Name of Resource: Grinnell Glacier Recession
Climate Change Theme:Regional Impacts
Sponsoring Organization: Wright Center for Science Education
Intended use:Background Material, Learning Activity
Intended audience:Educators and Learners
URL:
Average Review Ratings (Poor to Excellent, 1-5 scale):

Description:This activity asks students to trace the recession of Grinnell Glacier in Glacier National Park from 1860 to 1993. Students estimate the area of the glacier using maps and graph paper and plot its decrease over time. They calculate the rate of recession and are asked if the recession correlates with changing temperature. The activity appears to have been developed during a 2003 teacher workshop about the cryosphere that took place in Montana's Glacier National Park. (JG)

Summary of Reviews

Reviewer: morrill.html
Comments:In this exercise, students use maps of the Grinnell glacier from the 19th and 20th centuries to measure and plot the recession of the glacier through time. All material is provided in pdf files. The idea behind this activity is great, but its presentation could be more polished.
Read entire review:link text (Acrobat (PDF) 59kB Jun21 05)

Reviewer: Jack Ganse
Comments:This website has many links to materials, resources, activities, movies, and slides but there is little context as to how these things are meant to be used or where they came from. Browsing around the links on the page and watching one of the QuickTime movies helped me understand that this activity came about from a teacher workshop about the cryosphere in 2003. Good use of the web is evident, but it's like putting together a puzzle without being able to see what it's supposed to look like when it is done-the links are randomly organized.
Read entire review:link text (Acrobat (PDF) 56kB Jun21 05)