Featured lesson plan: The Impact of Climate Change on the Arctic: Positive or Negative?

After watching the television program L’Arctique, on the French-language CBC program 5/5 in February 2007, (available on the Société Radio-Canada Internet site), students will be asked to defend their opinion about the effects of climate change on the Canadian Arctic. They will have to draw the Northwest Passage on a map, locate the various Canadian cities and other locations mentioned in the program on a blank map, and obtain background information about the impact of climate warming on the Arctic by consulting the Canadian Atlas online. This research will provide them with the information they need to develop their opinions and explain to the class their hypotheses on the effects of climate warming on the people, land and trade in this part of Canada. This will be followed by a debate about whether warming will have a positive or negative impact on the region.