THE ICEFJORD CENTRE

PAGE BY PAGE GUIDE TO THE BOOK CREATOR BOOK “FREEDOM AND DANGERS”

The students meet the Icefjord Centre in four pictures: summer and winter, the Kangia glacier front and the framework of the building. On page 6-7 there is a text and three videos (in Danish) showing the erection of the Icefjord Centre.

In class you can talk about:

• What the Icefjord Centre is.
• What the purpose of an institution like the Icefjord Centre is.
• What it looks like around the centre.
• The difference between summer and winter, where you live as well as in Greenland.

The students should clarify what they already know about Greenland before starting work on the podcast. In this podcast focus is on sled dogs and climate changes but you may have worked with some of the other podcasts or in other ways acquired knowledge that can be activated in advance.

On page 8 there is a link to Google Maps. Here the students can try to locate the Icefjord Centre on the map.

You can also experiment with letting them find the places mentioned in the podcast, so that they get an idea of where they are situated. These are the places:

• Ilulissat
• The Icefjord
• The inland ice
• The dog lot at the Icefjord Centre

Furthermore, on page 8 there are four questions to help the students get going. Here are suggestions for a few more:

• What do you know about the inland ice?
• Which language is spoken in Greenland?

Page 9 is intended for answers. The students are free to use whatever form of expression they prefer. Some possibilities in Book Creator:

• make a model/a drawing by hand, take a picture of it and insert
• find pictures in Book Creator about Greenland and insert them. The pictures can be complemented with explanations in words.
• record an audio file telling what you know about Greenland
• – or a combination of the above

On page 10-11 you find a map of Greenland, with six red markers. Let the students place the markers where they know towns or settlements in Greenland. They can write the name of the town or settlement in the field next to the marker.

Sound recording, insertion of pictures and text: see instructions 1, 2 and 3 here.

Now it is time for the students to listen to the podcast Freedom and dangers. On page 12 an introduction to the podcast is given followed by a short instruction. Clicking the picture on page 13 will start the podcast.

It is recommended that the students listen in pairs or small groups. After listening to the podcast, the students could spend some minutes talking about what they just heard.

On page 14-15 the students are to make a summary of what they heard in the podcast. They may do this in various ways:

• write a text
• record an audio file
• make a model/drawing
• something completely different that they are used to with note taking methods and summaries
• – or a combination of the above

Sound recording, insertion of pictures and text: see instructions 1, 2 and 3 here.

Now it is time for a joint review in class where the students’ work on pages 14 and 15 is discussed. The aim is to prepare the students for making their own reference books that they can revisit during work with the podcast. In this reference book the students should explain the meaning of the concepts and keywords from your discussion – by means of text, sound, pictures, drawings or a combination of these.

You could begin by asking the students to name the concepts and keywords they heard in the podcast. Then you can add those mentioned below, central to the podcast and important for further work.

• Sled driver and sled dogs – the sled driver is in charge of the sled being pulled by sled dogs.
  Ane Sofie and Flemming are sled drivers. The sled dogs are enduring and able to sense when the ice is thin.

How are you a good sled driver?

How do you think, can the dogs sense when the ice is thin?

• Dog team – the dogs are united in a team. When putting together a dog team you have to consider the relations between the dogs. Strong dogs as well as good lead dogs must be included.
  When the dogs have been selected, they must be fastened to the sledge. This is done with harness and traces. The harness is on the body of the dog, and traces link the harness to the sledge. Often the traces are arranged in a fan shape.
  It happens that the dogs in their excitement start running before being tied up – and the driver is left with a sledge, but no dogs.

Why is it important to unite the dogs in a team?

Why is it important to consider the relations between the dogs when a team is put together?

• Inland ice – is an ice cap permanently covering a large area, an ice sheet.
  Terminology: an ice sheet is an ice cap that exceeds 50,000 km². The ice sheet in Greenland is the second largest in the world, the one on the Antarctic being by far the largest; these today are the only two existing ice sheets.

What would the rest of the Earth look like if all of the inland ice melted?

What happens to the sea level when the inland ice is melting?

The following concepts are not taken from the podcast but are necessary to solve the tasks.

• Climate change, the greenhouse effect, greenhouse gases – the weather is getting warmer, and the ice is melting.
  The greenhouse effect occurs when humans and animals emit greenhouse gases, causing the Earth to get warmer and warmer. The best known greenhouse gas is CO₂, but there are others.
  In Greenland climate changes result in the ice melting faster and earlier year by year.

What do climate changes mean to Ane Sofie and Flemming?

What do we know about climate changes?

Is it possible to reduce human emission of greenhouse gases?

• Glacier – a mass of slowly moving ice.
  When new snow keeps piling on top of the ice mass, the pressure increases on the layers below, sheer gravity. This pressure will cause the lowest levels to be squeezed from under the middle of the ice sheet towards the edge, producing the flow of ice that is called a glacier.
  A glacier will eventually “calve”: pieces of the glacier break off and float into the water – icebergs.

What kind of material can a glacier transport?

• Albedo effect – is an expression of the ability of objects or materials to reflect sunlight. If the object or material does not reflect sunlight at all, it has an albedo of 0. If all of the sunlight is reflected, the albedo is 1.

Do you notice any difference to how warm you feel, wearing respectively a black or a white t-shirt?

Sound recording, insertion of pictures and text: see instructions 1, 2 and 3 here.

Taking Ane Sofie’s story of freedom as a starting point the students are to describe what freedom means to them, and when they feel they can be themselves. On page 18-19 some means of expression are suggested in the form of a text box, a picture frame and icons, freely to be used, altered or removed. 

Let the students present their story of freedom to each other, either in groups or to their neighbour.

Sound recording, insertion of pictures, text and video: see instructions 1, 2, 3 and 5 here.

The subject now is some of the consequences of the greenhouse effect. On these pages five boxes are stating facts about the greenhouse effect, and in five speech bubbles questions are asked relating to these facts. 

After reading the texts in the fact boxes, the students answer the questions. Their answers to each question are to be recorded.

Here some suggestions for what you could talk about in connection with the questions:

What happens to Greenland if the inland ice melts?

• If the inland ice no longer weighs down Greenland, the land will rise. This is already taking place; from 2004 it has been measured that Greenland rises about 4 cm each year.
• This indicates how much ice melts annually.

If the sun’s rays are not reflected, what happens?

• Talk about the albedo effect.
• If the sun’s rays are not reflected, this would contribute to a rise in temperature, to global warming.
• If all of the ice and snow would melt, to be replaced with vegetation and water, the sun’s rays would be absorbed.

What will happen if oil is found under the ice?

• The area would become of political interest for exploitation of the oil.
• If oil is being extracted, it will contribute to the emission of greenhouse gases.

What will happen to the vegetation if all of the ice melts in summer?

• The vegetation might gain ground on the ice. Plants absorb the light of the sun and utilizes this to perform photosynthesis; CO₂ from the atmosphere is consumed in this process.

What will happen if the sea level rises 7 meters?

• Many countries will become flooded and uninhabitable.
• Ocean currents will be affected too and thus the global climatic system.

Make a joint review over those questions, and let the students add new knowledge to their reference book on page 16-17.

Sound recording: see instruction 1 here.

Science concepts now will be used to explain a model or representation. Two models on page 22-23 illustrate climate changes in Greenland. Find more models for this, if you wish, or let the students search the Internet.

• The first picture shows how greenhouse gases create the greenhouse effect, causing global warming by the rays of the sun. CO₂, H₂O and CH₄ are examples of greenhouse gases.
  Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greenhouse_gas#/media/File:Greenhouse-effect-t2.svg
• The second is of the glacier Sermeq Kujalleq, shrinking since 1850.
  Source: https://www.geocenter.dk/sermeq-kujalleq-gletsjeren/

In small groups the students are to explain these models, using the concepts they wrote down in their reference books:

• climate changes, greenhouse effect, greenhouse gas, glacier, albedo effect
• The students of course are at liberty to apply other concepts as well.

They record their talk about the models and insert the audio file on page 22-23. Give the students the opportunity to add knew knowledge to their reference book on page 16-17.

Sound recording: see instruction 1 here.

The students work with asking questions that can be used for a problem statement.

Page 24-25

This Q-matrix should help and guide the students in formulating questions. Focus for the questions is climate changes in Greenland as described in the podcast

The Q-matrix is divided into four sections, representing four taxonomic levels:

• orange – factual
• yellow – explaining
• green – analysing
• blue – putting into perspective

Let the students work with the q-matrix in small groups. They should produce at least one question for each section.

Here are some suggestions to help the students get going:

• what is a greenhouse gas?
• why has the season for driving dog sledges become shorter?
• how could you (who?) put a stop to the season getting shorter?
• why and how do climate changes affect us?
• how do climate changes arise?
• when could the season for driving dog sledges vanish completely?
• is it possible to reduce the emission of greenhouse gases?

Page 26-27

All the questions are to be written down on page 26-27. A box is ready for images, if the students wish to use a model/drawing to support their questions.

When the groups have formulated questions for all four sections of the Q-matrix, you hold a joint review so that the students may receive inspiration from the other groups.

When you have discussed the questions, the students in groups and in cooperation with the teacher must select the question they find most challenging. This question will be used as a problem statement.

Page 28-29

When the students in the group have agreed on their problem statement, they write it down on page 28-29. Another box is intended for a description of how they intend to approach the problem. Space is assigned for a model/drawing and for feedback so far.

When the boxes have been filled, it is time for giving and receiving feedback with another group. Make sure that the settings for feedback is positive, see the section Evaluation. After this you may assist adjusting the problem statements.

And now work can begin, answering the questions.

Side 30-31

This is where the answer is placed. The length of the answer should match the time allocated to the process. In another box a model/drawing or something else could be inserted, and there is room for an audio file too. The students decide what they will use for their answer and may add or delete boxes as they see fit. And, if necessary, add more pages.

They are supposed to use their reference book, plus they can look for information on the Internet. A few useful home pages:

• Visit Greenland – guide to climate changes in Greenland
• Climate Encyclopedia – facts and issues concerning climate
• GEUS – Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland

The answers are presented to the rest of the class.

Sound recording, insertion of pictures, text and video: see instructions 1, 2, 3 and 5 here.

Suggestions for further work:

• Focus has been on climate changes and consequences related to emission of CO₂. You might choose to delve into where the emissions come from and work with energy sources.
• You could also study how consumer choices are connected to emission of CO₂.

Make sure that the settings for feedback are positive criticism. The students should be supported in assessing: what is good – and what might be done better. Find more inspiration in Austin’s Butterfly.  The idea with this is not necessarily to make new products but rather for the students to discover and work with this positive criticism. You could, though, choose to allocate time for further work with the products, so that the students might use the feedback for changes and improvements.

If you intend to work with some of the other podcasts from the Icefjord Centre it would make sense to save the students’ Book Creator books so that they may be reused.

The podcast Freedom and dangers was made for the Icefjord Centre in Ilulissat by Katrine Nyland.

Graphics by Oncotype.

Teaching material for the podcast has been produced by Lotte Brinkmann and Daniella Maria Manuel, Anholt Læringsværksted.

The teaching material Freedom and dangers is published under a Creative Commons crediting licence CC:BY. The texts, assignments and pictures can be shared, reproduced and adapted, with the proviso that “Freedom and dangers by the Icefjord Centre Ilulissat” is credited as the source.