Chill Out- All About Ice in the Bering Sea

Overview

Through activities, video observation, experimentation and the construction of a Remotely Operated Vehicle (ROV) students will learn about the chemical and physical properties of sea ice.

Objectives

Students will be able to answer main questions of where sea ice is, how it is formed, why the ice is important, how it is classified by indigenous people and scientists, how scientists study ice and what they learn from it, and how changes in the Bering Sea ice affect us.

Lesson Preparation

Background information:

http://nsidc.org/arcticseaicenews/2008_faq.html
http://seaice.alaska.edu/gi/links
http://www.arcus.org/search/seaiceoutlook/outreach/education_resources.php
http://nsidc.org/arcticsea

Procedure

• Describe the steps needed to complete the lesson. Can use 5 E Model or other model.

• Watch video at http://vimeo.com/12092651

• Students will make a Local Knowledge Chart (like a KWL chart) about the importance and uses to Bering Sea/ Arctic communities who live in the ice areas.

• Discuss snow vs. ice and ways that ice is created. Low temperature freezes water, pressure exerted on snow compresses it.

• Pull up a map on the Smart Board, have 4-5 students use the blue marker to outline where they think the extent of summer sea ice in the Arctic is, then switch to green marker and have another 4-5 students outline where they thing the winter ice typically grows to.

• Use link http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sc-aS0rwZNI to show the extent of sea ice over time.

• Sea Ice Classification- Have students use indigenous taxonomy chart to identify sea ice: http://www.gi.alaska.edu/~eicken/he_teach/GEOS615icenom/tek/intro.htm (Inuit Classification)

• Have students use scientific chart to classify ice: http://www.arcticclimatemodeling.org/subject_sea_ice_dynamics.html

• Hawaiian (Rain)-Maggie will use rain to identify words that Hawaiians use to classify the different kinds of rain.

• How are the indigenous taxonomy and scientific taxonomy of ice the same? Different?

• Ice assessment-Compare and contrast an indigenous way of identifying ice with a scientific way of identifying ice

• How Science is done. Using a ROV that is student made, students will make regular sampling of ice/water.

• ROV assessment-Build, modify, and create a protocol for a ROV to collect ice/ocean water. See resources section for ROV information.

• Link to ice core layering activity http://www.polartrec.com/resources/lesson/ice-cores-modeling-ice-sheets

• Obtain a water sample and use a refractometer and other scientific tools to find salinity, pH, temperature, turbidity, and dissolved oxygen. Use accepted scientific protocols. Post data on database of project for shared use by participating schools. * * Use inquiry to develop hypotheses, and to analyze data over time.

• Scientific methodology assessment- Sample and analyze ocean water/ice at a site and contribute the data to a database that is accessible by schools participating in Chill Out Cultural and Scientific Learning Experience.

Resources

Materials to make a ROV either from Sea Perch (http://seaperch.mit.edu/) or MATE (http://www.marinetech.org/rov_competition/index.php) websites.

Extension

This lesson is meant as a lesson in the chemical and physical properties of sea ice. The natural extension of this lesson would be to integrate the biology of living things. This is but one component of the Bering Sea ecosystem.

Credits

Tonia Kushin-St Paul Island School Pribilof Islands School District, Alaska
Maggie Prevenas, Kalama Intermediate School, Hawaii Department of Education, prevenas [at] hawaiiantel [dot] net