Ice Core Secrets

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Hook
Let's suppose you are drinking a coke or your favorite soda. Other than making your drink cold, think about the characteristics or properties of ice and what types of ice there might be on our planet. "Types of ice? Characteristics of ice?" you ask, "What do you mean? Isn't ice just ice?"

Yes, ice is frozen moisture or water, but what types of water might become frozen? What bodies of ice might one find in the world? What's so special about ice that scientists would want to study it? What does ice tell us? Are there differences in ice or is ice just ice? If there are differences, what do you suppose might cause them? What are these characteristics?

What type of ice and characteristics or properties of ice do you want for your coke or soda? Why?

Materials
· Poster paper

· Markers

Procedure
In this mini-unit, you will make your own ice core and produce ways your ice core will show layers. You will keep a scientific journal for your predictions and observations. The class will take a field trip to collect ice cores. You will investigate the Internet to compare and contrast the ice cores you made and collected to the ice cores scientists collect in the Polar Regions.

You will make a poster of the ice core you made and discuss your findings with the class. Along with your poster, you will hand in your journal with a self-evaluation page/s that include a list of your learnings.

Discussions Questions/Extensions ......
Why do scientists take ice cores and what do they learn from them?

What are the conditions that influence the layering of ice? That influences the properties of ice? Elaborate on these conditions and what they do.

What are the ways in which ice can be different or similar? Describe the properties of ice. Does the ages of ice influence its characteristics? Why or why not? Describe and explain.

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