Save the Penguins
Posted on January 9th, 2019 by Mary Lord
Middle school students address misconceptions and learn about thermal energy transfer while investigating the insulating properties of various materials. They then follow the engineering design process to create, test, and redesign a structure (igloo) to keep an ice cube (penguin) from melting.
Filed under: Class Activities, Grades 6-8, Grades 9-12, Lesson Plans | Comments Off on Save the Penguins
Tags: arctic engineering, Class Activities, Curriculum, Energy, Environmental Engineering, Grades 6-8, Grades 9-12, habitat, heat transfer misconceptions, ice, insulation, Lesson Plan, NGSS aligned, Physics, polar ice, Save the Penguins
Breathtakingly vast, Greenland’s ancient ice sheet turns out to be as fragile as it is formidable. Environmental photographer and Extreme Ice Survey founder James Balog has spent the past five years documenting the impact of Earth’s big thaw on glaciers there and in Iceland, Nepal, Alaska, and the U.S. Rocky Mountains in a stunning new book, Ice: Portraits of Vanishing Glaciers. 
Students in grades K-5 observe how various roof shapes perform under the challenge of a flour “snow storm.” Students learn how engineers must accommodate climate and the environment when designing a housing structure.
