Teacher sheet · Ages 10–11 · about 45–50 minutes
The Arctic and Antarctica compared
Lesson page: echoesof.science/school/polar-regions/ages-10-11/ · Pupil worksheet: echoesof.science/school/polar-regions/ages-10-11/print/
Learning aims
- Locate the polar regions and explain polar day and polar night.
- Explain why the poles are cold (sun angle, reflective ice).
- Compare the Arctic and Antarctica, including the idea of a polar desert.
- Describe sea ice and some adaptations, and carry out a fair test.
Lesson plan
| Time | Activity |
|---|---|
| 5 min | Starter: is the North Pole on land? Vote, then compare a map of each pole. |
| 10 min | Read the text; build a two-column comparison table. |
| 20 min | Huddle fair test (set up, wait 20 minutes, read thermometers). |
| 5 min | Arctic, Antarctic or both? game. |
| 5 min | Quiz. |
Materials for the experiment
- Seven identical small plastic bottles or cups (about 200 ml)
- Warm tap water (an adult checks it is not hot)
- A measuring jug
- Two thermometers
- Rubber band or string
- A tray and a cool place (a fridge, a cold windowsill or outside in winter)
- Timer
Safety: Use warm tap water only; an adult checks the temperature first. Use plastic, not glass. Wipe up spills straight away.
Common misconceptions
| Pupils may think… | Actually… |
|---|---|
| The North Pole is a big piece of land. | The Arctic is mostly a frozen ocean; Antarctica is the land. |
| Deserts must be hot and sandy. | Antarctica gets so little snow that it is a desert. |
| Sea ice is salty like seawater. | Most of the salt is pushed out as seawater freezes. |
Worksheet answers
- Sunlight arrives at a low angle and is spread out; white snow and ice reflect much of the sunlight; in winter the Sun does not rise for weeks or months.
- Any three: the Arctic is an ocean surrounded by land, Antarctica is land surrounded by ocean; polar bears live in the Arctic, penguins in Antarctica; Antarctica has an ice sheet up to 4.8 km thick; Antarctica is colder (−89 °C record); Antarctica has no native people.
- Changed: in the huddle or on its own. Measured: the temperature drop after 20 minutes. Kept the same: bottle type, amount and starting temperature of water, place, time.
- About 15.8 million km² (18.6 − 2.8).
Quiz answers
- At about what latitude is the Arctic Circle? 66.5° north. Britannica gives about 66°30′ N.[4]
- How much of the world's surface fresh water is in the Antarctic ice sheet? About 90%. The ice sheet is up to 4.8 km thick.[5]
- Where was the lowest temperature on Earth, −89 °C, recorded? Vostok station in Antarctica. Vostok holds the world record.[5]
- What happens to the salt when seawater freezes? Most of it is pushed out into the water below. That makes the water under the ice saltier and denser.[7]
- Why are the polar regions called deserts? Very little snow or rain falls there. Antarctica gets the equal of about 150 mm of rain a year.[5][3]
- On average, which pole has the bigger area of sea ice in winter? The Antarctic (about 18.6 million km²). The Arctic maximum averages about 15.5 million km².[1]
Going further
Track today's Arctic and Antarctic sea ice extent on the NSIDC 'Sea Ice Today' website for a few weeks and plot the values on a graph.
Sources used in this lesson
- [1] How does Antarctic sea ice differ from Arctic sea ice? (National Snow and Ice Data Center (University of Colorado Boulder)): reliability High
- [2] Why sea ice matters (National Snow and Ice Data Center (University of Colorado Boulder)): reliability High
- [3] Science of Arctic weather and climate (National Snow and Ice Data Center (University of Colorado Boulder)): reliability High
- [4] Arctic Circle (Encyclopaedia Britannica): reliability High
- [5] Antarctic factsheet and geographical statistics (British Antarctic Survey (UK Government Web Archive copy)): reliability High
- [7] Sea ice (NASA Earth Observatory): reliability High
- [8] Polar bear (OLogy card) (American Museum of Natural History): reliability High
- [9] From penguins to polar bears (Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (Oceanus magazine)): reliability High
- [10] Penguin huddle makes waves (Australian Antarctic Division (Australian Government)): reliability High
Full list with links and a note on each source's reliability: echoesof.science/school/polar-regions/sources/
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