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Glacier Explorers

by  Kenai Fjords National Park

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What is a glacier and how is it formed? What is the difference between an icefield and an icesheet? This program will help young students gain an appreciation for our national parks and learn about Alaska’s glaciers. A park ranger will share the incredible beauty and impressive glacial features of Kenai Fjords National Park with your students, and inspire a sense of wonder and stewardship for the ice that continues to shape our planet.

Program Rating

   based on 40 evaluation(s).
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About This Program

Cost

Point to Point: $0.00

FREE!


There is no charge for this program.

Length

45-60 minutes


Target Audience

Education: Grade(s) 2, 3, 4, 5, 6

Minimum participants:

5

Maximum participants:

35


Primary Disciplines

Problem Solving, Science


Program Delivery Mode

Zoom or your organization’s Google Meet account



Booking Information

Distance Learning with Kenai Fjords National Park is available Monday-Friday 6:30 am-4:30 pm Alaska Standard Time (10:30 am- 8:30 pm Eastern Standard Time). We are currently accepting bookings for October 1, 2024 - March 15, 2025!

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Receive this program and 9 more for one low price when you purchase the CILC Virtual Expeditions package. Learn more

For more information contact CILC by email info@cilc.org or by phone (507) 388-3672

Provider's Cancellation Policy

Please notify us at least 24 hours in advance if you need to cancel a program. We understand last minute cancellations due to weather closures.

About This Provider

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Kenai Fjords National Park

Seward, AK
United States

Kenai Fjords National Park is a land where mountains and glaciers pour into an ocean teeming with life. A place where the ice age lingers! The Harding Icefield, the largest intact icefield contained within the United States, works as a thermostat for surrounding terrestrial and marine ecosystems. Our park is considered a living laboratory for scientists to learn about our changing climate. By engaging with your students about climate change and glacial landscapes, we'll bring a part of this Alaskan wilderness into your classroom!

Contact:
Gillian Braver
gillian_braver@nps.gov
9074220529

Program Details

Format

A Teacher's Guide will be emailed to you separately.

Educator Directed Pre-Session Activities
• 20-30 minutes: watch a video, pre-activity, and questions

Test Connection
• 5-10 minutes: Test meeting connection with Zoom, or your organization’s preferred platform account.
1. Basics: We use Zoom for our Distance Learning (DL) videoconferencing. If your organization has an account and you prefer to use your platform, we can present the DL Live Session through your organization’s link.
2. What you will need for the test and session: Computer, screen or monitor, webcam, and speakers.
3. Test and live-session invites: We both will agree to the date and time for a Test Connection and Live Session. If we are using our Zoom Meeting Room, then an NPS Ranger will email you a link to our meeting room. Use the same link for the Test Connection and the Live Session. If we use your organization's preferred account, then you will need to email the links for the Test and Live Session to the NPS Ranger.
4. During test connection: Join the virtual conference room 5 minutes before the Test Connection begins. Then, we will check audio and video formatting on both sides, as well as the overall quality of the connection.

Distance Learning Live-Session with NPS Ranger
• 45-60 minutes: Session, activity and questions
1. Join the virtual conference room 10 minutes before the live session begins.
2. Introduce Kenai Fjords National Park.
3. The session will run about 45 minutes with 10-15 minutes at the end for students’ questions.
4. After the session CILC or a Kenai Fjords National Park Ranger will email you a program evaluation.

Educator Directed Post-Session Activities
• 30-60 minutes: post activity, questions

Objectives

1. Why do we have National Parks?
2. What is special about Kenai Fjords National Park in Alaska?
3. Exploration of glacial features.
4. Glacier explorers throughout the United States.
5. Be a landscape detective where you live.

• Students will gain an appreciation for why we have national parks.
• Students will gain an understanding of how icefields and glaciers are formed and learn how to recognize various glacial features and land formations.
• Students will learn about the glaciology of the Exit Glacier area and Kenai Fjords National Park.
• Students will understand past glaciations in that impacted the United States.
• Students will gain an appreciation for how water shapes the earth and will be encouraged to be landscape detectives in their area.

Standards Alignment

National Standards

Next Generation Science Standards:
3-ESS2-2. Obtain and combine information to describe climates in different regions of the world.
4-ESS1-1. Identify evidence from patterns in rock formations and fossils in rock layers to support an explanation for changes in a landscape over time.
4-ESS2-1. Make observations and/or measurements to provide evidence of the effects of weathering or the rate of erosion by water, ice, wind, or vegetation.
4-ESS3-2. Generate and compare multiple solutions to reduce the impacts of natural Earth processes on humans
5-ESS2-1. Develop a model using an example to describe ways the geosphere, biosphere, hydrosphere, and/or atmosphere interact.
5-ESS2-2. Describe and graph the amounts and percentages of water and fresh water in various reservoirs to provide evidence about the distribution of water on Earth.
5-ESS3-1. Obtain and combine information about ways individual communities use science ideas to protect the Earth’s resources and environment.