Lesson Plans & Activities

Long-term Spatial Transformation of the Glacier Basin System text with tundra and glacier landscape in the background

PolarPASS Module 2: Long-term Spatial Transformations of the Glacier Basin System

Module 2 is designed to follow after Module 1. Instructors may choose to use Module 2 independently, but may want to consider some additional introductory materials if they are not beginning with Module 1.
Module 2 consists of four Units. The Units begin by exploring past ice margin retreat and processes of ice margin retreat and elevation change. The material then explores natural climate variability and anthropogenic forcings, and then examines potential future ice margin response to climate change.

Unit

Virtual field trip

University/College

Demonstrates an arctic food web with animals including ocean algae, zooplankton, polar cod, a seal colored gray, a bowhead whale colored black and white, a polar bear, and sea ice algae colored green. In the background is a yellow sun, light blue sky, and there is also White Sea ice which the polar bear is on and the sea ice algae is underneath.

A Changing Arctic Ecosystem

This storyline unit consists of 8 lessons, each tied to NGSS life science standards
The Arctic is warming more rapidly than anywhere else on Earth. One consequence of a warming Arctic is a dramatic decline in sea ice, an important habitat for many Arctic plants and animals. In this unit students will engage with 360° virtual reality tours, hands-on labs, and authentic Arctic datasets as they gather evidence to construct explanatory models for the unit driving question, "How might the decline in sea ice affect Arctic organisms large and small?"

Unit

Middle School

High School

Cartoon image of green pine trees with orange fire shapes over them with dead brown brush at the bottom and a dark grayish blue sky

The Future of Forests

This storyline unit consists of 9 lessons, each tied to NGSS life science standards
In this middle school unit supported by NASA, students engage with online interactives, authentic datasets, and citizen science protocols to construct models and explanations for the unit driving question, "How do landscapes recover after a wildfire?"

Unit

Middle School

High School

A wide alpine landscape with snow-capped mountains in the distance under a cloudy sky. In the foreground, a rocky meadow with sparse patches of grass and a large flat rock is visible

Arctic Climate Connections

The Broader Impacts portion of the NSF proposal studies the analysis of existing data from Arctic terrestrial stations with multi-year measurements of the surface energy budget, clouds, soil temperature profiles, and basic meteorological measurements.
The Broader Impacts portion of the NSF proposal studies the analysis of existing data from Arctic terrestrial stations with multi-year measurements of the surface energy budget, clouds, soil temperature profiles, and basic meteorological measurements.

Unit

High School

Lesson Plans & Activities