Secondary teachers and their students will further explore permafrost, climate change and scientific processes used by scientists in six online interactive lessons. Lessons simultaneously deliver new scientific content and act as tutorials to train teachers to use free classroom applications, Google Earth, ImageJ, and NASA’s innovative GIOVANNI, to graphically visualize climate data and measure the effects of climate change.
Lessons include videos, photographs, diagrams, technology tutorials and clear step-by-step instructions. Each lesson provides a context for why studying each topic is important. Lesson resources include National and Alaska State Standards, additional information, links and lesson references. Lessons were pilot and field tested by teachers and reviewed by permafrost researchers.
Lessons allow learners to mimic how scientist conduct climate research.
Lesson 1 - Permafrost in the Arctic
In this lesson observe the location of permafrost.
Lesson 2 - Temperature Models and Ice Cellars
In this lesson use a NASA Goddard Earth Sciences and Information Data Center tool
to
examine thawing ice cellars by modeling soil temperature.
Lesson 3 - Graphing Long Term Soil Temperature Change
In this lesson graph long-term temperature changes in village communities in Alaska.
Lesson 4 - Graphing Albedo and Temperature Data
In this lesson create graphs depicting temperature change due to changing albedo.
Lesson 5 - Measuring Changing Lakes
In this lesson measure lake extent using time-series aerial photography.
Lesson 6 - Is Alaska’s Coast Disappearing?
In this lesson study changes in landscape by comparing a time-series of NASA satellite images.
