Antarctica Project - Outline and Lesson Plans

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!"

"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". String 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. Empty plastic milk or other bottles/containers could be made to provide a shelter for class display in the form of an igloo.

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

"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 fauna and flora  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.

"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 taking risks.

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.

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.

• A simple description of the events.
• A narrative written from the perspective of one of the men of the expedition.
• There is a narrative written from the perspective of Mrs. Chippy, the ships cat which can be purchased and read in part or whole, USA  UK
• Ernest Shackleton is considered one of the greats of Antarctic exploration, further research as to what he did could be carried out and compared to Amundsen, Mawson and Scott.
• A larger display could be made in the form of a wall mounted time-line as a collaborative exercise.
  

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.

"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.

"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." Alternatively you can produce some other form of entertainment.

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

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 attention must be paid to the copyright requirements, possibly requiring permission to be acquired from the owners of the photos.