Scientists Are Superheroes
The GRate science project studies the history of the Greenland Ice Sheet in order to better understand how the past can help predict the future. By bringing together a team of super-scientists from a wide range of disciplines including geologists, paleontologists, glaciologists, modelers, oceanographers, biologists and education specialists, the GRate team can focus their super-skills on uncovering the secrets of Greenland’s past climate. Our science superhero team has been turned into ‘real superheroes’ by our talented artist Jeremy Stock with their own set of activities and curriculum materials for both middle school and high school.
Each of our superheroes has special super science skills that they share with the students through activities and lessons. The theme for our resources is “How do we know about the past?” which we explore through a range of different proxies. Our superheroes have phenomena activities, curricular pieces, superhero postcards that introduce science careers, and posters. All our resources are free and downloadable below.
Scientists Are Superheroes from the GRate Project
Image Carousel with 9 slides
A carousel is a rotating set of images. Use the previous and next buttons to change the displayed slide
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Slide 1: Josh is a climate modeler who pulls in data from our other scientists to build his ice sheet models.
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Slide 2: Alia uses her super skills to peer into the mud in lakes on the edge of the ice sheet to see when they were last covered by the ice sheet.
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Slide 3: Superhero Liza scours the area just at the edge of the ice sheet to uncover when the ice reached out to smother the plants, creating dead veg!
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Slide 4: Superhero Estelle reaches down into the mud at the bottom of the ocean to study small plankton shells to learn about past climate.
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Slide 5: Jessica pulls data from pollen records and ice cores to prepare them to be used in climate models
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Slide 6: Superhero Nicolas drills into the quartz exposed on the Greenland landscape to see when the rock was last covered by ice.
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Slide 7: Superhero Allison uses leaves and waxes from plants to look at past precipitation and climate
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Slide 8: Karlee uses small animal and plant fossils to see how high the ocean was in the past
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Slide 9: Superhero Margie breaks down communication barriers to share polar climate science.
Scientists are Superheroes is a creation of the GRate Project through the amazing artistry of Jeremy Stock. These heroes work together to explore the history of the Greenland Ice Sheet using different science proxies. Each superhero scientist has activities and curriculum pieces developed through this and the prior Snow On Ice project.
Scientists Are Superheroes Curriculum Resources
This curriculum focuses on how scientists track changes in Greenland's ice sheet over the last ~12,000 years to understand past climate and build models for future predictions. The curriculum is matched to NGSS standards and includes full teaching elements with a teacher guide, classroom presentation with a matched student work packet, and a set of 5 different learning stations each introducing a different type of data for students to work with. Special thanks to Sarah Slack, NYC school teacher for her work with the project to develop this curriculum.
- Student Slide Presentation - This is the guiding backbone of the full lesson with an accompanying worksheet for students to complete throughout their exploration.
- It begins with an introduction to different types of data and how to read and understand them.
- This is followed by an introduction to the GRate Science Research project that studied the connection between climate change and changes in the Greenland Ice Sheet over the last ~12,000 years.
- Next we examine how scientists know about climate in the past through an introduction to proxies.
- Finally we meet our superhero scientists and learn a bit about their work before students start their individual station work.
- Student Packet - Work packet that goes with the Student Slide Presentation.
- Scientist Station #1: Karlee - What can macrofossils in the bottom of terraced lakes tell us about past sea level and the history of Greenland's climate?
- Scientist Station #2 Alia - What can lake mud tell us about the history of the ice sheet?
- Scientist Station #3 Liza - How can frozen moss provide a date for the growth of Greenland's ice sheet?
- Scientist Station #4 Nicolas - What are sunburned rocks, and how can they tell us about the ice sheet?
- Scientist Station #5 Estelle - What can microscopic plankton tell us about past sea ice cover on the ocean?
- Josh the Modeler - How does all the stations tie together? Meet Josh who explains it all! (opens on youtube)
- Teacher Guide to the set of lessons with standards.
Estelle Explores the Ocean: Using dinocysts, a fossilized stage of small dinoflagellate plankton, Estelle studies the history of the west Greenland ocean water.
Alia Explores Proglacial Lakes: Alia uses sediment cores of lake mud to learn when the lake was ice covered and when it was ice free.
Post card: Each of our superheroes has a card with the superhero on the front and the real scientist on the back.
Posters: Many of our scientists have a poster that can be downloaded to share in your classroom.
Project Introduction: The project introductary powerpoint is ready to share in your classroom.
Teaching Outline: An introductory teaching resource for the superhero curriculum