Final Project: IB Biology Lab Options

Possible topics:
1.  Lake ice and snow
2.  Air Quality
3.  Frost Tube
4.  Surface Temperature

Lake Ice and Snow:

Teachers Domain Video and Essay

ALISON website

There is a lot of information on this website.  Explore around.  Look at whatever is interesting to you.

Insert link for data sheet.

Assignment:  

1.  Watch the video.

2.  Read the background essay.

3.  Answer the discussion questions.

4.  Write down five things you learned from the ALISON website.

Air Quality:

UM Promo Video

Watch this local news video from Missoula, Montana, or read the article.  Notice:  Palmer was left off.  Boo hoo.  Maybe they weren't sure I would ever make it back from Russia.  :)

Review the questions you answered during Desirae's visit in December.

UM:  Air Toxics Big Sky Website

The program was started in Montana and they have now started a sister project in Alaska.  Check out some of the student presentations from the previous years symposiums for ideas.

Drought and Air Quality Video and background essay

Assignment:

1.  Watch the promo video or read the news article.  Write down three things your learned.

2.  Review handouts from Desirae.  Write down three important facts about air quality.

3.  Look through the Big Sky website.  Look at five presentations from the 2005 symposium.  List their topics.

4.  Watch the Drought and Air Quality video.  Read the background essay.  Answer the discussion questions.

Frost Tube:

Video and essay about melting permafrost

Tunnel Man Video ... for fun  It is on youtube so if you are trying to do this at school it won't work.  :(

Permafrost Outreach Program UAF Website  This website has a lot of information.  Poke around.  See what you can find.  Kenji is an amazing person who does amazing things.  See if you can figure out what they are.  He visited our school ... yes ... The Tunnel Man was on campus in September!  My 6th hour and Mr. Berberich were witnesses.

link for data sheet and protocol

Assignment:  

1.  Watch the melting permafrost video.

2.  Read the background essay.

3.  Answer the discussion questions.

4.  Write down five things you learned at the permafrost outreach website.

5.  Look through the data sheet and protocols.

Surface Temperature:

Protocol on globe.gov website  

Glance through the entire document.  Read pages 3-6.

Data Sheet

Field Guide

Taking the Earth's Temperature Video and Essay

Assignment:  

1.  Watch the temperature video.

2.  Read the background essay.

3.  Answer the discussion questions.

4.  Look through the field guide, data sheet and protocols links.  Write down five important things to remember when collecting temperature data.

Week 9: Freshwater Ice

Explore:  
This summer I went to a polar science conference in Norway.  While there I became aware of how proud the Norwegian are of their explorers, such as Nansen and Amundsen.  I came home with a list of books documenting their adventures that I wanted to read.  I spent my rainy Alaskan summer reading about brave men who definitely knew their ice, be it sea ice or freshwater ice.

"Nansen in front of the ship in the summer of 1894, strongly doubting that the ice drift would lead him to the Pole."


Cultural connections can use a historical perspective such as the first explorers into a polar region or the connection can be with those who lived in polar regions all along.  The books I read had many examples of how the extreme environments of the Arctic and Antarctic were difficult for explorers.  I was even more in awe of the people and cultures whose entire lives were spent in these extreme environments.


River ice break up is a fascinating topic for me.  There are many cultural connections from betting in the Nenana Ice Classic to the routine spring floods in many communities as the ice breaks up and dams form downstream.  


Extend: 
As an ALISON teacher, freshwater ice is a topic I've received much training (from the best researches anywhere on these topics).  The more I learn, the more I realize there is to learn.  The video Students Measure Changes in Lake Ice and Snow is a great introduction to ALISON.  Although I'm not as active as I used to be in ALISON, I continually find ways to apply my knowledge of lake ice when teaching.  Many students ski, snowboard or snowmachine, making snow and ice a topic that is interesting and relevant to them.  More importantly though doing ALISON allows students to work with scientists - being trained and collecting data using the same equipment as the researchers at UAF.  This is such an exciting way to teach, learn and do science.


Here is an article titled "Temperature variations in lake ice in central Alaska, USA" written my Marc Gould and Martin Jeffries of UAF.


Evaluate:  
I wish this was the first module.  There are so many connections to our everyday life in the topic of freshwater ice and snow.  So much interesting, relevant and fun stuff!  Quick question:  The video "Studnets Measure Change in Lake Ice and Snow" ... do you know where I could find the full video?


Three classmates:
My ALSION pal Cheryl has some neat links to the permafrost tunnel.  


Alison spent a week in Hawaii and contemplated how warmer climates view climate change compared to colder ones.


Amy brought my attention to the video ... Elements in the Stars