Books, Books, Books: Polar Science and the International Polar Year

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The following title relates to this month’s theme: Polar Science and the International Polar Year.

Climate Change From Pole to Pole: Biology Investigations
NSTA Press
Grades 9–College
Climate Change From Pole to Pole offers timely, relevant, biology-based case studies and background information on how to teach the science of climate change. The six painstakingly researched and field-tested activities, which build on four content chapters, give students the opportunity to solve real-life scientific problems using guiding questions, graphs and data tables, short reading assignments, and independent research.

This volume provides an authentic and rigorous way to engage students in science and environmental issues—scientific methods, evidence, climate, and biological effects of climate change—and is a unique and essential resource for your high school– or college-level classroom.

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Polar Regions
NSTA Recommends
Grades 6–12
Each book in the Our Fragile Planet series focuses on the causes and effects of climate change and human impact on the atmosphere, biosphere, climate, geosphere, the natural environment, hydrosphere, oceans, and polar regions. Each fact-filled book includes photographs, charts, and graphs along with a glossary, an index, and references for further reading. The information found in this series will engage students’ curiosity and provide them with a sense of stewardship.

Students read about the uniqueness of the Arctic and Antarctic and life on land and in the polar seas. The book emphasizes global warming as caused by atmospheric pollutants. It discusses the ozone hole in the Antarctic and the future of the polar climate. As they consider measures to protect the region, readers will learn about chemical pollution in the Arctic and the effects of over-fishing and hunting in polar regions.

This thought-provoking book will make readers view our fragile planet in a new way. Written for students in grades 6–12, it could also be read by some elementary students. It would also be an excellent reference book for teachers. Teachers using differentiated instruction would find this book very useful.

Investigating Climate Change
NSTA Recommends
Grades 6–12
In a mere five chapters, this book conveys all the basic information one needs to begin understanding climate change. It explains how we know the things we know. It also explains that using ice cores to make observations on ecosystems leads scientists to conclude that the climate is warming, and the causes are primarily anthropogenic.

The book is written on a level that anyone with a high school education should be able to follow. With a little help, most middle schoolers should as well. From increasing carbon dioxide levels to retreating glaciers and polar sea ice to habitat expansion for warmer ecosystem species, the data and observations are clearly and concisely presented. A more than adequate glossary, set of source notes and bibliography, and a brief Further Reading and Websites section supplement the text with foundational definitions as well as directions for the reader to follow for more detailed information. In addition to an overview of the scientific data, an engaging history of the development of our models and their impact is presented.

Of course, any reader who might pick up this book will probably be aware of the controversy that surrounds the topic. This book firmly argues that warming is occurring and humans are largely responsible. The author presents the case clearly, without bluster or hyperbole. In addition to carbon dioxide, contributions by methanogens from landfills or cattle are addressed briefly. For a high school student beginning to seriously study the causes and effects of the topic, this is an excellent beginning text for more sophisticated investigation.

Polar Regions
NSTA Recommends
Grades 6–9
Polar regions contain almost all of Earth’s fresh water, but it is frozen. Ice on Antarctica is up to 2 mi. deep in some parts. In Antarctica, there are actually cold deserts where the cold winds suck the moisture out of the air, leaving less than 2 in. of snowfall per year. Sea ice in winter nearly doubles the size of Antarctica. These and other fascinating facts are embedded in Polar Regions, one book in the Earth’s Final Frontier series. In each book of the series, readers are taken to the most remote, hardest-to-reach places in our world.

Although the books are just 48 pages long, they are crammed with interesting facts that keep the readers’ attention from beginning to end. Each book begins with the question “What is a Frontier?” relating today’s technology and the human quest to explore the unknown to the book’s topic. The explorers who have dared to venture into these frontiers are highlighted with short biographies as well as direct quotes.

Real-life photographs, diagrams, and maps support the text. Glossary words are printed in bold. The last chapter of “Facts and Statistics” is particularly interesting, but there are loads of other facts to piqued the reader’s interest sprinkled on every page. Further resources are also provided for books and websites.

Most chapters are 2 to 4 pages long and packed with interesting information. For example, two new species of dinosaurs, in addition to the already known six species, have recently been discovered in Antarctica. Two of the deadliest creatures in the animal world, the orca and the leopard seal, live in polar regions. The Transantarctic Mountains, with the highest elevation at 4,896 m, have had no snow or rain for hundreds of years. Scientists use the Antarctic region to test equipment they plan to use on Mars because the conditions are so similar. By studying the whiskers of the orca, scientists can discover their feeding patterns for the previous three years.

Students in grades 6–9 would thoroughly enjoy the books in this series, as would younger students who have a great interest in the specific frontier the book highlights. These would be great books for doing reports and research. This book and series are highly recommended. Once readers start the book, they will find it tough to put down.