THE DOG LOT
EDUCATIONAL MATERIAL FOR THE OLDEST LEVEL
The dog lot is one of 9 podcasts produced for the Icefjord Centre in Ilulissat by Katrine Nyland.
BOOK CREATOR AS A TEACHING TOOL
The Dog Lot is a student’s book associated with the podcast The Dog Lot. The duration of the podcast is 5:08 minutes.
The activities have been designed to focus on the investigative, experimental, and creative approach of the students to learning. The process consists of three steps:
- Preparation before listening to the podcast
- Listening to and working with the podcast
- Further work with topics and insights from the podcast
We recommend that you listen to the podcast before presenting it to the students.
We recommend that students work in pairs or individually. Depending on what suits each student best and the competences to be developed. Keep in mind that your best friend is not necessarily the one you collaborate best with. Working together is about working together and not just being together.
Nature/culture/technology
Cross-curricular – languages, science with the main emphasis on biology.
- Students acquire a fundamental knowledge of the Greenland sled dog.
- They obtain an understanding of the importance of ice for life around the Icefjord.
- They practise their skills in communication and collaboration.
BOOK CREATOR AS A TEACHING TOOL
The Dog Lot is a student’s book associated with the podcast The Dog Lot. The duration of the podcast is 5:08 minutes.
The activities have been designed to focus on the investigative, experimental, and creative approach of the students to learning. The process consists of three steps:
- Preparation before listening to the podcast
- Listening to and working with the podcast
- Further work with topics and insights from the podcast
We recommend that you listen to the podcast before presenting it to the students.
We recommend that students work in pairs or individually. Depending on what suits each student best and the competences to be developed. Keep in mind that your best friend is not necessarily the one you collaborate best with. Working together is about working together and not just being together.
Nature/culture/technology
Cross-curricular – languages, science with the main emphasis on biology.
- Students acquire a fundamental knowledge of the Greenland sled dog.
- They obtain an understanding of the importance of ice for life around the Icefjord.
- They practise their skills in communication and collaboration.
The dog lot
The students meet the Icefjord Centre in two pictures, showing respectively summer and winter.
In the classroom you can talk about:
- What the Icefjord Centre is.
- What it looks like around the centre.
- The difference between summer and winter.
- How summer and winter differs where you live.
Talk about the map, how many people are living in Ilulissat, and how many people are living in the town where you live?
The students see part of a world map. The job now is to move the red marker down to the map to show where each student lives. The marker is found in the white box and can be drawn into the map.
In class you can talk about:
- Differences and similarities between Ilulissat and your town or settlement
Now it is time for the students to listen to the podcast The Dog Lot. They start the podcast by clicking on the icon in the middle of page 12.
It is recommended that they listen in pairs or small groups.
Let the students make a Walk and Talk, where they discuss the podcast.
On page 13 the students will tell about the podcast. In the speech bubbles they can choose to insert text, images or sound recordings.
Insertion of sound, pictures & text see instructions 1, 2 & 3 here
Review in class
It is recommended to have a joint discussion in class when working with pages 12-13 is finished. We suggest that you support this with writing and maybe illustrating concepts and keywords on the blackboard.
In class you could talk about:
- What surprised the students when listening to the podcast.
- Concepts and keywords that the students encountered in the podcast.
You may find inspiration for the conversation below.
Concepts and keywords
- Culture
Culture consists of all the values, habits, traditions, knowledge and attitudes which characterize a society or an individual in their own historical and geographical context. - Hunting and fishing culture
Since the first immigrations at Thule about 4-5.000 years ago Greenland has been dependent on nature’s resources in the form of fish, birds and land and marine mammals. Hunting and fishing are still the most important livelihood for Greenlanders and Greenlandic society. These natural conditions have led to the development of a unique culture, built upon proud traditions.
What do you know about the culture of Greenland?
What other cultures are you acquainted with?
- Cornerstone – the dogs are a cornerstone of the Greenlandic hunting and fishing culture
A cornerstone is part of the supporting foundation, an important precondition for or component of something. A house without a foundation tumbles down. Without frost ice becomes water; frost is a precondition for the formation of ice. The dogs transport the catch, fish and people across ice and mountains, where no other means are available. The dogs are the cornerstone of transport.
Why are the dogs a cornerstone in this culture?
Could you be a hunter and fisher without having dogs?
- Lifeblood – in the community/ transportation of catch and humans
The dogs are the lifeblood of the community where they in generation after generation have hauled the catch home to the settlement and transported people between settlements and continents.
Lifeblood is an element that is a critical condition for something being able to function. The dogs are the condition for transporting the catch back to the settlements and towns.
What does it mean that something is the lifeblood of a community?
What is the lifeblood of your everyday life?
- Cycle – the cycle of the game animals follows the seasonal cycle of the ice
A cycle is characterized by something returning more or less regularly, repeating itself.
A calendar day has a known and fixed course. It is divided into day and night. The seasons come and go in a definite order. The ice has a cycle. The movements of the ice are influenced by cold and heat (the cycle of the seasons), which in turn influence the conditions of life for the game animals.
What is characteristic of the four seasons?
What is characteristic of the cycle of water?
How does the cycle of the ice affect working with dog sledges?
Which factors can affect the seasons and thus the cycle of the ice?
- Adaptation – to survive all living beings must adapt to the environment surrounding them
Adaptation implies that when an animal has to live in a certain environment, it needs to adjust to the prevailing conditions of life to survive.
An animal may adapt to its environment in several ways. Through natural selection the animal will adjust its anatomy and behaviour to suit changing conditions of life.
An example of natural selection is the gradual development of fur suited for extreme weather as has been the case with the Greenland sled dog. Dogs that have not developed a fur to protect them, will die. In this way the genetic advantages will be passed on to the offspring of the animal, and the fittest will survive. See further Qimmeq p. 13
How, do you imagine, did the Greenland sled dog adapt to a life in Greenland?
How did we humans adapt to the life we have now?
Do you know other examples of animals adjusting to their environment?
- Energy – an animal needs nourishment in the form of carbohydrates, lipids and protein to survive.
Living organisms are divided into two groups, autotrophic and heterotrophic Autotrophs can produce nourishment in the form of carbohydrates; plants do this by making glucose through photosynthesis. Heterotrophs get nourishment by eating other living organisms and so obtaining lipids, carbohydrates as well as protein.
Lipids, carbohydrates and protein, also known as nutrients, are used to maintain a variety of processes in our cells that keep us alive.
We use these nutrients as a source of energy in our combustion (respiration) and as building blocks in the cells of the body. See further here: See further Qimmeq p. 42
What do you know about the food pyramid?
Do we need more lipids, carbohydrates or protein?
Do you think that dogs and human need the same proportions of these nutrients?
Now the students will make a reference book with their knowledge from their work with the podcast.
Assist the students by writing technical concepts from the discussion on the blackboard. The students may work with audio, images and text.
Insertion of sound, pictures & text see instructions 1, 2 & 3 here
The students may also draw their own pictures and place them on a page as described above.
The reference work may be revisited any time during the programme.
Now the students will watch films about the sled dog in modern Greenland.
The Natural History Museum of Denmark in five videos zooms in on five people who all have the sled dog as part of their existence and everyday life in modern Greenland. The five films can be found on the home page of the museum.
In the book we have chosen three of the five films. The videos are in Greenlandic with English subtitles.
It may be a good idea to watch the videos together in class and pause when needed to talk about them.
With the videos you find a description of them and a question that may help the students to reflect on what they see in the film.
Now the students must apply their knowledge of sled dogs in the production of a podcast.
You are going to assist The Icefjord Centre in producing a new podcast about The Greenland Sled Dog. In this podcast the students will describe and explain the sled dogs’
- importance for life around the Icefjord
- biology
- origin
- function as a working dog
The podcast will be inserted on page 24-25. The students may add images/models or other elements.
Suggestions for other activities
- Let the students arrange a lecture about the Greenland sled dog. This could be for other classes, parents, the local centre for elderly or others
- Let the students publish their podcast on a real podcast service
The podcast The Dog Lot has been created for the Icefjord Centre in Ilulissat by Katrine Nyland.
Graphics were produced by Oncotype.
Teaching material for the podcast has been developed by Lotte Brinkmann from Anholt Læringsværksted with feedback from Leg med It.
The student’s book in Book Creator has been developed as part of the project Nutaaliorta from Kivitsisa. The template was designed by Rikke Falkenberg Kofoed and Daniella Manuel, Leg med It.
The teaching material The Dog Log is published under a Creative Commons crediting licens CC:BY.
The Qimmeq project has been developed by Ilisimatusarfik and the University of Copenhagen. The children’s non-fiction book “Qimmeq – kalaallit qimmiat qimuttoq – the Greenland sled dog” was produced by Anne Katrine Gjerløff, Ilisimatusarfik and the Natural History Museum of Denmark.
The texts, assignments and pictures can be shared, reproduced and adapted, with the proviso that “The Dog Lot by the Icefjord Centre Ilulissat” is credited as the source.
The students meet the Icefjord Centre in two pictures, showing respectively summer and winter.
In the classroom you can talk about:
- What the Icefjord Centre is.
- What it looks like around the centre.
- The difference between summer and winter.
- How summer and winter differs where you live.
Talk about the map, how many people are living in Ilulissat, and how many people are living in the town where you live?
The students see part of a world map. The job now is to move the red marker down to the map to show where each student lives. The marker is found in the white box and can be drawn into the map.
In class you can talk about:
- Differences and similarities between Ilulissat and your town or settlement
Now it is time for the students to listen to the podcast The Dog Lot. They start the podcast by clicking on the icon in the middle of page 12.
It is recommended that they listen in pairs or small groups.
Let the students make a Walk and Talk, where they discuss the podcast.
On page 13 the students will tell about the podcast. In the speech bubbles they can choose to insert text, images or sound recordings.
Insertion of sound, pictures & text see instructions 1, 2 & 3 here
Review in class
It is recommended to have a joint discussion in class when working with pages 12-13 is finished. We suggest that you support this with writing and maybe illustrating concepts and keywords on the blackboard.
In class you could talk about:
- What surprised the students when listening to the podcast.
- Concepts and keywords that the students encountered in the podcast.
You may find inspiration for the conversation below.
Concepts and keywords
- Culture
Culture consists of all the values, habits, traditions, knowledge and attitudes which characterize a society or an individual in their own historical and geographical context. - Hunting and fishing culture
Since the first immigrations at Thule about 4-5.000 years ago Greenland has been dependent on nature’s resources in the form of fish, birds and land and marine mammals. Hunting and fishing are still the most important livelihood for Greenlanders and Greenlandic society. These natural conditions have led to the development of a unique culture, built upon proud traditions.
What do you know about the culture of Greenland?
What other cultures are you acquainted with?
- Cornerstone – the dogs are a cornerstone of the Greenlandic hunting and fishing culture
A cornerstone is part of the supporting foundation, an important precondition for or component of something. A house without a foundation tumbles down. Without frost ice becomes water; frost is a precondition for the formation of ice. The dogs transport the catch, fish and people across ice and mountains, where no other means are available. The dogs are the cornerstone of transport.
Why are the dogs a cornerstone in this culture?
Could you be a hunter and fisher without having dogs?
- Lifeblood – in the community/ transportation of catch and humans
The dogs are the lifeblood of the community where they in generation after generation have hauled the catch home to the settlement and transported people between settlements and continents.
Lifeblood is an element that is a critical condition for something being able to function. The dogs are the condition for transporting the catch back to the settlements and towns.
What does it mean that something is the lifeblood of a community?
What is the lifeblood of your everyday life?
- Cycle – the cycle of the game animals follows the seasonal cycle of the ice
A cycle is characterized by something returning more or less regularly, repeating itself.
A calendar day has a known and fixed course. It is divided into day and night. The seasons come and go in a definite order. The ice has a cycle. The movements of the ice are influenced by cold and heat (the cycle of the seasons), which in turn influence the conditions of life for the game animals.
What is characteristic of the four seasons?
What is characteristic of the cycle of water?
How does the cycle of the ice affect working with dog sledges?
Which factors can affect the seasons and thus the cycle of the ice?
- Adaptation – to survive all living beings must adapt to the environment surrounding them
Adaptation implies that when an animal has to live in a certain environment, it needs to adjust to the prevailing conditions of life to survive.
An animal may adapt to its environment in several ways. Through natural selection the animal will adjust its anatomy and behaviour to suit changing conditions of life.
An example of natural selection is the gradual development of fur suited for extreme weather as has been the case with the Greenland sled dog. Dogs that have not developed a fur to protect them, will die. In this way the genetic advantages will be passed on to the offspring of the animal, and the fittest will survive. See further Qimmeq p. 13
How, do you imagine, did the Greenland sled dog adapt to a life in Greenland?
How did we humans adapt to the life we have now?
Do you know other examples of animals adjusting to their environment?
- Energy – an animal needs nourishment in the form of carbohydrates, lipids and protein to survive.
Living organisms are divided into two groups, autotrophic and heterotrophic Autotrophs can produce nourishment in the form of carbohydrates; plants do this by making glucose through photosynthesis. Heterotrophs get nourishment by eating other living organisms and so obtaining lipids, carbohydrates as well as protein.
Lipids, carbohydrates and protein, also known as nutrients, are used to maintain a variety of processes in our cells that keep us alive.
We use these nutrients as a source of energy in our combustion (respiration) and as building blocks in the cells of the body. See further here: See further Qimmeq p. 42
What do you know about the food pyramid?
Do we need more lipids, carbohydrates or protein?
Do you think that dogs and human need the same proportions of these nutrients?
Now the students will make a reference book with their knowledge from their work with the podcast.
Assist the students by writing technical concepts from the discussion on the blackboard. The students may work with audio, images and text.
Insertion of sound, pictures & text see instructions 1, 2 & 3 here
The students may also draw their own pictures and place them on a page as described above.
The reference work may be revisited any time during the programme.
Now the students will watch films about the sled dog in modern Greenland.
The Natural History Museum of Denmark in five videos zooms in on five people who all have the sled dog as part of their existence and everyday life in modern Greenland. The five films can be found on the home page of the museum.
In the book we have chosen three of the five films. The videos are in Greenlandic with English subtitles.
It may be a good idea to watch the videos together in class and pause when needed to talk about them.
With the videos you find a description of them and a question that may help the students to reflect on what they see in the film.
Now the students must apply their knowledge of sled dogs in the production of a podcast.
You are going to assist The Icefjord Centre in producing a new podcast about The Greenland Sled Dog. In this podcast the students will describe and explain the sled dogs’
- importance for life around the Icefjord
- biology
- origin
- function as a working dog
The podcast will be inserted on page 24-25. The students may add images/models or other elements.
Suggestions for other activities
- Let the students arrange a lecture about the Greenland sled dog. This could be for other classes, parents, the local centre for elderly or others
- Let the students publish their podcast on a real podcast service
The podcast The Dog Lot has been created for the Icefjord Centre in Ilulissat by Katrine Nyland.
Graphics were produced by Oncotype.
Teaching material for the podcast has been developed by Lotte Brinkmann from Anholt Læringsværksted with feedback from Leg med It.
The student’s book in Book Creator has been developed as part of the project Nutaaliorta from Kivitsisa. The template was designed by Rikke Falkenberg Kofoed and Daniella Manuel, Leg med It.
The teaching material The Dog Log is published under a Creative Commons crediting licens CC:BY.
The Qimmeq project has been developed by Ilisimatusarfik and the University of Copenhagen. The children’s non-fiction book “Qimmeq – kalaallit qimmiat qimuttoq – the Greenland sled dog” was produced by Anne Katrine Gjerløff, Ilisimatusarfik and the Natural History Museum of Denmark.
The texts, assignments and pictures can be shared, reproduced and adapted, with the proviso that “The Dog Lot by the Icefjord Centre Ilulissat” is credited as the source.
