Topic: Polar desert

Supplementary material for use in lessons in the group of natural sciences (nature, biology, chemistry, geography, physics), additional classes, science clubs. It can serve as a resource for expanding knowledge, preparing students for science competitions.

Target group

5th‑grade students of elementary school (geography).

Core curriculum

Grade V Geography
IV. Landscapes of the world: humid equatorial forest and temperate forest, savannah and steppe, hot and ice desert, taiga and tundra, Mediterranean, high altitude Himalayas; zonation and climatological vegetation in the world. Pupil:
3) presents the main features and compares the known landscapes of the world and recognizes them in descriptions, films and illustrations;

General aim of education

Students characterize the conditions prevailing in the ice desert.

Key competences

• communication in foreign languages;

• digital competence;

• learning to learn.

Criteria for success
The student will learn:

• point the Arctic and Antarctica on the map;

• discuss the features of the polar zone climate;

• explain the concept of „ice desert”;

• describe the scientific activity of humans in polar areas.

Methods/techniques

• activating

  • discussion.

• expository

  • talk.

• programmed

  • with computer;

  • with e‑textbook.

• practical

  • exercices concerned.

Forms of work

• individual activity;

• activity in pairs;

• activity in groups;

• collective activity.

Teaching aids

• e‑textbook;

• notebook and crayons/felt‑tip pens;

• interactive whiteboard, tablets/computers;

• large sheets of paper with a continental outline, glue, scissors, crayons.

Lesson plan overview

Before classes

• The lecturer asks pupils to bring to the classes small photographs cut from colored magazines or printed from the Internet, depicting landscapes characteristic of the ice desert (Arctic and Antarctic).

Introduction

• The teacher explains the aim of the lesson and together with students determines the success criteria to be achieved.

• Selected students present the illustrative material prepared by them before the lesson.
  The teacher encourages the class to ask questions to the presenters, e.g.

  • Why did you choose such examples?

  • What does this photo involve?

  • What this illustration is talking about

  • Why is this scheme important?

  • What is the graphics to tell us about?

Realization

• The teacher asks students to read the given fragment of the abstract and try to remember its content. Then the participants, working in pairs, ask each other about the knowledge of the fragment.

• The teacher displays an interactive illustration, then distributes large sheets of paper with the outline of the continents and art materials to the pupils. Students use the interactive illustration to mark areas of the ice desert on the sheets and stick the photographs they bring to the appropriate places. The teacher monitors students' work, checks the correctness of the task..

• The teacher asks students to carry out the recommended interactive exercise themselves.

• The students consolidate the acquired information, discussing it with their nearest neighbors („tell your neighbor” method).

Summary

• The teacher asks students to carry out the recommended interactive exercise themselves.

• At the end of the lesson the teacher asks: If there was going to be a test on the material we have covered today, what questions do you think would you have to answer? If the students do not manage to name all the most important questions, the teacher may complement their suggestions.

Homework

• Develop a lap book containing issues learned during the lesson and bring your work to the next class.

• Listen to the abstract recording at home. Pay attention to pronunciation, accent and intonation. Learn to pronounce the words learned during the lesson.

The following terms and recordings will be used during this lesson

Terms

Texts and recordings

Polar desert

The regions near both poles are areas that receive the least heat from the Sun. In these regions, beyond the polar circles, there is a polar day and polar night. At the poles themselves, the day and night each last half a year. When one of the poles experiences polar night, the opposite pole experiences polar day.

Polar deserts near both poles are similar in terms of low air temperature and very low rainfall. No plant life can be found on most of these regions’ surface. At poles, air temperature varies from −20°C during the polar day to −80°C during the polar night and never reaches positive values. Temperatures above zero occur only in certain areas of land located near the polar circles – and only during the polar day. Strong winds are common throughout the year, blowing from the poles towards the polar circles.

Precipitation occurs only in the form of snow. Precipitation varies from several hundred mm per annum near the coast, around 100 mm per annum inland, and only 2 mm per annum at the poles. Therefore, these values are lower than in the case of a hot desert! Due to low temperature, the snow does not melt but rather becomes compressed into an increasingly thicker layer, creating an ice sheet. In Greenland, the ice sheet varies from 2 km up to 3 km in thickness. There’s even more ice on the Antarctic where the ice sheet’s thickness reaches 4–5 km in some places. There’s no mainland near the North Pole, but rather the ocean surface is covered by a several meter thick layer of ice.

Polar regions still remain not fully explored to a large extent. This is primarily due to the rough climate that is extremely unfriendly to humans. The scientific research on the Arctic began only in the 19th century. At present, all countries whose territories are located in the Arctic are conducting climate studies. They also study organisms that live on land, on the surface of drifting ice and in the water under the ice.

The Antarctic was discovered only in the 18th century by European whalers. Journeys towards the South Pole and scientific studies began in the 20th century. During the winter half‑year, it is extremely difficult to provide any form of assistance to researchers who spend the winter at polar stations. In winter, the region is characterised by extremely low temperature, gale force winds and covered in darkness. All land ares are surrounded by a wide zone of drifting ice that makes navigation difficult. Therefore, there is significantly less people in the Antarctic during the winter. At present, there are 82 research stations operating in the Antarctic, of which only 40 is active throughout the year.

• The polar regions include the Arctic and the Antarctic along with its surrounding islands.

• The polar regions are characterised by prevailing subzero temperatures, low rainfall and extremely strong winds.

• Polar regions experience polar days and polar nights.

• The circumpolar zone is called the polar desert.

• Several dozen countries, including Poland, carry out scientific research at polar stations in the Arctic and the Antarctic.