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GLOBAL CLIMATE CHANGE CD AND K-12 EDUCATION
Project Scientists: Kathy Berry-Bertram, GI, UAF and Syun Akasofu, IARC
IARC has engaged in K-12 science outreach education activities in Alaska and throughout the U.S. through the development of educational CDs and teacher training. Jointly with the GI at UAF, we developed a successful “Aurora Alive” CD ). Based on this successful experience, we have initiated a new CD project “Global Climate Change”, because climate change is prominently in progress before the eyes of Alaskan K-12 students.
This particular CD-ROM and an associated set of classroom lessons is being designed to help Alaskan middle-school students and teachers understand the physics behind global climate change, a phenomenon with which most Alaskans are familiar because it is unfolding before their eyes. The Global Climate CD-ROM will combine graphics and interactive activities to help students visualize difficult scientific concepts, while classroom lessons will encourage cooperative learning, community participation, and instruction-based, hands-on activities, all of which have been proven to increase the learning and retention of middle-school students.
The Global Climate CD-ROM and the associated classroom lessons are being modeled after the Aurora Alive curriculum, which was developed by this project’s Project Scientists in conjunction with other scientists at the GI and IARC.
In the two years since its completion, the Aurora Alive CD-ROM has earned national and international acclaim. The Smithsonian Institution asked to use the CD-ROM in an interactive display, and the Japanese Seisa Educational Group is paying to have it translated into Japanese for schools and museums in Japan. Because teacher requests from Alaska and elsewhere in the U.S. have exceeded supplies, the CD-ROM recently was prepared for sale. A copy of the Aurora Alive CD-ROM and the Aurora Alive teacher’s manual of associated classroom lessons are available for review upon request. The Aurora Alive CD-ROM and teacher’s manual containing associated classroom lessons has been field tested in Alaskan middle schools for six years. Aurora Alive has been so successful in teaching the physics of the aurora that it has become mandatory curriculum for all middle-school students in the Northwest Arctic Borough School District. Data tracking student achievement in all participating schools indicate such a positive result that Aurora Alive currently is being considered for inclusion as mandatory curriculum in the Fairbanks North Star Borough School District (FNSBSD), and in the Anchorage School District, the two largest districts in Alaska.
Like Aurora Alive, the Global Climate CD-ROM and the teacher’s manual of associated classroom lessons will be based on National Standards in Science, Math and Language Arts, Alaska Content Standards, and Alaska Standards for Culturally Responsive Schools. Like Aurora Alive, the Global Climate curriculum will emphasize a variety of techniques to accommodate a wide range of learning styles and assessment methods appropriate for both the gifted learner and students with special needs. And, like Aurora Alive, the Global Climate CD-ROM and the teacher’s manual of associated classroom lessons will be divided into nine units, one for each month of the school year.
Progress Report and Accomplishments:
An analysis of science textbooks used by Alaska middle-school students has already been performed to ensure, first, that the appropriate level of science content will be included in the Global Climate curriculum, and, second, that the science material to be presented will be aligned with the school requirements mandated by the state of Alaska. Teachers in the FNSBSD were contacted to determine the classrooms in which the Global Climate curriculum will be field-tested. The FNSBSD was chosen as the place to conduct field tests because it has the largest student population in Interior Alaska and the schools are within driving distance of IARC, eliminating air travel costs, and enabling open communication among scientists, teachers, and administrators. The Alaska Native Science Commission and the American Indian Science and Engineering Society were contacted to designate appropriate persons to offer advice throughout all stages of curriculum development to ensure it is appropriate to the needs of Native Alaskan students.
Further, during the first period, an outline, script, graphics and animations for the Global Climate CD-ROM are being developed in consultation with education specialists, IARC scientists, and FNSBSD teachers. The Global Climate CD-ROM will begin by contrasting today’s climate with that of the last ice age, when vast sheets of ice covered North America and Europe. Because Alaskan students are the target audience, the Global Climate CD-ROM will focus on Beringia, the sub-continent exposed as a shelf between Alaska and Siberia during that time. Beringia’s characteristics will be discussed, including climate (steppe-tundra), fauna (steppe bison, wooly mammoths, short-faced bears), and flora (“polar desert”), and contrasts with current conditions in Alaska will be highlighted. Most Alaskan students are familiar with artifacts from large mammals of the last ice age because ancient bones of these “megafauna” are commonly found at excavation sites in both urban and rural Alaska.
The next part of the Global Climate CD-ROM will discuss the basic components of weather that eventually make up Earth’s climate. This section will begin by focusing on the physics and chemistry of water, including its three phases, and the density and volume changes associated with phase transitions. The details about water will provide a natural segue into a focus on the hydrological cycle, then into a general discussion of how weather is created, followed by a discussion of the differences between weather and climate.
A section about the “Greenhouse Effect” commonly described in middle-school student textbooks will segue into a discussion about the ongoing warming trend familiar to Alaskan students in the arctic region. Most Alaskan students have themselves observed symptoms of global warming. For example, sea ice conditions are worsening for seal and walrus hunters; both ice break-up on Interior rivers, and snow melt occur considerably earlier today than they did sixty years ago.
In the final portion of the Global Climate CD-ROM, both natural and manmade causes of the observed warming trend will be considered. This section will include a discussion of carbon and carbon cycles, and how climate change is measured both physically (by ice, snow, and ocean sediment cores) and through complex models, such as those created by IARC scientists in the Arctic.
Long-range Plans:
During the first three years, personnel will be hired to create the Global Climate CD-ROM and teacher’s manual of associated classroom lessons. The creation of classroom lessons associated with the Global Climate CD-ROM is imperative. Without associated classroom lessons, the school districts in Alaska will not include the Global Climate CD-ROM in their classroom curricula.
Both the CD-ROM and the associated classroom lessons will be divided into nine educational units that will support students’ understanding of the physics involved with global climate change. Each educational unit will be composed of at least eight classroom lessons. Each unit will be tested in a minimum of two middle-school classrooms in the FNSBSD during the school year, and then sent for review and comment to the Alaska Native Science Commission and the American Indian Science and Engineering Society. Because time is needed to test all eight classroom lessons and the numerous CD-ROM animations and activities within each unit, and additional time is needed to incorporate teacher comments and those of the Alaska Native Science Commission and the American Indian Science and Engineering Society, no more than three units can be field tested each year.
The minimum personnel needed to create the Global Climate CD-ROM and associated classroom lessons include a project director, a graphic artist, a computer expert proficient in using Marcomedia Director, an education specialist to create hands-on and inquiry-based lessons based on national and state standards, and a layout design specialist to ensure the lessons are professionally displayed and meet school publication standards.
Proposed Work for Year 1:
For each of the following units, both the interactive animations and educational instruction in the Global Climate CD-ROM, and the hands-on activities based on national and state standards that will be included in the teacher’s manual as associated classroom lessons, will be developed concurrently.
(2003-2004)
Unit 1: Alaska--Past and Present: This unit will introduce the concept of climate change by contrasting the climate, fauna, and flora of Beringia with Alaska’s current climate, animals, and plants.
Unit 2: Creating Weather: This unit will focus on the basic elements that form localized weather and weather patterns.
Unit 3: Water’s Role: This unit will focus on the molecular structure and states of water (liquid, solid, and gas) while emphasizing the role water plays in creating weather (hydrological cycle).
(2004-2005)
Unit 4: Components of Climate: This unit will delve into the major components of the climatic system, and illustrate the difference between weather and climate.
Unit 5: The Greenhouse Effect: This unit will describe the “Greenhouse Effect” while focusing on Earth’s atmosphere and natural and manmade greenhouse gases.
Unit 6: Carbon and the Carbon Cycle: This unit will focus on the molecular structure of carbon and on the carbon cycle, while emphasizing the role carbon plays in the Greenhouse Effect.
(2005-2006)
Unit 7: Global Climate Change: This unit will discuss global climate change by referring to the last period of glaciation and the warming trend that has occurred during the past 20,000 years.
Unit 8: Measuring Climate Change: This unit will discuss ancient and modern methods of assessing climate change, including current modeling being conducted by IARC and other scientists.
Unit 9: Global Warming: This unit will discuss the enhanced greenhouse effect, global warming, and the implications of global warming.
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