We went to Steindalsbreen with lower secondary students and their teachers from Eidebakken Skole, on June 11.-13th. We were in this case Jan Höper, Tord Karlsen, master student, and out guide, Tore Albrigtsen.
Due to the heavy equipment and the long hike towards the glacier, we decided to spend one night in the cabin half way up the valley. The next morning, all students were introduced to the necessary gear and health and safety routines on a glacier-hike.
After a two hour walk, they were finally ready to gear up and climb up the glacier tongue as well as up the ice-fall of the glacier.
Here one focus was on how the glacier moves and melts in the lower parts.
The other focus was on inquiry-based education and the connection to a changing climate. The students had discussed hypotheses connected to the albedo-effect, resulting in the search for different surfaces and where the glacier would melt the fastest.
They observed how both stones and dark organic matter had melting pools around them, and that they sunk deeper into the ice. Later on, the students confirmed these observations with infrared-cameras, showing the different temperatures of both landscape elements and organisms.
