Explore: Adapt, Migrate or Die!
Lately the topic of climate change has been bringing me down. It is no longer a new topic ... but an old horse, beaten down. People know what is going on but I hear so much doubt, conspiracy theories, "but there is nothing I can do about it" attitudes. Doom, gloom, hopelessness.
Then I farted around in this week's cultural connections. This may sound weird but I found it uplifting. In Alaskan villages climate change is here, now, affecting their lives and they are doing something about it. Whole communities and school districts ... like the Arctic Climate Modeling Program. Ahhh, the sun peaks over the mountain.
Extend: I love the interdisciplinary overlapping topics in this module. Climate change, carbon cycle, periodic table, geologic timelines, early life on Earth, origins of Earth, organic chemistry ... what a great thematic unit. I teach so many of these topics separately. Look how well they fit together!
I'm thinking the 6 Soil Microbes and Global Warming video will fit in well during our microbes unit in biology, reinforcing the carbon cycle topic we cover earlier in the year. If I can't do one thematic unit, at least I can show how the topics recycle throughout the year. Life Before Oxygen will also be a great segway into arachaebacteria.
For the past 12 years I've been collecting green up and green down data using protocols from the GLOBE Program. It is an easy to do activity where students observe a branch or leaves on a branch to document when the leaves change color and fall off in the fall, and the when bud burst happens in the spring. I've enjoyed using this program to give kids a chance to contribute to the base line or moving line data for Alaska.
Three classmates:
For some first hand accounts of how the climate is changing in Juneau ... see Kevin.
Marilyn's blog makes me fall out of my chair in awe ... it is so professional looking.
I learned about Our World 2.0 from Doug.
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