THE LIFE-GIVING GLACIER
EDUCATIONAL MATERIAL FOR HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS
The life-giving glacier is one out of nine podcasts produced by Katrine Nyland for The Icefjord Centre in Ilulissat.
Guide to the Book Creator book
The Book Creator book The Life-giving Glacier is a student’s book associated with the podcast The Life-giving Glacier.
The duration of the podcast is 3:57.
The activities have been designed to focus on the students’ investigative, experimental and creative approach 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.
Cross-curricular – language and science with focus on biology and geography.
- The students acquire a fundamental knowledge of glaciers.
- They obtain a special knowledge of the Sermeq Kujalleq glacier and the life it brings along.
- They practise their skills in communication and collaboration.
We recommend that the students work in pairs or singly. Depending on what suits each student best and the competences to be developed. Keep in mind that your best friend not necessarily is the one you collaborate best with. Working together is about working together and not just being together.
Guide to the Book Creator book
The Book Creator book The Life-giving Glacier is a student’s book associated with the podcast The Life-giving Glacier.
The duration of the podcast is 3:57.
The activities have been designed to focus on the students’ investigative, experimental and creative approach 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.
Cross-curricular – language and science with focus on biology and geography.
- The students acquire a fundamental knowledge of glaciers.
- They obtain a special knowledge of the Sermeq Kujalleq glacier and the life it brings along.
- They practise their skills in communication and collaboration.
We recommend that the students work in pairs or singly. Depending on what suits each student best and the competences to be developed. Keep in mind that your best friend not necessarily is the one you collaborate best with. Working together is about working together and not just being together.
The life-giving glacier
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 glaciers 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 Sermeq Kujalleq glacier
- The Icefjord
Furthermore, on page 8 there are four questions to help the students get going. Here are suggestions for a few more:
- How do you get around in Greenland?
- Which languages are 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 The life-giving glacier. 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.
- Glacier – the word means “stream of ice”. A glacier is a mass of slowly moving ice.
When new snow keeps piling on top of the inland ice, 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 coast, producing the flow of ice that is called a glacier.
How does a glacier bring life?
- Calving – when blocks of ice at the glacier front fall into the sea due to gravity this is called calving. You could say that the glacier “gives birth” to icebergs and ice floes. The big calvings when massive parts of the glacier front break off, only happens a few times during summer, but smaller pieces fall off the edge all the time.
Why is it only in summer that large parts of the glacier front break off?
- A cycle – is characterized by something returning more or less regularly, repeating itself. The ice has a cycle. The movements of the ice are affected by the cold and warmth of the seasons.
When is the glacier most active, and when does it almost come to a standstill? Why is this so?
- Wildlife – at the Icefjord the wildlife is very much different from other places in the world. This is due to long periods without sunlight and with very low temperatures.
How is wildlife seasonal where you live?
Sound recording, insertion of pictures and text: see instructions 1, 2 and 3 here.
The students will now work with professional reading and Ilulissat Icefjord where Malik flies tourists to see the glacier Sermeq Kujalleq.
On page 18 a link is given to Quick guide to Ilulissat Icefjord from GEUS with information in text and pictures about Ilulissat Icefjord, the first picture showing the glacier, Sermeq Kujalleq. In pairs or small groups the students are to read this text. There may be a number of words and concepts not familiar to them. These words they must look up and write down on page 19 as they meet them in the text. Make sure that the students remember to read the captions to the pictures.
On page 20-12 eight speech bubbles contain questions to the text; the students are to answer them by recording an audio file.
Sound recording: see instruction 1 here.
The students now work with the marine food web found at the Icefjord.
On page 22-23 a food web in Greenland is shown. The picture and the four questions could be subject for a joint discussion in class. If time allows, you might try to draw a food web from another ecosystem, like a wood, a desert or somewhere else. After working with page 22-23 the students should update their reference book with the concept food web.
In small groups work continues with pages 24-27. Page 24-25 holds eleven infoboxes about animals that are part of the marine food web at the Icefjord.
Page 26-27 has pictures of these animals. Here the task is to move the pictures around to set up a food web. Use the pen tool to draw arrows showing the relevant connections in the web.
Drawing with the pen tool: see instruction 4 here.
This process is the basis for all life on Earth. In the arctic marine food web the ice algae is the starting point as they are able to perform photosynthesis.
The students begin by reading the two texts on page 28-29, “Wildlife in the Icefjord” and “The importance of sea ice for the spring bloom”. Having done this, you conduct a joint review in class.
Here these questions might be useful:
- How is winter in Ilulissat?
- What is being produced in spring and summer?
- In the text the world under the ice is compared to another ecosystem, which one?
- What is the most important element of the arctic marine food web?
- Is ice algae the same thing as phytoplankton?
On page 30-31 photosynthesis is explained, using ice algae as an example. After reading the text, the students are to put the boxes and signs at the bottom of the page in the correct order for photosynthesis.
Photosynthesis:
6CO₂ + 6H₂O + Sunlight → 6O₂ + C₆H₁₂O₆
The students now can update their reference book with the concept photosynthesis.
The students must imagine they have been contacted by Malik from the podcast. He needs help to make an advertisement for his helicopter flights. The advertisement should inform tourists about the area and inspire them to book a flight with Malik. Students could work in small groups on this project.
A box for text and two picture frames are prepared on page 32-33, where the advertisement can be inserted. Boxes can be removed or added if necessary. The advertisement may be created on paper and pictures of it inserted. They can make it directly in Book Creator with shapes and pictures found there, or any combination.
The products of the groups are presented to the whole class.
Insertion of pictures and text: see instructions 2 and 3 here.
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 The life-giving glacier 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 The life-giving glacier 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 “The life-giving glacier by the Icefjord Centre Ilulissat” is credited as the source.
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 glaciers 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 Sermeq Kujalleq glacier
- The Icefjord
Furthermore, on page 8 there are four questions to help the students get going. Here are suggestions for a few more:
- How do you get around in Greenland?
- Which languages are 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 The life-giving glacier. 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.
- Glacier – the word means “stream of ice”. A glacier is a mass of slowly moving ice.
When new snow keeps piling on top of the inland ice, 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 coast, producing the flow of ice that is called a glacier.
How does a glacier bring life?
- Calving – when blocks of ice at the glacier front fall into the sea due to gravity this is called calving. You could say that the glacier “gives birth” to icebergs and ice floes. The big calvings when massive parts of the glacier front break off, only happens a few times during summer, but smaller pieces fall off the edge all the time.
Why is it only in summer that large parts of the glacier front break off?
- A cycle – is characterized by something returning more or less regularly, repeating itself. The ice has a cycle. The movements of the ice are affected by the cold and warmth of the seasons.
When is the glacier most active, and when does it almost come to a standstill? Why is this so?
- Wildlife – at the Icefjord the wildlife is very much different from other places in the world. This is due to long periods without sunlight and with very low temperatures.
How is wildlife seasonal where you live?
Sound recording, insertion of pictures and text: see instructions 1, 2 and 3 here.
The students will now work with professional reading and Ilulissat Icefjord where Malik flies tourists to see the glacier Sermeq Kujalleq.
On page 18 a link is given to Quick guide to Ilulissat Icefjord from GEUS with information in text and pictures about Ilulissat Icefjord, the first picture showing the glacier, Sermeq Kujalleq. In pairs or small groups the students are to read this text. There may be a number of words and concepts not familiar to them. These words they must look up and write down on page 19 as they meet them in the text. Make sure that the students remember to read the captions to the pictures.
On page 20-12 eight speech bubbles contain questions to the text; the students are to answer them by recording an audio file.
Sound recording: see instruction 1 here.
The students now work with the marine food web found at the Icefjord.
On page 22-23 a food web in Greenland is shown. The picture and the four questions could be subject for a joint discussion in class. If time allows, you might try to draw a food web from another ecosystem, like a wood, a desert or somewhere else. After working with page 22-23 the students should update their reference book with the concept food web.
In small groups work continues with pages 24-27. Page 24-25 holds eleven infoboxes about animals that are part of the marine food web at the Icefjord.
Page 26-27 has pictures of these animals. Here the task is to move the pictures around to set up a food web. Use the pen tool to draw arrows showing the relevant connections in the web.
Drawing with the pen tool: see instruction 4 here.
This process is the basis for all life on Earth. In the arctic marine food web the ice algae is the starting point as they are able to perform photosynthesis.
The students begin by reading the two texts on page 28-29, “Wildlife in the Icefjord” and “The importance of sea ice for the spring bloom”. Having done this, you conduct a joint review in class.
Here these questions might be useful:
- How is winter in Ilulissat?
- What is being produced in spring and summer?
- In the text the world under the ice is compared to another ecosystem, which one?
- What is the most important element of the arctic marine food web?
- Is ice algae the same thing as phytoplankton?
On page 30-31 photosynthesis is explained, using ice algae as an example. After reading the text, the students are to put the boxes and signs at the bottom of the page in the correct order for photosynthesis.
Photosynthesis:
6CO₂ + 6H₂O + Sunlight → 6O₂ + C₆H₁₂O₆
The students now can update their reference book with the concept photosynthesis.
The students must imagine they have been contacted by Malik from the podcast. He needs help to make an advertisement for his helicopter flights. The advertisement should inform tourists about the area and inspire them to book a flight with Malik. Students could work in small groups on this project.
A box for text and two picture frames are prepared on page 32-33, where the advertisement can be inserted. Boxes can be removed or added if necessary. The advertisement may be created on paper and pictures of it inserted. They can make it directly in Book Creator with shapes and pictures found there, or any combination.
The products of the groups are presented to the whole class.
Insertion of pictures and text: see instructions 2 and 3 here.
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 The life-giving glacier 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 The life-giving glacier 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 “The life-giving glacier by the Icefjord Centre Ilulissat” is credited as the source.
