Global Ups & Downs: Changing Sea Level (6-12)
Overview of the box
Concepts and Standards
Lessons:
1 Consequences
of global warming
2 Experimenting
with ice melt
3 Glacial evidence
4 Fossil evidence
5 Impacts of topography
Activities:
1 Impact of ice melt
on shorelines
2 Introduction to
topographic maps
3 Mapping shorelines
6 Impacts on ecosystems
Online resources
Student Web Page
Teaching Boxes Home
Lesson 5: Impacts of Topography on Sea Level Change

Activity 3

Mapping Shorelines

Materials / Preparation

  • One computer with Internet access, a printer, and a projector
  • Go to TopoZone and then to Place Name Search. Enter “Washington” under Place Name and “DC” under State and search. At the top of the resulting page, click on “ Washington” under Place. A small map of the capital will appear. Under map size, choose “Large”. Under View Scale, choose “1:24,000”. Update map. Print out the map and make a copy for each student.
    Or simply use the maps we have provided from this site: Washington DC Maps

Grouping

Students should work individually on the first part of this activity, and then in groups of four

Teacher tips

For middle school students, the worksheet from Mapping Ancient Coastlines is a good review of previous work and can be used as a great segue into this activity.

Procedure

  1. Pass out a copy of the Washington, D.C. map to each student along with a light blue colored pencil.
    a. Use the map to review contour lines and intervals from the previous lesson.
    b. Ask students to think about what might happen to Washington, D.C. if there were a 10-meter rise in sea level (10 meters is approximately equivalent to 30 feet for the purposes of this activity). Ask "How could we use this map to determine how Washington, D.C. would be affected?" Elicit student responses of looking at contour lines.
  2. Ask the students to use their colored pencils to draw the new shoreline of Washington, D.C. assuming a sea level rise of 10 meters (30 feet). Caution them to look carefully all over the map as there are several spots where there is closure on isolated contour lines.
  3. When they have completed this activity, ask students to work in groups of four to discuss the possible impacts of a sea level rise of 10 meters to Washington DC. They should think specifically how human society would be affected (government, economy, habitation and historic features), as well as the flora, and fauna of the area. Ask each group to write down these 6 categories in their notebooks and record their ideas for each of them.
  4. After the groups have had some time to discuss, ask each group to share their thoughts with the rest of the class. Encourage students to record any ideas that they had not thought of in their notebooks as discussion progresses.
  5. Ask students to think back to the evidence we used earlier to indicate past sea level rise. Ask “Suppose that sea level rose 10 meters. Now, further suppose that it is 100 years from now. What evidence of that sea level change would we expect to find in Washington DC?
    a. Ask each group to brainstorm and record their answers in their notebooks.
    b. Ask each group to share some of their ideas.
  6. Follow by reminding students that we have been concentrating on the effects of a sea level rise, but as they learned earlier, before sea level can rise, ice melt is required. Ask them “What do you think might happen to a town that is located in the mountains near a lot of ice cover?”
  7. Show the movie at Modeled Climate-Induced Glacier Change in Glacier National Park, 1850-2100. Point out the legend so that students can see the changing biomes as the ice melts. After showing the movie a few times, ask students to verbalize what they saw. Ask them what they think will happen to the kinds of animals that live in that area (on land and in water), to the plants, and to any people that may have lived in the valley. Ask them to keep in mind that areas with current ice cover will also be affected by the process that results in sea level change.
  8. Conclude by passing out the homework assignment. Students should read the articles suggested in the homework section and think about the possible impacts of sea level change.

Homework

Middle School students:
Print out the transcript of the article from Trinidad's Rising Seas: Effects of Global Warming to assign as homework. As an alternative, you can listen to it together at the end of class.

High School students:
Print out the two articles from Warming to Cause Catastrophic Rise in Sea Level? and Melting Himalayan Glaciers May Doom Towns and assign as homework to jumpstart their thinking about the impacts of ice melt and sea level rise.

Resources used

TopoZone
http://www.teachingboxes.org/catalog.jsp?id=DLESE-000-000-000-103

Mapping Ancient Coastlines
http://www.teachingboxes.org/catalog.jsp?id=DLESE-000-000-008-869

Modeled Climate-Induced Glacier Change in Glacier National Park, 1850-2100
http://www.teachingboxes.org/catalog.jsp?id=DLESE-000-000-008-871

TRINIDAD'S RISING SEAS: Effects of Global Warming
http://www.teachingboxes.org/catalog.jsp?id=DLESE-000-000-008-872

Warming to Cause Catastrophic Rise in Sea Level?
http://www.teachingboxes.org/catalog.jsp?id=DLESE-000-000-008-873

Melting Himalayan Glaciers May Doom Towns
http://www.teachingboxes.org/catalog.jsp?id=DLESE-000-000-008-870