Lesson Plans for group activities:

Shackleton’s Antarctic Odyssey
This series of lesson plans is connected to NOVA programs, including Shackleton’s Antarctic Odyssey. This website explores both Sir Ernest Shackleton’s 1914-1916 expedition and a modern recreation. There are many lessons for group activities as well as others that are web-based for individual exploration (see those below under "Web-based Interactive Lessons"). Four of the lessons are described at this site, with a suggested sequence.

• The Coldest Place at the Bottom of the World
  This activity involves reading maps and graphs, interpreting data, and using measurement to trace an explorer’s route across the Antarctic.
  
  
• How Does Your State Compare?
  This lesson contains n activity sheet that allows learners to compare their states with Antarctica. This activity focuses on research, either on the Internet or using other resources.
  
  
• Icebergs Ahead!
  Lesson plans for a hands-on activity about why ice floats.
  
  
• Icy Survival
  Pack essential equipment so that you can survive a sudden emergency when you are outside in Antarctica. How can you plan ahead to survive a sudden freak storm?
  
  
• Let the North Star Tell You Where You Are
  Make an astrolabe, find Polaris, and calculate your latitude.
  
  
• A Meal of Endurance
  Calculate the calories in meals eaten by explorers. Will they survive on this diet?
  
  
• Voyage Around the World
  Instructions are given so that learners can chart a course in a voyage around the world. A few checkpoints are given. Learners must research and find locations that match the checkpoint descriptions. They need to estimate distances and then calculate the length of the voyage they have constructed. The voyage begins and ends in Greenwich, England.
  
  
• Weighty Decisions
  Students decide what to rescue from the sinking Endurance and compare those decisions to ones made by Sir Ernest Shackleton.

Live from Antarctica2
Check this online guide to many lesson plans and activities that were designed to accompany the 1996 expedition to Palmer Station, Antarctica. The activities include blackline masters. You can also download a copy of this teacher’s guide.

Bigelow Laboratory of Marine Science
From the Top of the World to the Bottom of the Food Web
NASA and the Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences developed this wonderful series of lessons, correlated to education standards. The sections, each with resources and suggested learning activities, are

• Phytoplankton
  
  
• Chain or Web
  
  
• From Microscopes to Satellites
  
  
• Algal Blooms: Healthy vs. Harmful

Gulf of Maine Aquarium
Try these six activities from the Gulf of Maine Aquarium.

• Blubber Glove 
  How do animals stay warm in the bone-chilling waters of Antarctica?

• Changes in the Antarctic Ice Sheet
  Use satellite images on the web to track the changing ice sheet, month by month.

• Chick Die-Off:
  Why have Adelie penguin chicks begun to die-off in Antarctica?

• Coping with the Cold
  Plan an expedition to Antarctica.
  
  
• Creating Plankton
  Design an “ocean wanderer”.
  
  
• Penguin Adaptation
  Read about penguins and see why they are well-suited to living in cold weather. Design another bird that will do as well.

Educapoles
Educapoles is a website of the International Polar Foundation.  Its goal is to inform people about the importance of the polar regions.  Check here for a wonderful set of multimedia activities.

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