This week as part of our study of the ocean we covered temperature changes in the ocean. There is much controversy in the western world about whether global warming exists or why it exists. I tend to fall into the camp that it exists, but I don’t necessarily agree with the popular theory as to why it exists. I found this handy chart online that shows the temperature change.
With my boys aged 7 and 5 I presented the warming of the oceans using Awesome Ocean Science (Kids Can! series)
. It covers the topic through a fun experiment. I must admit that I never knew the difference between the Arctic ice and Antarctic ice.
. It covers the topic through a fun experiment. I must admit that I never knew the difference between the Arctic ice and Antarctic ice.
For the experiment we put two cans in identical bowls and poured water in up to a preset level. For the bowl representing the Arctic we put ice cubes in the water before we poured the water in. For the Antarctic we piled ice cubes on top of the can. This was done to show that ice melting in the Arctic does not affect the water levels of the ocean because the Arctic ice is in the water. The ice cubes on top of the can for the Antarctic was to represent the Antarctic ice on land that increases the water level of the ocean when melted.
My boys then watched this short video on YouTube.
Now I didn’t really go over any causes for global warming. I’ll save that for future study.
