1. Engineers, what is wrong here?
Students, what do you observe in these two pictures? Where do you think these pictures were taken? Do you recognize the animals?
What can you infer from these photos? (It got warmer and the ice broke up)
What do you think causes this warming (Perhaps it’s spring time.)
Do you notice the bluish color underneath the ice on the right? What do you think that is? (A reflection?) No, it’s the ice! When it floats, part is under water.
But the scientists are saying that spring is coming earlier and earlier, and the ice is disappearing faster for these penguins. Do any of you know why that might be a problem?
(habitat?) Yes, habitat… but also food. You see, the penguins eat krill which are tiny shrimp. Well, the krill eat algae that grows on the underneath side of the ice. When the ice melts away, the algae isn’t there and the krill die off. That affects the whole food web.
(Teacher: Depending on your circumstances, you may or may not want to delve into global warming or climate change)
To transition to the next slide, ask, “Where do you think penguins live?” (In the north pole? No….. In the south pole? Yes… but more places too.)
Did you know penguins live all over the southern hemisphere? I’m going to show you on the next slide.
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2. There are penguins all over the world, not just in Antarctica.
Where you see red… that’s where penguins live. What countries do you sere represented?
South America, Antarctica, Australia, and even Africa!
African Penguins live on the southern tip of Africa.
Is it hot there? Is it cold there? It’s about the same latitude as Florida, just in the southern hemisphere… so the climate is similar to Florida.
Why do people vacation in Florida? The beaches!
Do you think penguins live on the beaches in South Africa?
The red dots indicate where penguins live.
There are penguins all over the southern hemisphere.
Even in South Africa…

3. Boulders Beach is on the coast of South Africa.
Yes, African Penguins live on the coast in southern Africa. Boulder’s Beach is a National Park in the country of South Africa. People vacation there and actually SWIM with the penguins!
Would you like to swim with penguins?
But, just like it’s getting warmer in Antarctica, it’s getting warmer in South Africa too. Spring is coming sooner and penguins are getting too hot.
When it’s nesting season, the penguins are supposed to be guarding their egg, but they are getting so hot that they are taking more and more breaks to cool off in the water.
What problem do you think that might cause?
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Video on Boulder’s Beach penguins (optional):
Here, the Boulders Beach penguins live. As the climate across the globe
changes, these penguins are getting hot. To keep from overheating, they
cool off in the water. But this survival technique has not worked in
their favor…

4. Boulders Beach Penguins
So the park rangers have built the penguins little houses to protect their eggs AND to help keep them cooler.
The sea gulls are stealing their eggs!
What do you see in the first picture?
A sea gull.
Do you see Sea Gulls on the beach in Florida? Yes…. Well they are on the beach in South Africa too. And they love to eat penguin eggs.
The population of African penguins started declining terribly until the park rangers figured out a solution. Can you see what they did?
See the boxes they put on the beach?
How do you think these boxes help the penguins?
They provide shade and protection… and the penguins stay cooler. It’s helping the population recover.
The sea gulls will have to go eat fish instead of penguin eggs!
This is helping them survive!

5. Climate change is causing penguins in Antarctica to become endangered by eliminating available habitats
Just like the Adelie penguins in Antarctica suffering from warmer temperatures, the Boulder’s Beach penguins are suffering too.
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6. The world is warming.
People may be debating the reasons why this is happening, but we have many signs that is IS happening.
Look at this image. What do you see increasing and decreasing?
See the arctic sea ice? The ocean heat content and the temperature of the oceans? What else do you see changing?
We may not be able to stop the world from getting warmer, but engineers can design solutions to help.
What are some solutions you have heard of?
Sea walls are keeping water from flooding coastal cities.
With less fresh water stored in the glaciers and snow, there are droughts in some places. Engineers have devised ways to take the salt out of sea water so people have fresh drinking water.
What did people engineer as a solution on Boulder’s Beach?
Engineers help people AND animals!
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7. How bad is climate change? Are we to blame?
This is a sad video.
Feel free to skip it.
The videos below are also good ones… and some are “lighter” and less depressing. But they all point out the problem that it’s getting hotter.
Link for this video:
Extra videos (to show while penguin ice cubes are melting)
Penguins and global warming:
Penguins are melting:
BBC Link (Innocent Victims):
Penguin in a Pickle:

8. But how can we help? What can we do at home to help the penguins?
For starters, we can conserve energy so we don’t use as many fossil fuels in power plants!
Engineers help people and animals.
What do you see in this picture of a house on the cover of this magazine?
What do you observe?
Why do you think the house has a red roof? That’s a sign of heat escaping in the winter time.
Does it get cold in your house in the winter? What can you do to keep the heat from escaping?
If you keep the heat from escaping, you won’t have to use as much electricity or wood or kerosene or natural gas to heat your house.
When we all use less energy, we pollute less.
Less pollution means less global warming.
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9. How can we conserve energy at home?
What do you think the arrows represent?
Convection
Where is the heat going?
Radiation
This is a house in the winter.
How do you know it’s winter outside?
Because heat is leaving!
Heat always moves from where it’s warm to where it’s cold.
This is a poorly built house and the family will have to burn more wood in the fireplace, use more electricity for the heaters, and that will mean more pollution that contributes to global warming.
What can this family engineer to make their house better?
Making our houses better actually helps save penguins.
Can you figure out how improving our own houses helps penguins?
See the three words, Radiation, Convection, and Conduction?
Those are three ways that heat transfers.
What time of year do you think this is?
Conduction

10. What about in the summer?
Convection
In the summer, it’s HOT! Heat transfers into our houses!
Radiation
Now where is the heat going?
How do we know this is a summertime diagram?
Because heat travels from where it is warm to where it is cooler. Heat is trying to get into the cool house.
The people in this house will have to run their air conditioning longer and they will use more electricity or natural gas to do so.
That causes pollution. What can we do to keep heat out of our houses in the summertime so we stay cool?
We could improve the windows… the walls… the floors… and seal up any cracks to prevent drafts (draughts).
Conduction

11. We need to slow down heat transfer.
Keep heat out in the summer… Keep heat inside in the winter… Use less energy to heat and cool our homes.
In other words, we need to stop the
from happening!
Radiation
Conduction
Convection

12. Conserving energy is the key to help…
Yes, conserving energy, improving our houses and schools and churches and stores will help save the penguins.
Better windows, better walls, better floors, these all help.
What are some things your family has done to improve your own home? Insulation in the attic? New double paned windows? Stuffing the cracks with fiberglass insulation?
Some people put shiny material in the attic to reflect the heat away. Some use white roofs in the summertime to reflect the heat away.
This week we will be learning how to improve houses, and investigating the properties of different materials to be engineers!
Engineers design solutions to problems, and we have a problem.
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