Secrets of the Ice

Secrets of the Ice is provided by the Association for Science Education, and it is a practical activity which aims to teach students about pollution and environmental change. In this activity, students carry out chemical and physical tests to analyse an ice sample from another planet. Having drawn conclusions from their results, they will discover what conditions on the alien planet are like, and decode a message from the extra-terrestrials.

Secrets of the Ice can be used to:

*Teach part of the Year Nine unit Environmental Chemistry (QCA SoW). For example, 'Is pollution worse now?' and 'Is global warming happening?'
*Address investigative skills by giving students practice in analysing and considering evidence.
*Teach ideas and evidence - the interplay between empirical questions, evidence and scientific explanations.
*Address the citizenship curriculum through science - seeing environmental issues as shared and having implications for us all.

Secrets of the Ice requires advance preparation to produce the 'ice cores' (see Technicians' Notes for details).