Lesson Plan - Extreme Conditions
16 February 1904 – Discovery escapes the ice.
Learning outcomes
Students will:
- create a board game that illustrates the extreme conditions that early explorers faced in Antarctica
- compare the technologies that Antarctic explorers used to cope with extreme conditions
- record the weather.
Focus Essential Learning Area
Social Studies:
Place and Environment L2-5
Time, Continuity, and Change L2-5
Integrating Essential Learning Areas
English:
Visual Language L2-4
Presenting: thinking critically; processing information
Science:
Making Sense of Planet Earth and Beyond L 2-5
Technology:
Technological Knowledge and Understanding L2-4
Technology and Society L2-3
Background information
Antarctica is a land of environmental extremes. It is the:
| coldest continent |
Vostok, at 78.45ºS, is a Russian base that’s had the lowest ever recording in temperature: –89.2ºC on 21 July 1983. Its average July temperature is –66.9ºC. |
windiest continent |
Wind gusts of up to 300 km/hour have been recorded. |
highest continent |
The average elevation of Antarctica is 2300 m. (Two-thirds of New Zealand is between about 200 and 1070 m above sea level.) |
driest continent |
The average rainfall in Antarctica is between 50 mm and 150 mm per year. Wellington has 1270 mm of rain per year. |
emptiest continent |
Of all the continents, Antarctica has the least land biodiversity, with only two flowering plants and various lichens and mosses. There are a few invertebrates, including springtails and mites. The sea life, however, is rich with plankton, krill, sponges, fish, echinoderms, crustaceans, cephalopods, marine mammals, and seabirds. |
Activities
| 1. |
Extreme discussion
- What can you tell about the environment?
- What’s the weather like? Describe the conditions.
- How would it feel to be there?
- What sorts of problems would the conditions create?
- How could you overcome these problems?
|
| 2. |
Antarctic games
Design a board game based on the Antarctic environment. Your game could include information or situations related to blizzards, rough seas, high winds, or long periods of darkness and light.
- What is the aim of your game? (For example, players might have to survive for three months, get from one place to another safely, climb mountains, navigate crevasses, conduct research, or collect data.)
- What difficult situations does your game involve? (For example, players might get lost or sick, strike an iceberg in their ship, be held back by sea ice, or run out of food or fuel.)
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| 3. |
Extreme technologies
To cope with the extreme conditions of Antarctica, explorers relied on a range of technologies. Investigate the technologies that Shackleton, Scott, and Amundsen used – for example, dogs, sledges, motor cars, hot-air balloons (Scott’s balloon nicknamed Eva), ponies, skis, compasses, chronometers, watches, prefabricated huts, and ice axes.
- What were the similarities and differences in the technologies these explorers used and in how the explorers behaved to cope with extreme conditions?
What did and didn’t work – and why?
- Explore the technologies that Scott and Amundsen utilised in the race to the South Pole.
Did the explorers’ countries of origin influence their ideas and the technologies they used? If so, in what way?
|
| 4. |
Graph the climate
Make a graph showing the temperatures recorded at the South Pole and where you live. Compare your findings. For help, check out:
www.tki.org.nz/r/socialscience/curriculum/SSOL/on_ice/climate_graph_e.php
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| 5. |
Record the weather
Record daily weather conditions for a month, using instruments such as
thermometers, rain gauges, and wind-direction indicators. Compare your results with previous data recorded at the meteorological service.
http://www.metservice.co.nz/default/index.php |
Useful websites
www.picturesofplaces.com/Oceania/antarctica.html
A range of images of Antarctica
www.tamug.edu/labb/Projects/Weddell/McM2001/Storm/Herbie.htm
Blizzard images
www.coolantarctica.com/Antarctica%20fact%20file/History/Douglas%20Mawson2.htm
Story and images of Mawson’s struggle to reach his ship, Aurora. Links to the expeditions of Amundsen, Scott and Shackleton.
www.antarcticconnection.com/antarctic/weather/index.shtml
Weather conditions in Antarctica
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