In this activity, students put themselves in the shoes of a scientist who works in a fragile and changing environment. Learning will be guided with the driving question: How do scientists feel about the places they study?
Context for Use
The film and multimedia project Letters To The Arctic, asked scientists to do a task that required them to wear more than just their scientist hats, and asked them to be a bit vulnerable and get personal.
Letters to the Arctic is one of four activities in the The Drifting North Polar Planetarium Experience Unit that invites students to explore what it was like to participate in the MOSAiC expedition to the North Pole.
Image credit: letterstothearctic.com
Goals Header
What Students Will Do
In this lesson students will:
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Watch a short film (5 min).
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Select and read two letters written by scientists.
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Respond to the following:
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What words do the authors use to describe the Arctic?
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What emotions does this letter evoke for you?
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What are some reasons the scientists might have a complicated relationship with the Arctic?
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Do you think the scientists' feelings impact why or how they do their science? Why or why not?
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Pair and Share what letters they read and what they thought was interesting about them.
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Write their own Letter to the Arctic.
The goal of this Letters to the Arctic community is to have it grow and add more letters that explore the Arctic and human relationships to this space. If there are any letters that you would like to submit or students would like to submit, refer to the Letters to the Arctic submission webpage, click the link for a form that a parent/guardian can sign and upload forms and letters to Google Drive.
