Lesson Plan: Teaching Glaciology, Glaciers and Glacial Retreat, and the Cryosphere-Climate Relationship

Here is a step-by-step guide to using this lesson plan in the classroom/laboratory. We have suggested these steps as a possible plan of action. You may customize the lesson plan according to your preferences and requirements.

1. Introduce the topic through an online reading	• Introduce the topic of glaciers and their formation. • Use the following resources as the primary or supplementary reading material to teach your students about glaciers, their formation, and the components of a glacier: • https://nsidc.org/cryosphere/glaciers/questions/what.html • https://nsidc.org/cryosphere/glaciers/questions/formed.html • https://nsidc.org/cryosphere/glaciers/questions/components.html • This content is provided by the National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC).
2. Explore the topic further through an interactive visualization and associated activity	Now, conduct an activity using an interactive visualization tool to help your students learn about the effects of changes in snowfall and temperature on glaciers. • Download PhET’s interactive visualization tool, “Glaciers”, from https://phet.colorado.edu/en/simulation/legacy/glaciers. • Download the associated activity, “Investigating Glaciers” developed by John Judkins (Rio Rancho High School), from https://phet.colorado.edu/en/contributions/view/4484?. • Conduct the activity and discuss how glaciers are affected by changes in temperature and snowfall. • Discuss how temperature changes caused by climate change may impact glaciers globally. • Discuss how the study of glaciers can help in drawing inferences about the Earth’s changing climate.
3. Conduct a classroom/laboratory activity	Next, help your students investigate the melting of glaciers through a classroom/laboratory activity, “When will there no longer be glaciers in Glacier National Park” from SERC Carleton, developed by Carol Ormand, Wittenberg University. In this activity, students will analyze and interpret historical data for the Grinnell Glacier to predict when the glacier might completely melt. • Download the teaching material and activity files from https://serc.carleton.edu/quantskills/activities/glacial_retreat.html • Conduct the exercises described in Part I – Part V of the teaching material (student handout).

 

Use the tools and the concepts learned so far to discuss and determine answers to the following questions:

• •  What climatic and environmental factors affect the size and motion of glaciers?
• • How has an increase in global temperatures led to the shrinking of some glaciers?
• • What is the relationship between climate and the cryosphere?
• • How do glaciers provide evidence of climate change?

The tools in this lesson plan will enable students to:

• •  describe glaciers and their formation
• • discuss the factors affecting the shrinking and growing of a glacier
• • determine how climate change-related temperature variations may impact glaciers

If you or your students would like to explore the topic further, these additional resources will be useful.

Video, Visualization	Future of Glaciers – The Module https://imaginary.org/program/future-of-glaciers-the-module
Reading	Global Glacier Changes: facts and figures http://www.grid.unep.ch/glaciers/
Mobile App	wgms Glacier App https://wgms.ch/glacierapp/

1	Reading, “All About Glaciers”	National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC)
2	Visualization Tool, “Glaciers”  and Associated Activity, “Investigating Glaciers”	PhET Interactive Simulations at the University of Colorado Boulder and  John Judkins (Rio Rancho High School)
3	Classroom/Laboratory Activity, “When will there no longer be glaciers in Glacier National Park?”	From SERC Carleton, developed by Carol Ormand, Wittenberg University
4	Additional Resources	Guillaume Jouvet, Chantal Landry, Antonia Mey, available on IMAGINARY’s website United Nations Environment Programme World Glacier Monitoring Service (WGMS) and the University of Zurich
5	Images	http://www.shannontech.com/ParkVision/Glacier/Glacier.html https://www.nationalgeographic.org/encyclopedia/glacier/ Photograph by James P. Blair

All the teaching tools and images  in our collated list are owned by the corresponding creators/authors/organizations as  listed on their websites. Please view the individual copyright and ownership details for each tool by following the individual links provided. We have selected and analyzed the tools that align with the overall objective of our project and have provided the corresponding links. We do not claim ownership of or responsibility/liability for any of the listed tools.