Melting Ice and Ocean Salinity

A great climate change activity! While many articles and lesson plan ideas address the issue of rising sea levels, this article and activity tackle the job of teaching how the melting glaci... See More

A great climate change activity! While many articles and lesson plan ideas address the issue of rising sea levels, this article and activity tackle the job of teaching how the melting glaciers are impacting the ocean’s salinity levels. My only complaint in the activity is that I wish it were more inquiry driven. The lab is “cookbook” written, and does not encourage an inquiry type of investigations. However, by asking students to make predictions, there is a stronger element of engagement. To encourage greater inquiry, I would consider having students establish the “conditions” to gain the ocean water with the least salinity or the greatest. I would also suggest the use of thermometers to monitor the temperature in an agreed upon location near the “glacier.” Students could engage in conversations regarding the relationship between temperature differences, the time of glacier melt and decreasing salinity. Yet, even as it is written, it is still a great activity to help students visualize the impact of melting glaciers on ocean salinity.

Good activity; needs corrections

This article is about how ocean level is affected by the melting of land based glaciers in Antarctica and with the inclusion of research students can also see how infusion of fresh water can... See More

This article is about how ocean level is affected by the melting of land based glaciers in Antarctica and with the inclusion of research students can also see how infusion of fresh water can cause catastrophic changes to the Antarctic food web. To avoid misconceptions, however, the authors set up the lab so the ice melts to the bottom of the container and then they measure the water level - for land based ice flows, the ice should be suspended above the container and allowed to melt into it (this could be easily done using rulers or maybe popsickle sticks). As described, the activity could represent floating ice, and as such does not really need the inclusion of the rock to weigh it down and increase the overall volume of water. The authors also mention a rubric to be found online - however this link is no longer active. The activity (not inquiry as written but it could easily be modified to become one with student assistance) does show how ocean levels can be changed and the