Lesson Plan September 26, 2016
Jewell: Climate Change, Archaeology and the Arctic: Using details to write persuasive letters
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Kintisch writes the following about his expedition with archaeologist Anne Jensen: “Just last year the bluff, encrusted with artifacts, extended farther out toward the sea by about the length of a small school bus. All that’s there now is salty air.”
- What are other examples in the article of how climate change is affecting the Walakpa Bay and the communities that live there?
How does Jensen conduct her research? Why does she value archaeological study of the arctic? Be prepared to share examples from the article.
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Read the following introduction from the article. What is the tone? How does the author’s word choice contribute to the tone?
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"A headless body, stretched out along the beach, appears through the smudged window of our ATV as we sail across the sand. There’s a windy lawlessness up here along the Chukchi Sea; I’m reassured by the rifle lashed to the lead ATV in the caravan. The archaeologist at the helm passes the decaying creature without pause. Anne Jensen has seen many headless walruses before—this one was likely already dead when it washed ashore and was relieved of its tusks. Jensen’s not worried about poachers; the rifle is for polar bears—the Arctic’s fiercest of predators. And Jensen seems entirely capable of staying calm and slamming a bullet into one."
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- How would you describe Jensen? Identify sections of the article where the author’s word choice and syntax illustrate Jensen’s personality? Where do you see evidence of Jensen’s passion for this project? How does the author use word choice and structure to demonstrate Jensen’s passion?
How does the author describe Jensen’s relationship with the communities living at Walakpa Bay?
Discuss: How do you think scientists should navigate conducting excavations in areas where native communities have lived for centuries?
Research: Is Jensen’s engagement with the native communities in Walakpa Bay how most archeologists engage with native communities? Identify another archeological project and research how scientists engaged with local communities while conducting research. How does that project compare to Jensen’s?
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.11-12.1
Cite strong and thorough textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text, including determining where the text leaves matters uncertain.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.11-12.3
Analyze a complex set of ideas or sequence of events and explain how specific individuals, ideas, or events interact and develop over the course of the text.
A. Before reading the article:
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Consider and then discuss the following:
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What is an archaeologist?
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What do archaeologists do?
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Predict: How might climate change be affecting the work of archaeologists?
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Look at the image and caption of the archaeologist profile in Eli Kintisch's article "History is Melting: How Climate Change is Affecting Arctic Archaeological Sites"
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How would you describe the person in the photo? What do you think she's doing?
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Discuss: What do you think will be the author's purpose for this article? What do you think is the value in archaeological research?
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Watch Eli Kintisch's "Meet the Journalist" to learn more about why Eli wrote this article as part of the larger project "Thawing Arctic Soils: A Tenuous Present and Dangerous Future"
B. Read the article and answer the questions attached.
C. Extension:
1) Read the following quotation from the article describing the challenges Jensen has faced in finding grants for her research:
"While Jensen's efforts at Nuvuk fostered goodwill, the site also proved scientifically valuable. Archaeologists had written off the site as "contact era"—too young to yield important data. Jensen's work, however, revealed arrowheads of an early culture known as Ipiutak that existed in Alaska until roughly 400 CE. "We were completely surprised," says Jensen during an afternoon visit to the windswept, empty site. By luck, she'd dug deeper than previous archaeologists—they hadn't had exposed human remains to clue them in—and warming permafrost had helped, too. She called a bulldozer in to carefully remove top layers, subsequently allowing volunteers to reveal buried wooden Ipiutak structures that had tantalizing detail. But when Jensen applied to the US National Science Foundation to mount a full excavation, her grant application was—like most applications on the first try—denied. "I didn't bother reapplying because by the time we would have reapplied and gotten funded the land wasn't going to be there," she says, pointing at the waves. The soil containing the wooden structures is now tens of meters out to sea."
2) Using examples from the article, write a letter to the US National Science Foundation supporting Jensen's research. Use examples from the article to structure your letter, but also be sure to articulate why you think this research is important.
REPORTING FEATURED IN THIS LESSON PLAN
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Education Resource
Meet the Journalist: Eli Kintisch
The fate of thawing Arctic soils may have profound impacts far from the North pole, as more than a...
