Polar Bears Gone? Climate Change,

¶ … Polar Bears Gone?

Climate change, global warming, El Nino, and disaster movies (2012, etc.) are a part of contemporary culture. Children, from a very young age, are exposed to the concept of climate change, but sometimes are not familiar with something to make that issue relevant for them. This is particularly true for younger students, who do not yet have a good concept of seasons, temperature variation, or what consequences the melting of polar ice might have. Using a framework, though, of a Polar Bear family and their home; we can structure a week long lesson plan to help them understand the very basics of the topics.

Level -- Adaptable K-2 depending on curriculum, group, and time.

Timing - Week long, multidisciplinary lesson that combines various core curriculum areas and ties together an ecological approach that shows students the world is neither static nor individualistic, but a holistic combination of many issues.

Lesson Objectives - by the end of the week-long lesson, students will:

1. Have a general understanding of the measurement of temperature in both the Fahrenheit and Celsius scales.

2. Understand the term "habitat" and how it relates to the ecology of a region.

3. Understand the basic definition of the greenhouse effect based on class discussion, films, diagrams, and lecture.

4. Participate in group brainstorming sessions and class discussions related to the impact of the greenhouse effect and global warming.

5. Discuss the effect that a rise in temperature might have for the Polar Bear Family, indigenous populations, and then extrapolate to cities on the world's coasts.

6. Conduct research using primary sources to explore the issues of polar bear habitat and why it affects everyone.

7. Take a position about global warming and support this view with reasons, facts and examples.

8. Create a group project that supports a point-of-view; individual writing assignments to buttress the argument, and group presentations.

Related National Standards - Based on McREL National Content Knowledge, individual States may have different item numbers (See: http://www.mcrel.org/standards-benchmarks/.)

Science:

Standard 1. Understands atmospheric processes and the water cycle:

Level Pre-K

Knows vocabulary (e.g. rainy, windy, sunny) for different types of weather

Knows that weather conditions change

Knows that the environment changes over seasons and areas

Level I -- K-2

Knows that short-term weather conditions change daily, and understands basic weather patterns

Knows that water can be a liquid or solid and can be made to change from one form to another, but the amount of water is static

Stretch Goals

Knows that water exists in the air in different forms (clouds, rain, snow, etc.) and changes through processes (freezing, condensation, precipitation, evaporation).

Knows that the Sun provides light and heat, basic understanding of ozone layer

Standard 7. Understands biological evolution and the diversity of life

Level IK-2 -- Knows that some types of organisms that once lived on Earth have completely disappeared (e.g. dinosaurs, mammoths, certain plants).

Stretch Goal -- Understands concept of extinction and how environmental change can cause it to happen.

Standard 6. Understands the relationships among organisms and their physical environment.

Stretch Goal -- Knows the organization of simple food chains and food webs (e.g. green plants make their own food with sunlight, water, and air; some animals eat the plants, some animals eat the animals, etc.).

Additional Matrices:

Health -- Standard 2 -- Knows environmental and external factors that affect individual and community health.

History -- Standard 44 -- Understands the search for community, stability, and peace in an interdependent world.

Language Arts

Writing - Standard 4: Gathers and uses information for research purposes.

Reading, Standard 7: Uses reading skills and strategies to understand and interpret a variety of informational texts.

Listening and Speaking -Standard 8: Uses listening and speaking strategies for different purposes.

Standard - Uses viewing skills and strategies to understand and interpret visual media.

Standard 10 - Understands the characteristics and components of the media.

Thinking and Reasoning

Standard 1 -Understands and applies the basic principles of presenting an argument.

Standard 2 -Understands and applies the basic principles of logic and reasoning.

Standard 3 -Effectively uses mental processes that are based on identifying similarities and differences.

Standard 6 -Applies decision-making techniques.

Estimated Timeline -- Weeklong lesson integrating all aspects of classroom issues, including art, math, science, social studies, reading, spelling, etc.

Materials Needed

Internet access for research, viewing, and stories

The Heat Over Global Warming (http://www.pbs.org/now/shows/304

King of Cold- (2008). Electronic Book by Steve Whitt (http://www.contentclips.com/services/getPresenterHtml?uri=http://rs1.contentclips.com/ipy/clips/ipy_0806_01_king_00633.swf)

Time for Kids, Special Edition on Global Warming -- various articles at: www.timeforkids.com

"How We Know What We Know About Our Changing Climate: Scientists and Kids Explore Global Warming." http://www.dawnpub.com/2detaillinks/climatechangeeducation.cfm

"A Polar Bear Journey." Debbie S. Miller; http://www.debbiemilleralaska.com/PolarBearJourney.htm

Crayons, butcher paper, scissors, paints, glue, various art supplies

Dry Ice, large beaker, thermometers, small toys, empty milk jug, pan, salt, tablespoon, blue food coloring

32 cards (premade) showing negative climate change effects, solutions, stories, maps, etc.

Activities (examples)

Making an ice berg - https://www.cresis.ku.edu/education/iibLessons/iib012.pdf

Understanding volume when ice melts and materials are free - http://fun.familyeducation.com/childrens-science-activities/early-learning/35631.html

Spuzzles -- Put pictures together to make environment work http://scijinks.jpl.nasa.gov/noaa/spuzzled/index.shtml

Crossword puzzles, shaped and based on vocabulary words

Research articles -- e.g. give websites, have questions: for example:

http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/oa/climate/globalwarming.html

Card game on climate change:

http://www.climatechoices.org.uk/docs/card_games_tn.pdf

Daily Matrix:

Day 1 -- Introduction

Key focus: Climate, geography, habitat, maps, environment

Activities:

1. Explanation about temperature, thermometers, measuring; hands on activities measuring temperature of different solutions and areas of the room, the soil, environment, water, etc.