Lesson Topic: Organisms and Environments

Activity 4

Cold Deserts

Lesson Topic: Organisms and Environments

Objectives: When most people think of deserts, they think of regions of the Earth that have very high/hot temperatures and are sandy and dry. However, some of the world’s greatest deserts do not fit this type of description. These deserts are known as cold deserts. The regions of the Arctic and Antarctic are the Earth’s cold deserts. Due to the tilt of the Earth on its axis, the sun shines in these regions for only a small portion of the year. When the sun is shining, the rays of the sun slant through think layers of the atmosphere. This lack of adequate sunlight causes temperatures to become so low that very little frozen snow and ice actually melts. Also, very little rain falls in these regions. Because of the permanently low temperatures, water is always frozen and useless to living things. This makes it extremely difficult for plants, animals, and people to survive in the Antarctic. The purpose of this activity then is to develop a weather forecast for Antarctica, and then compare it to that of a hot desert weather forecast.

NCTM Content Standard Objectives:

·  Life Science

o  Organisms and Environments

o  Populations and Ecosystems

·  Earth and Space Science

o  The Physical Setting

o  The Nature of Science

Ohio Science Academic Content Standards: Students demonstrate an understanding about the interconnected nature of Earth’s physical systems and how living systems function and how they interact with the physical environment. Students develop a deeper understanding of the principles of diversity and interdependence of life.

Materials:

·  Resource books provided

·  Internet access

·  Maps of polar regions

Instructional Strategies: Use the Internet to get weather reports and weather forecasts for the Antarctic polar region. Do this for 3-4 days to observe a temperature pattern. Print out the report each day. If access to the Internet is not available, use resource books to determine weather patterns and average temperatures of the polar regions. With the weather information received and recorded, create a forecast for the following week. Include temperature highs and lows, wind patterns, snow forecasts, and special warnings. Deliver your week’s forecast as a TV weather report would for the Antarctic. Contrast the cold desert forecast with that of a hot desert such as the Sahara or the Kalahari.