Introduction: These tasks encourage students to investigate the various ice conditions, phenomenon and ice traditional knowledge. Students will explore the different ice formations, fresh ice vs. sea ice and they will explore and compare the traditional methods and modern day technology used in ice monitoring.
Age: 7-11
Challenge Level: ⚓⚓⚓
Show your students the above candle ice image provocations.
During the months of May and June, you can bring your students around the beach to view and observe candle ice.
Following safety precautions, students can make observations about the candle ice. Please ensure that students are not on or too near to the ice.
You can provide students with the "Candle Ice Observation" sheet.
Invite students to share their knowledge about this phenomenon.
After your students have had the opportunity to share, they can watch the YouTube video about candle ice.
Smart Ice have already done some school visits, you can ask students to share what they learned during Brody's presentations.
Additionally, there is a link to the Smart Ice website and an "Introduction to Smart Ice" PowerPoint.
As you are prompting students with the key questions, you may consider creating a whole class Venn diagram comparing and contrasting traditional knowledge vs. western science.
You may also use the "Siqiniq" thinking routine as a diagram to sort either: sea vs. fresh ice or traditional knowledge vs. western science.
What do you know about candle ice?
What causes candle ice?
Do you have any traditional knowledge about ice to share? What have you learned from your own family?
Why should we learn about ice conditions and ice safety?
Who in our community can help us learn more about ice monitoring?
What tools can we use in ice monitoring?
How did your ancestors monitor and share ice conditions?
How have these ways changed?
How does traditional knowledge guide Western science?
How can technology support traditional knowledge?
How doe Smart Ice support our community?
How does our community support Smart Ice?
Ice vocabulary with photos
Smart Ice have left some "terminology" books, which you can have available for students to access.
Use local colloquial terminology for ice phenomenon
This gadget comes with many different sensors to collect data. It can record and export this data on a variety of graphs and charts.
Sea ice melts from the bottom first and fresh water ice melts first from the edges. Newly formed sea water ice will be elastic and breaks into chunks.
Fresh water freezes faster than salt water. Fresh water ice breaks into candle ice and is more dangerous than salt water ice.
For the purpose of these Vernier Lab Quest investigations, you will need to review the concept of water quality, its properties and water testing vocabulary.
You can do a pre-lesson, introducing the water quality properties to your students and creating a display in your classroom. You can have these scientific terms with a photo to support students' understanding.
You can create a free account on Quizlet to further support students' vocabulary. Students can access flashcards, play matching games and it has various support such as audios.
In the Water Quality with Vernier document, there are five hands-on water quality tests that your students can explore.
Each task comes with an introduction, procedure and lesson plan on how to collect and analyze this data:
Temperature
PH
Dissolved Oxygen
Total Dissolved Solids
Turbidity
Students can collect fresh water samples from Cubby Lake, behind the school and they can collect samples of sea ice from the point.
One group can measure and analyze the fresh water and one group can analyze and measure the sea ice.
Students who would like to extend their learning can come up with some other properties to measure such as: how long it takes to melt, solubility and boiling point (under adult supervision).
Water Quality with Vernier provides some tables and charts for data collection, however, you may adapt and modify these to suit your students.
Depending on your students, you can leave the format more open. You may also provide them with a worksheet, grid paper or a digital option such as Google Sheets.
Sea Ice Versus Fresh Ice
You are strongly encouraged to invite an elder and/or community member to share their knowledge on ice monitoring, specifically on the differences between sea ice and fresh water ice.
"Understanding Sea Ice" has additional resources, information and lesson ideas.
Students can add their new knowledge to the learning wall.
How does our environment impact water?
How do people affect water?
What is the relationship between people, water, animals and the land?
In which ways can we assess water quality?
Why is it important to know and understand the water quality in Tuk?
What have you learned from this data collection?
What is something that really surprised you?
What is something that you expected?
What story do these numbers tell you?
What are the differences between sea ice and fresh water ice?
What are the similarities between sea ice and fresh water ice?
What data set was your favourite to explore? Why?
How did you represent the data you collected? Why did you represent it this way?
What would you like to learn more about?
How does learning about our waters make us more capable?
How do our findings align with our predictions?
How did we use traditional knowledge to guide our investigation?
What is the most valuable thing you have learned throughout your investigations?
How does traditional knowledge from our community and elders support our learning journey?
Classroom word wall display for water quality with photos
Update your math wall with data analysis terminology
Multi-modal vocabulary supports such as audios and videos
Provide the option of graphic organizers and tables/charts that have the wording pre-filled
Chunking the data collection with one water quality investigation at a time
Created by Smart Ice, SIKU is "the Indigenous Knowledge social network, is a mobile app and web platform by and for Inuit to facilitate self-determination in research, education and stewardship which provides tools and services for ice safety, language preservation and weather services"
Begin by reviewing and revisiting your students' knowledge about ice conditions, ice monitoring and both traditional and scientific methods of collecting, analyzing and sharing this data.
Select and identify some vocabulary words for ice monitoring.
You may use a thinking routine such as "Claim Support Question" for students to make predictions about what the data will show us. Students are encouraged to make connections to climate change and the other factors that impact the ice conditions.
You can either download the SIKU app or you can access it through any online platform. You can create a free account and identify your community. You will then have access to all of the collected data.
For this particular investigation, students are assessing the ice data, however, the SIKU app has a variety of data, if your students' are interested.
This is a more open-ended investigation and will depend on your students' curiosities, questions and wonders.
You can display the app on your Smartboard and allow students to explore the platform.
Students can cross-check the data with other sources, such as the Tuktoyaktuk James Gruben Airport, and investigate patterns and trends.
There are a few people from Tuk who work with Smart Ice through the TCC. You are encouraged to reach out and invite them into your classroom to work with your students.
You may consolidate the learning with the "I used to think....now I think" thinking routine.
How has your knowledge about ice monitoring changed?
What would you like to learn more about?
What was a "AHA" moment for you?
How does data collection and data analysis connect to your daily lives?
How does data collection and data analysis connect to traditional ways of living?
How does data collection and data analysis connect to navigating the land?
What are the pros and cons of using technology?
What data patterns were most surprising?
How do the ice conditions affect traditional ways of living?
How can they affect arctic animals?
How does learning about ice monitoring make us more capable?
How can we share what we have learned?
Who will our audience be?
As this is set up to be a more open investigation, you may wish to identify a focus and scaffold your students through the investigation process.
Revisit and review the water quality, ice monitoring and data analysis vocabulary.
Using your BDDEC subscription, try out some fun Gizmos with your students. Gizmos injects experimentation and inquiry into every experience. With the power to ask questions, see results, and draw conclusions, students learn not only the what of a topic, but also the why. Interactive design allows for extensive manipulation of variables and “what-if” experimentation.
These Gizmos come with lesson plans, curriculum connections and editable worksheets. As the students progress through the Gizmos, they can update their new knowledge on the learning wall.
The Water Cycle: Control the path of a drop of water as it travels through the water cycle. Many alternatives are presented at each stage. Determine how the water moves from one location to another, and learn how water resources are distributed in these locations.
Phases of Water: Heat or cool a container of water and observe the phase changes that take place. Use a magnifying glass to observe water molecules as a solid, liquid, or gas. Compare the volumes of the three phases of water.
Freezing Point of Salt Water: Control the temperature of a beaker of water. As the temperature drops below the freezing point, a transformation of state will occur that can be viewed on a molecular level. Salt can be added to the water to see its effect on the freezing point of water.
In this book by Paul Souders (2022) students can explore traditional stories about what lurks under the ice and traditional knowledge about ice safety and conditions.
Invite students to do some of their own research on Arctic sea ice. This can be a whole class approach, individual, partner or group work.
SmartIce has "sea ice terminology books" from multiple Arctic communities. We have a few available in our school if you would like to use them with your class. In these books, community members and elders have created a resource identifying and explaining ice conditions and phenomenon, traditional knowledge and ice terminology in their Indigenous language.
Provide students with some non-fiction mentor texts about the arctic, sea ice and/or climate change.
With your BDDEC subscription, you can use JSTOR to research articles on the Arctic sea ice.
You can do some whole class shared readings and/or incorporate these themes in your Guided Reading sessions.
You have access to the Literacy Place and Moving up graphic organizers and reading comprehension supports that target Fountas and Pinnell systems of strategic action (thinking within the text, thinking beyond the text and thinking about the text).
As you are inviting elders and community members into your classroom, you are invited to observe and assess your students' oracy, listening and questioning skills.
You may do a shared article reading with your class, or you can put students in groups to do their own research.
They can use a free AI technology such as QuillBot to summarize their article and make it more accessible.
In collaboration with our community, elders, Inuvialuktun teachers and Smart Ice, you can look into the project of creating your own "sea ice terminology" book.
Using any of the data collected, students can do data storytelling. Students can communicate the insights from their data using narratives, illustrations and visualizations.
Expository writing: news articles, infographics, cause and effect essays.
Creative writing: poetry
Fountas and Pinnell prompting guides
Co-creating and co-designing the success criteria with your students and modelling the exemplar
Multi- modal stories: demonstration, play, podcast, puppet show, clay animation, stop motion, comic book, song, dance or any other ideas your students may have.
There are a variety of arts and crafts your students can do, as demonstrated above.
You can invite a community member/elder to do an outdoors lesson with your students creating ice sculptures.
You can explore different representations of ice in paintings by Indigenous artists.
You can incorporate other aspects of the land into ice art such as: cranberries, flowers and moss.
Siku: Ice
Apun: Snow
Aulayuaq: Travelling
Sikiituq: Skidoo/Snow mobile
Ukiuq: Winter
Imaryuk: Husky Lakes
Arctic Elder Society. (n.d). Fresh Water and Salt Water. Understanding Sea Ice: Unit 1: Sea Dynamics [Teacher Version]. https://education.arcticeider.com/edu_uploads/sea-ice-investigators-teacher-web.pdf
Dolls and Spooks. (2023, May 5). Candle Ice Also Known As Rotten Ice #dollsandspooks [Video]. Youtube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZYGuX3fh1Zw
Driscoll, P. (2023). Candle Ice Observation. Canva. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1-cF5T791ikiRJ4WUJYblJcu8I7K5ekgI/view
Explore Learning. (2022). The Water Cycle. Gizmos. https://gizmos.explorelearning.com/find-gizmos/launch-gizmo?resourceId=435
Explore Learning. (2023). Freezing Point of Salt Water. Gizmos. https://gizmos.explorelearning.com/find-gizmos/lesson-info?resourceId=426
Explore Learning. (2023). Phases of Water. Gizmos. https://gizmos.explorelearning.com/find-gizmos/lesson-info?resourceId=661
Gillis, A. (2023). Candle Ice in Hand [Personal Image].
Gillis, A. (2023). Candle Ice [Personal Image].
Memorial University. (2016, Dec. 9). Nobel of the North. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ht8ZUkNetBY
Micro:Bit (n.d). Code a thermometer. https://microbit.org/projects/make-it-code-it/thermometer/
Microsoft MakeCode (2022). Thin Ice Radio Game. https://makecode.microbit.org/77229-25180-65520-48419
Quizlet. (2023). Water Quality, Temperature, Turbidity, pH, and DO. https://quizlet.com/60583341/water-quality-temperature-turbidity-ph-and-do-flash-cards/
SmartICE (n.d). Sea Ice Monitoring and Information Inc. https://smartice.org/
SmartICE. (n.d). Pilimmaksaqniq Sikulirijimik/Operator Training Introduction [PowerPoint].
Souders, P. (2022). SIKU: Life on Ice. Inhabit Media. https://inhabitbooks.com/products/siku-life-on-the-ice
Thinking Pathways. (n.d). I used to think...now I think. https://thinkingpathwayz.weebly.com/iusedtothinknowithink.html
Thinking Pathways. (n.d). Claim Support Question. https://thinkingpathwayz.weebly.com/claimsupportquestion.html
Vernier. (2019). Simple Water Quality Testing In and Outside the Classroom. NSTA National. https://www.vernier.com/files/training/nsta-2019/vernier.simple_water_quality_testing.pdf
WeatherSpark. (2023). Tuktoyaktuk James Gruben Airport. https://weatherspark.com/h/m/149686/2022/3/Historical-Weather-in-March-2022-at-Tuktoyaktuk-James-Gruben-Airport-Canada#Figures-SolarDay