Ocean at Home Resource: Arctic Feedbacks: Not All Warming Is Equal
by Valerie Cournoyer, Amity Regional School District, Woodbridge, CT, and SENEME Chapter Representative
Arctic Feedbacks: Not All Warming Is Equal
Arctic Feedbacks is a middle/high school earth science unit made available from the MOSAiC (Multidisciplinary drifting Observatory for the Study of Arctic Climate) research expeditions and produced by the University of Colorado. Organized in a Google Classroom format, teacher support is provided in the form of teacher presentations, student Google Docs, authentic data, answer keys, videos, modeling templates and much more. Arctic Feedbacks addresses the Arctic amplification anchoring phenomenon—the Arctic is warming twice as fast as the rest of the world, and supports the Next Generation Science Standards. An additional unit is available called Exploring the New and Old Arctic, which compares the early Arctic explorations of the 1890’s with the MOSAiC Expedition in 2020.
Connect your classroom to MOSAiC Arctic explorations with a free virtual PD opportunity available on April 2, 2021. Download the PD flyer here.
Student’s Final Model: Building Consensus
When faced with the daunting prospect of teaching in a hybrid schedule at the beginning of the 2020-2021 school year, I relied heavily on a new curriculum called Arctic Feedbacks for my high school level Marine Biology course. Based on research done by the MOSAiC expedition in the Arctic and created by educators at the University of Colorado, it centers around the phenomena of Arctic warming and explores the question, Why is the Arctic Warming 2X faster than the rest of the globe?
MOSAiC Expedition schematic. Credit: Julienne Stroeve
The confusion at the end of the 2019-2020 school year prompted me to search high and low for virtual learning experiences that could somewhat take up the slack of not having in person classes. Shocked to suddenly be teaching from home on Zoom in March 2019, everything changed. As the reality of the pandemic and its severity sunk in, our school piloted a schedule where science met two times per week and asynchronous assignments were designed to be completed and submitted to the Unified Classroom platform we were using at the time. Lessons were modified, training was offered to Amity teachers daily for programs including Zoom, Screencastify, Jamboard, EdPuzzle, and Edulastic. A crash course in remote teaching had begun. WiFi issues came to light and everyone held their breath when logging on to teach, hoping our connection would be strong.
When resources started to be shared freely, the MOSAiC Arctic Feedbacks training caught my eye for two reasons. It was organized in a Google Classroom format, (rumors had started that we would possibly switch to Google Classroom) and it was a way to teach an inquiry unit with my classes from home. By participating as a student in these training sessions I began to understand how to navigate Google Classroom as a student first and then ultimately as the teacher. During the training sessions, I would struggle to find the documents being used and relied on links provided in the chat to catch up. It made it challenging to complete the task and be in the right place at the right time. I can’t explain what a valuable experience that was to be challenged and to have support from the facilitators who were infinitely patient. It provided context for me to work with my own students when in the Fall of 2020-2021, my school district decided to drop the learning platform we were using and adopted Google Classroom for the entire district. I understood the frustration some students had navigating in a new platform and had empathy for their struggle. Some students had experience with Google Classroom in our Middle Schools. They became mentors and provided support for all of us in the hybrid classroom. Having learned from the harrowing experiences of the previous spring, our school wisely shifted to an in-person, hybrid synchronous schedule, a regular daily schedule (actually many versions of the daily schedule) and required daily period attendance for the current school year. It is not ideal and it is not perfect, but we have managed to keep school open and provide a combination of remote and hybrid learning throughout the school year. Teachers, administrators, school staff and students are stressed, and everyone is dealing with various levels of loss. Loss of contact with colleagues and friends, loss of activities, such as sports, theater and clubs, and most tragic of all, the possible loss of a loved one or lack of confidence in our government and systems. We all wait, not so patiently, for the vaccines to be made available to employees of schools which are desperately needed to be opened safely.
The programs made available for teachers, especially at this moment in time, are essential to help us keep our heads above water. The Arctic Feedback curriculum was created by a team of educators and scientists and is a complete series of inquiry lessons, support materials and assessment that, with slight modifications, became completely useful in a remote teaching environment. As a classroom teacher, I have limited time and resources to create these materials on my own. I strive to connect my students with real-life current events based on research and supported by evidence. I need these collaborative projects with professionals in the field to make it happen. In addition to Arctic Feedbacks, another unit called Exploring the New and Old Arctic is also available for teachers like me who want to teach about the history of oceanography and advancements in technologies used to explore marine environments. My newest curriculum adventure has been piloting the The Future of Forests curriculum unit with my freshman biology students. These ecology lessons explore the phenomenon of post-fire landscape recovery.
When reflecting about this anxiety-filled year, I can’t help but recognize it as a tremendous period of growth. Necessity truly is the mother of invention. Or as Plato originally said, “Our need will be the real creator.” Technology initiatives have been part of our professional development since I started public school teaching 21 years ago, however, it took a crisis to push us over the edge and allow us a deep dive into teaching with technology.
Teacher work sample, Arctic Feedback PD
Student work sample, Arctic Feedback Curriculum
Student work sample, Arctic Feedback Curriculum
The students crafted a tribute narrative to thank the MOSAiC Expedition staff and scientists for sharing their experiences in the Arctic. Ashley, a high school junior, recorded it and uploaded it to the Tribute Website, which was storing all tribute messages for a celebration that was held when the expedition was over. This tribute message was so well received the scientists declared Amity students the winner of the evening and sent them all MOSAiC Expedition stickers which they proudly display on their laptops!
Ocean Literacy Principles
Arctic Feedbacks provides opportunities to investigate climate change, the Earth energy budget, sea ice melting, the albedo effect, scientific modeling, use of technology to explore the ocean including satellites, underwater robots, sensors, expedition life and career opportunities in the Marine Sciences. It uses an inquiry based teaching model including phenomenon, science practices, cross-cutting concepts and disciplinary core ideas.
The following Ocean Literacy Standards are addressed.
OL#1—Earth has one big ocean with many features: a, c, d, f, h
OL#2—The ocean and life in the ocean shape the features of Earth: b
OL#3—The ocean is a major influence on weather and climate: *a,*b, c, e, f,*g
OL#4—The ocean makes Earth habitable: c
OL#6—The ocean and humans are inextricably interconnected: a, d, g
OL#7—The ocean is largely unexplored: b, c, d, e, f
About the Author
Valerie Cournoyer has been teaching biology at Amity High School in Woodbridge, CT for 21 years. In addition, she is the Director of the Bermuda Studies Program and teaches marine biology, which introduces students at Amity to the Bermuda Institute of Ocean Sciences (BIOS) in Bermuda. Memorable moments include completing a 24-hour octopus study, night snorkeling with Caribbean Reef squid, and meeting BIOS researchers. She is so looking forward to travel again in the near future!
Prior to teaching in public school, Valerie worked in non-profit, informal education organizations including Ocean Classroom in Bridgeport, CT, and The Maritime Aquarium at Norwalk.
Valerie is currently the SENEME Chapter Representative.