Climate change and weather extremes impact every species, but this lesson focuses on how these changes effect polar bears. After learning about the animal, scholars create maps of snow-ice coverage and examine the yearly variability and trends.

Concepts

nasa, polar bears, albedo, climate change, greenhouse gases, polar regions, global warming

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Additional Tags

science

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Instructional Ideas

• Track polar bears, or view previous years' data, as they hunt for seals: https://polarbearsinternational.org/polar-bears/tracking/
• View updated data on the ice loss and the impact on polar bear populations: https://polarbearsinternational.org/news/article-climate-change/2016-third-hottest-year-in-a-row-sea-ice-at-historic-low/

Classroom Considerations

• Requires prior knowledge of latitude, longitude, and reading plot lines
•  The 10th lesson in a series of 21

Pros

• Provides many links for prerequisite knowledge, vocabulary, learning links, student resources, and further learning
• Aligns to the National Science Education Standards, National Council of Teachers of Mathematics Education Standards, Climate Literacy Principles, and Energy Literacy Principles
• Includes answers to all of the essential questions 

Cons

• None

Common Core

RST.9-10.5 RST.9-10.7 RST.11-12.5 RST.11-12.7