Tonight, Carol Landis and Jessica Fries-Gaither will present the second Beyond Penguins and Polar Bears web seminar as part of the NSDL/NSTA web seminar series. Energy and the Polar Environment discusses science concepts such as the seasons, solar radiation, albedo, and Earth’s energy balance and how teachers can incorporate these concepts into elementary curriculum. Common misconceptions, lesson plans, and children’s literature are included in the strategies portion of the presentation.

Did you miss the web seminar? View the archived presentation in the NSTA Learning Center. Archives are typically available a few days after the presentation.

This presentation includes many teaching resources. We’ve compiled a reference list here. You can also download and print a  pdf of the resource list.

Content Knowledge Resources

NASA Video Clips

Reading Comprehension Passage: The Earth’s Energy Budget

http://education.jlab.org/reading/energy_budget.html

Earth’s Energy Budget Diagrams

http://marine.rutgers.edu/mrs/education/class/yuri/erb.html (simplifed)

http://eosweb.larc.nasa.gov/EDDOCS/images/Erb/components2.gif (used in presentation)

NSTA Sci-Guide: Effects of Oceans on Weather and Climate

http://sciguides.nsta.org/guides/guide_preview.aspx?guide_ID=!plus!ORf5xO54K4=&grade_band=3

Teaching ResourcesFormative Assessment Probes

Uncovering Student Ideas in Science, Volumes 1, 2, and 3. These three books, published by NSTA Press, provide formative assessment probes to help elicit student ideas and misconceptions on a variety of topics. Tonight’s seminar specifically referenced the following probes:

“Can It Reflect Light?” (Volume 1)

“What Comes From the Sun?” In Beyond Penguins and Polar Bears: Energy and the Polar Environment – Issue 7, October 2008. Misconceptions column.

http://beyondpenguins.nsdl.org/issue/column.php?date=October2008&departmentid=professional&columnid=professional!misconceptions

Children’s Literature

Light: Shadows, Mirrors, and Rainbows by Natalie M. Rosinsky

Day Light, Night Light: Where Light Comes From by Franklyn Branley

Light by Becky Olien

Sizzling Science Projects with Heat and Energy by Robert Gardner

Arctic Lights, Arctic Nights by Debbie Miller

Lessons and Activities

Teach Engineering: Investigating Light

http://www.teachengineering.org/view_lesson.php?url=http://www.teachengineering.com/collection/cub_/lessons/cub_soundandlight/cub_soundandlight_lesson6.xml

In this lesson, students in grades 3-5 learn the five words that describe how light interacts with objects: “transparent,” “translucent,” “opaque,” “reflection” and “refraction.”

Teach Engineering: Light Scavengers

http://www.teachengineering.org/view_activity.php?url=http://www.teachengineering.com/collection/cub_/activities/cub_soundandlight/cub_soundandlight_lesson6_activity1.xml In this activity, students in grades 3-5 examine various materials and investigate how they interact with light.

The Warmth of the Sun

http://www.sciencenetlinks.com/lessons.cfm?BenchmarkID=4&DocID=329

Students in grades K-2 are introduced to the sun’s role in warming Earth’s land, air, and water.

Using Thermometers

http://www.wattsonschools.com/pdf/le-6.pdf

Students in grades K-2 learn to use thermometers to measure temperature. Pair with The Warmth of the Sun.

Our Super Star

http://www.teachersdomain.org/resource/ess05.sci.ess.eiu.lp_superstar/

Students in grades K-5 learn about the sun and create solar ovens to cook s’mores.

What Color Absorbs the Sun’s Energy Best?

http://www.wattsonschools.com/pdf/le-1.pdf

Students in grades K-2 place ice cubes on different colors of construction paper, set them in the sun, and see which ice cubes melt fastest.

Investigating Radiation

http://www.ucar.edu/learn/1_1_2_5t.htm

Students in grades 3-5 investigate how different surfaces (light and dark colored soil, water) absorb heat.

Question-and-Answer Books

http://www.readwritethink.org/lessons/lesson_view.asp?id=353

Students gather information from nonfiction text and the Internet; organize with KWL charts, and create a book.

“Teaching Through Trade Books: Seasons by the Sun”

Meri-Lyn Stark. Science and Children: Summer 2005.

Available from NSTA electronic archive: http://www.nsta.org/store/product_detail.aspx?id=10.2505/4/sc05_042_08_14

The Albedo Effect & the Warming of the Arctic

http://www.uen.org/Lessonplan/preview.cgi?LPid=20544

Students explore how color affects the ability of a material to reflect light and absorb heat. They will explain how less sea ice (and more dark ocean water) in the Arctic could raise Arctic and global temperatures.

The Albedo Effect

https://www.cresis.ku.edu/education/iibLessons/iib017.pdf

Students measure the difference in temperature between a black and white object.