Module 7

Alaskan Natives and also other inhabitants around the arctic poles are noticing many affects of the climate change. Beginning with the Inuit in northern Canada on the island, I was impressed with the organization of climate changes they were doing within the community. It becomes an eye-opening experience when seen in this form. Some things that stuck out to me were the ones; more flies; different insects; quicker meltdown; and shorter hunting seasons.

La’ona’s video was very interesting. Her interest in mapping the contaminated sites throughout the rivers in the Interior seems very logical. The tools that she has available to her, GPS, computers, etc. enable her to track the contaminated sites from human pollution. All of the information that she and her coworkers have collected are placed into a GIS database so that the communities in which they have worked with can access this information for their use as well as for La’ona’s. It is also important for tracking this global climate change.

I enjoyed watching the students tracking the changes in the tundra. I feel it is important for them to train the local children because they are the ones who are seeing the change on a daily basis. I would love to involve our local students with the climate changes within my community.

As for involving students in authentic scientific research, we do. Our district is in its 13th year of Rural Science Fairs. The students follow the scientific method and come up with a unique traditional scientific subject and ask a question…. do the research and through a science fair they will prove whether their hypothesis was true or not. I have been involved with the science camps that have occurred throughout the summer where the elders are invited to spark the interest and questions that would evolve into the projects. Nothing more exciting than watching an elder sitting on the beach doing experiments with students!!!

I have enjoyed all the videos in this portion of Module 7. We were able to see how children have taken ownership n their communities to document the climate changes….as well as the community as a whole….as well as a doctoral student… many with the same goal.

I am learning so much with all the videos and presentations and readings that this course has offered to me. I can’t even imagine what the earliest earth looked like, even with the vivid descriptions. No oxygen? Bacteria that lived without the presence of oxygen? Wow? And when oxygen was finally introduced with the ancient creatures these non-oxygen organisms looked for places to hide and live where oxygen wasn’t present. It almost sounds sci-fi to me!!! These creatures made oxygen just like or present day plants/ greenery do—photosynthesis. With the introduction of oxygen into our atmosphere, animals and eventually humans were able to live.

Microbes in the arctic usually hibernate and the creation of CO2 doesn’t occur. However, with the change in the climate and the weather, our permafrost isn’t happening at the depths it once was making it possible for these microbes to keep producing this gas right on through the winter. With the increase of CO2 we are looking at more greenhouse affects on our earth.

A positive feedback loop is something that scientists would like to research more about and understand better. One that is happening within our state is the topic I previously mentioned. Here we have microbes making more nutrients in which the plants flourish. As these microbes stay awake throughout the winter because of their extra cushioning—snow---they give more nutrients to the land in which makes the trees and shrubs grow more. Now we are looking at a much different types of ecosystem where there once was nothing.

One thing about viewing these topics each week is my own fear factor. I am not a scientist, nor a person who tracks this type of change. Therefore when I read or view something that shows such drastic changes, I worry….

We have millions of stars within our galaxy that I just learned were made from the elements overcrowding and then blowing up from the heaviness of the iron. That was a mouthful! We also have millions of galaxies within our universe. All of this information takes me back to the statement I made earlier—I worry!
So I am going to reiterate what I just read and watched and see if it makes more sense to me—the earth was created millions of years ago by the explosions of star/stars. The radioactive or microwaves in the atmosphere reassembled into what we call earth. At first, non-oxygen organisms inhabited earth and eventually when oxygen was introduced, these bacteria fled to deep dark hot places. I think I got it!

As for sharing all of this information with students, I’m not sure mine are old enough or that our community would appreciate their teachers teaching the Big Bang Theory… instead of the traditional religious theory. On another note, I would love to see videos shared with older students.

When discussing the creation of our planet, there are many tales or stories that some cultures hold in regards to the creation of parts of the earth. Locally, we know of Raven and the sun stories. We also know of locally the puffins and the salmon and I’m sure that the Eskimos have some sort of stories about the creation of something.