Teacher Background Information — What the Teacher Might Want to Know
The Study of Place Teacher Guide includes all the information teachers need to do the modules with their students, but often teachers appreciate having additional background information—What the Teacher Might Want to Know. Such additional content information is offered in the following PDFs:
- Antarctic Exploration Teacher Background Science (PDF)
- Antarctic Exploration Teacher Background Science (PDF, no images)
- Ocean Currents Exploration Teacher Background Science (PDF)
- Ocean Currents Exploration Teacher Background Science (PDF, no images)
Student Sheets
Some of the activities in Chapter 7 of Study of Place involve students in recording information where it’s helpful to have a printout on which to write (e.g. drawing on a map). The following student sheets are optional, but helpful:
- Ocean Currents Exploration: Chapter 7: Exploring and Discovering: Mapping the Sneakers’ Journey Record Sheet
- Ocean Currents Exploration: Chapter 7: Exploring and Discovering: LEGOS® Spill Check for Understanding
- Ocean Currents Exploration: Chapter 7: Looking Closer: Formation of Gyres Record Sheet
Online Resources
Antarctic Exploration
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
- MOVIE — Antarctic Sea Ice Change (Movie is in the iBook; if you want to display it some other way, download and show this .mov file. Credit: Rice University, Department of Physics and Astronomy)
- Excel Spreadsheet — Angle of the Sun in Two Locations (May be helpful for graphing the sun angles; also includes example maximum sun angles for 42N.)
- Online Tool for Finding Sun Angles: Sustainable By Design — Sun Postion
Basic Instructions:
- Click solar time and altitude.
- Enter your school’s latitude.
- Select monthly, January 1, once a day, and 12:00.
- Click Calculate.
- Check the Output, recording the altitude data.
- Online Tool for Finding Sun Angles: PVEducation.org — Sun Position Calculator
Basic Instructions:
- Set Month (January), Day (1), Hour (12), and Latitude (your schools latitude).
- Record the altitude.
- Change the month, recording the altitude data for each.
Chapter 4
- National Geographic Video: Antarctic Ice — Short (2:31) video on climate change and the melting of the glaciers on the Antarctic Peninsula (may play an ad)
- National Geographic Video: Chasing Antarctic Ice — Short (2:39) video on using time-lapse cameras to look at climate change and receding glaciers in Antarctica (may play an ad)