an interesting tidbit of information. This is that a type of lightening called sprites sometimes appears in the mesosphere above thunderstorms.  Check out NASA Lightning Sprites at You Tube for video of this phenomenon.

Extend: How might you use this week’ information and resources in your lessons?

My students watched two of the videos from the course this week to enrich their study of density and the atmosphere.  Our current theme is transportation and we are making hot-air balloons in science.  Matter, density, and buoyancy are just a few of the concepts they are encountering.  

I have been using the information from this module in my lessons, as a way to reinforce and extend topics we are currently studying.  We have had discussions based on the content related to water and heat capacity, as well as the sections on our atmosphere.  

Evaluate: How useful, insightful or relevant are this module’s information and resources?

Once again, I found this module’s information and resources to be extremely useful, insightful, and relevant. They are also helping me to spot areas where I can extend what I have typically explored with my students.  For example, as I write this, a new idea occurred to me that during this theme, the transport of pollutants via air and water currents, as well as through food chains, are topics we have never addressed. 

We have a four year theme cycle for our 3^rd-6^th graders.  Last year, students studied currents.  Making connections between previous themes and the current one, will be a great way to loop back to reinforce previous topics explored.  

3 Colleagues

I visited Tyler Orbison's  blog, as he had visited mine and left a question about Mystery Class.  I figured I could visit his blog and also respond to his question.  

I especially enjoy how Tyler makes connections between the content and his life.  One example of this is how he connected atmospheric currents (the jet stream), to weather and ecosystems, and deer hunting!

When looking over the course participants list for new blogs to visit, I noticed Lila Lee Little, who lives and works in Anchor Point.  This is my neck of the woods as well, so I decided to visit her blog. 

I enjoyed Lila’s style of writing and appreciated the graphics she included.  As I had been particularly interested in bio-magnification, I especially liked the graphic she included on this topic.  Clicking the link under this graphic led to a site I am not familiar with called “Southern Fried Science.”  http://www.southernfriedscience.com/?p=5992   Thanks for a new resource Lila!

Tommy Gossard

My next choice for a blog to visit was Tommy Gossard's.  I also got a lot out of Phun Physics and like Tommy, had many “aha” moments.  

Module V - Ocean Systems Introduction

by Kris Owens

By the time I'd worked through each section of module five, I felt like I'd been on a journey!  Add in the main fundraiser for the year for our school, an incredible amount of snow between Friday night and Sunday, and a computer that kept going on the fritz, and I was a bit frazzled.  But, I did learn quite a bit last week.

Many of the topics covered, relate to ones that I teach, and provided excellent review, as well as in-depth explanations and background information.  The section in which I found myself grasping ideas I had previously been fuzzy on, and acquiring new ones as well, was "Getting into Hot Water."

My learning began right away with the simple act of placing a hand on two different surfaces, leading to a better understanding of heat capacity.  The difference in the heat capacity of water and land helped me to recognize the relationship between the heat capacity of great bodies of water such as our oceans, and Earth's climate.

I especially enjoyed the lab, "Does a Watched Kettle Boil?"  It provoked a great deal of thinking for me, particularly the extend question, referring to why the temperature of water stays the same, while boiling.  I hadn't encountered this idea previously, and found I wasn't sure why the temperature did stay the same.

With a brief foray into the land of additional explanation, I quickly understood that when water reaches the temperature of boiling, it evaporates.  So, the temperature never goes above the point at which it turns to gas.

The NASA/JPL video that followed, Oceans of Climate Change , served to solidify ideas about the heat-capacity of water. This is a very cool experiment that I would love at some point, to demonstrate for students. It may be that I share the video this week, to show them the cool "stuff" I am learning.  They are aware of the class I am taking and would definitely enjoy seeing this video!

The section "Motion in the Ocean" was particularly relevant to me.  One of the quarterly themes we have at Fireweed is "Currents."  During this theme, we focus on ocean currents, atmospheric currents, and climate. The content explored in this module will help to reinforce and enrich many of the ideas we explore. 

A particularly useful resource I have found for introducing ocean currents to younger students (3rd - 6th) is called Victor the Vector.  Ocean currents, vectors, and the Gulf Stream, are just a few of the topics covered in this story of a vector personified, who gets separated from his mother in a storm.

Ideas I may tend to overlook, in terms of this theme, were also brought to mind.  Making connections between currents, climates, and seasonal change, to the people and cultures of different enviornments, are ideas I haven't particularly emphasized.  Taking a closer look at how these relate to our communities and ways of life, are a means to bring greater relevance to these topics.

The "Reason for the Seasons" module introduced several resources I can use during a Journey North project our school participates in, called mystery class . This is an online project, in which ten mystery class sites around the world, submit sunrise and sunset data once a week, for eleven weeks.

Participants graph the data, learn about the reason for the seasons, and anxiously await cultural clues that arrive over the last three to four weeks.   Using their data, new knowledge, and the cultural clues, they try to figure out the locations of the ten mystery classes.

Our school has been lucky enough to be a mystery class site on two occasions.  Journey North is always looking for sites with a variety of daylight changes (mid-latitude, high/low latitude...), so a school in Alaska has a good chance of being selected. There were numerous interactive, audio, and video resources that support the themes at our school and the science content I introduce to our students.  They are all saved in the appropriate folders at Teachers' Domain!  

Three Colleagues -

I am trying to visit different blogs each week.  This week I decided to check out the blogs of Dan Adair, Cheryl Emerson, and Kathy East. 

Dan Adair -    Dan discussed the misconception that summer and winter are somehow related to the distance between Earth and the sun.  Students are usually surprised to learn that Earth is actually at its farthest point away from the sun, during summer in the northern hemisphere.  A NASA outreach website addresses this, as well as other common misconceptions.  Check out Sun – Earth Misconceptions.   

Cheryl Emerson - Twice now, when I have visited a participant’s blog, I discover something interesting that I missed.  This time it was when Cheryl pointed out the interesting feature of the ocean floor called a guyot.  It was then that I realized I must have missed the diagram, “Features of the Ocean Floor.” looked back over module and I still don’t see it…

Kathy East – What a great sunset picture you have as your background!  My students are building hot air balloons at this time and an important topic we cover during this project is density.  Thanks for the link to the you-tube video, “Water Temperature and Density.”