Antarctica Project Lesson Plans Outline

• Recount genre through writing journals.
• Explanations to describe phenomenon e.g. six months daylight, six months night.
• Narrative genre through the use of "story" to engage students in the unit.

Science and Technology

• Earth and its surroundings.
• Living things.
• Information and communication (PowerPoint presentations).

• Drama through role-play.
• Music to create song for entertainment.
  
  
  

ICT (computing)

• Use of internet for research.
• Producing a PowerPoint presentation.

• Where is Antarctica?
• Describe weather conditions.
• Describe landscape.

Special Needs

• Experiment with their role as researcher
• Name one of Antarctica's neighbours
• Name three items which would be needed by visitors to Antarctica
• Provide description of Antarctica's weather conditions

• Provide some detail of their feelings as researcher.
• Explain how they might have expected the journey to be.

• Provide greater detail about their role as researcher by providing historical examples to highlight their ordeal
• Explain in detail their hypothetical journey and explore their feelings and hardships they may have endured.

Teacher introduces Antarctica as a narrative. The story goes something like this:

"Today you are all going to become explorer-scientists who have been given the mission of finding out about Antarctica. You will be leaving in one week and you need to use the time that you have left to discover as much about Antarctica as possible. If you don't have the right information, you might come across many dangers and you might even risk your lives and the lives of the others.

Your first job is to find out where Antarctica is, and what it's like there. You then need to decide what you should take with you and say why you need those things.

You will be going on this expedition with four other people and each of you is allowed to take four things, apart from your clothes. In your groups you will discuss what things you need.

When you finally arrive, you must write a short journal entry to describe the situation. Remember, you don't have much time to write, so only write the important things. Good luck!"

• What are the basic requirements for a shelter?
• How can a shelter be built?
• What problems would be faced by builders on Antarctica?

• Name the basic requirements and need for a shelter

Mainstream

• Name the basic processes involved in building a shelter.
• Explore the importance of safety in Antarctic conditions.
• Briefly outline historical facts about Antarctic exploration.

Gifted and Talented

• Explain in detail the processes of building a shelter and the importance of this in Antarctic conditions.
• In detail describe historical facts about Antarctica exploration including hardships and dangers faced by explorers.

Teacher tells the students that,

"You are now the researchers and in Antarctica most bases are not on frozen soil, but on bedrock or on a (usually moving) ice-shelf - which present their own problems. You must quickly build a shelter. Firstly, you must find out that kind of materials were used to build shelters in the past, and what is being used now. You must discuss amongst yourselves whether you will use olden day materials or present-day materials and why".

Halfway through this activity teacher informs students that,

"A snowstorm has just hit and you must quickly decide what you should do to remain safe."

Short time later teacher informs class that,

"Luckily the storm only lasted for a short while and you can continue building your shelter."

NOTE: For this activity old sheets and long sticks can be collected and used to produce the "shelter". Twine can be used to secure the sheets to the sticks. This is a token activity designed to illustrate to the students the importance of shelter in Antarctica and the hardships experienced by explorers, especially the early explorers.

The tents should be placed somewhere that is a little secluded so that other students do not tamper with them. They could be used for part of second lesson 2.

This could be taught in conjunction with the ideas here: - man as a tropical animal

• What kinds of animals live in Antarctica?
• How are they able to survive there?
• What kind of plant life is there?

Special Needs

• Name two species of animals found in Antarctica
• Understand that polar bears so not in Antarctica

Mainstream

• Be able to identify two species of animals and identify two types within each species.

Gifted and Talented

• Identify a variety of animal species found in Antarctica.
• Briefly describe specific features relating to each animal e.g. feeding habits, habitat, breeding.

"You are presently living in the hut. You hear noises outside and using a spotlight shone through the window you spot what you think is a huge polar bear. What are you going to do? You must research the flora and fauna of Antarctica so that you can find out what kind of animal it might be."

Researchers realise that there are no polar bears in Antarctica and discover that it's just a lost penguin.

• What kinds of occupations would be needed in Antarctica?
• Why isn't there a wide range of occupations?
• Why is safety important in Antarctica?

Special Needs

• Name one of the jobs on an Antarctic base.
• Briefly describe their role.
• Name one activity people do for leisure.
• Brainstorm reasons for safety rules.
   

• Name up to three of the different jobs on Antarctic base and briefly describe each of these jobs
• Name some of the leisure activities
• Explain problems which may arise from neglecting safety rules.

• Describe the various jobs and provide detail about each job.
• Describe a variety of leisure activities on Antarctica
• Describe a variety of safety procedures

"The Base Commander has requested that all personnel report to the main dining area for a full report of their activities for the week. Each person is to be present at 16:30 sharp. No excuses will be taken from late-comers. In addition, the meteorology department is to have a report regarding the possible blizzard heading our way.

The Base Commander will also discuss safety issues because some personnel are being too risky.

The group of people who returned late back to base after their visit to a local penguin colony triggered an alert and the assembly of a rescue party that was about to set out when they were seen. This caused considerable worry and disruption for the base - those individuals have been spoken to."

Any off-base trips could get into trouble, even to relatively safe places and in good conditions, see the email from 14th Oct 2003 here.

The teacher places students in groups of 3 and each group must research a particular occupation on Antarctica, e.g. marine biologist or engineer. Students also report on safety issues on Antarctic bases.

• What information are we interested in finding out about Antarctica?
• How can we tell if a question will give us the information we want?
• How can we tell if it is a good question?

Special Needs

• Brainstorm possible question to ask guest speaker
• List at least one question

Mainstream

• List at least three questions to ask guest speaker

Gifted and Talented

• List a variety of question which require more involved answers

Teacher says,

"You discover that an Antarctic expert is coming and there are still some things that you don't know. You decide to make up a list questions to ask this person when he arrives."

• Why would people make movies about Antarctica?

Special Needs

• Identify the main theme of the movie.
• Recount one event from the movie.

Mainstream

• Recount a up to four events from the movie in order.
   

• Elaborate on various aspects of the movie and provide an individual point of view regarding the movie

But guess what? The movie is about Antarctica! Oh well, there's nothing else to do so you decide to go ahead and watch the movies anyway. The Base Commander tells you that the movie has some important information about a job that you have to do the next day so you are asked to take notes during the movie!"

Students take down notes to share in a discussion after the movie.

• How do environmental organisations look after Antarctica?
• Why is it important to preserve Antarctica?
• What things can we do to preserve Antarctica?

Special Needs

• Show basic understanding of human impact on Antarctica
• Briefly discuss main aspects of global measures taken to ensure preservation of Antarctica.

Mainstream

• Identify organisations created to ensure preservation of Antarctica.
• Identify one specific problem and describe briefly measures taken to combat this problem.

Gifted and Talented

• In-depth study of various problems facing Antarctica and discuss at length organisations created to preserve Antarctica.

Teacher informs the students:

"A message has arrived from the government of our country. We are to begin to assess this area of Antarctica for its value in providing resources such as minerals to be mined, fish to be caught, and whether it is reasonable to try and drill for oil.

You are required to write a short report on those areas that you know about personally - the marine biologists and boatmen about how good the fishing is, the geologists about where the most promising rock types are etc. Then in the summer in 3 months time, there will be a representative who will come to see for themselves how valuable this section of Antarctica could be in supplying natural resources.

This currently goes against the Antarctic Treaty which was established to ensure that Antarctica does not become exploited, but this is not guaranteed to be in place for ever."

Students research environmental issues impacting on Antarctica and organisations which have been established to combat these issues. Students role-play report given to Base Commander and are required to answer a set of questions by their classmates.

• How can music be created in Antarctica?
• What kinds of songs would people living there sing?

Special Needs

• Suggest topics for creating songs
• Identify key issues of living in Antarctica.
• Recognise some feelings related to living in isolation as part of a group.

Mainstream

• Create basic verses for the songs.
• Recognise and discuss feelings and issues of living in isolation and as part of a group.
• Actively participate in creating songs and performing them.
   

• Create elaborate verses for songs and participate actively in performing them.
• Discuss at length feelings associated with living in isolation in Antarctica.

"A snow storm has suddenly hit and you are forced to stay inside the hut for the entire day. You must create a percussion band with equipment that has been brought with you into the hut. These can only include basic cooking utensils. You must also compose a song which sums up your ordeal in the Antarctic. How are you feeling at the moment, what will you do as soon as the storm subsides? These are all questions which you can use to guide you when you create your song."

They must take their journal with them and describe their ordeal while they are in the hut.

• Use all previous key questions.
• This is an assessment task.

Special Needs

• Create basic PowerPoint presentation of at least 3 slides presenting basic facts about Antarctica.
   

• Students will create PowerPoint presentation of at least 6 slides presenting more in-depth knowledge of Antarctica.
• Students will show brief knowledge of issues affecting Antarctica.
   

• Students will create a comprehensive and detailed PowerPoint presentation showing  a deep understanding of Antarctica and its issues.

The students present their understandings of Antarctica through a PowerPoint presentation.

If a data projector is available, then they can be shown to the whole class for peer-marking.

The students will choose photos of Antarctica from a selection already supplied by the teacher. Teachers must be aware of copyright infringement laws when gathering their photos. Many are available from this website. Another good source is Flikr.com but permission must be acquired from the owners of the photos.