Lesson video

Hello, my name's Miss Gilyeat and I'm going to be your geography teacher for today.

Today we're going to be looking at life in Antarctica, so we're gonna find out who were the first people that went to Antarctica and why they went there.

We're then gonna look about why people go to Antarctica today, what they use it for.

We're then gonna look at something called the Antarctic Treaty, which is something that has been put in place to protect the continent of Antarctica.

We've got loads of interesting things to be learning about and I can't wait to teach you.

Hope you're ready.

Our lesson outcome for today is that you can explain what the Antarctic Treaty is and explain reasons why some people might decide to visit Antarctica today.

We're also gonna look about why people started to visit Antarctica in the first place.

We've got four key words for today's lesson.

To start off with, I'm going to say the key word.

I would then like you to repeat it back to me to check that we are pronouncing it correctly.

The first key word is whaling.

Antarctic Treaty.

Tourism.

Research.

So whaling, first of all, is the hunting, so that's the finding and killing of whales for their oil and meat.

This was one of the first reasons why people decided to visit Antarctica.

The Antarctic Treaty is a set of rules signed by 54 countries, which have been put in place to protect Antarctica.

Tourism means people travelling to a different place from where they live for a holiday.

Research is work done to collect information in an organised way in order to increase understanding about a topic.

This is known as research.

We've got two key learning cycles for today's lesson.

The first learning cycle is looking at why do people visit Antarctica.

We're first of all gonna learn about why people went to Antarctica in the first place around 250 years ago.

We're then gonna focus on more present day and look why people visit the continent today.

Our second learning cycle is looking at how Antarctica is protected.

Antarctica isn't a country, which means it doesn't have a government which has the rules in place that most places around the world do, so the Antarctic Treaty is something that's been done to protect it.

We're gonna learn about what it is and how it helps protect the continent.

So why do people visit Antarctica? Well, Antarctica has only been visited by humans over the last 250 years, so since humans have been around only quite recently.

The reasons people haven't visited the continent prior to that is because it's hard to get to.

Often, surrounding the continent, the ocean is actually frozen, which means it's hard to get ships in.

It also has extreme conditions.

The coldest temperature ever recorded in Antarctica is -89 degrees C.

That's too cold for humans.

Also, there's extreme wind, so if you were to build a house or build settlements there, you'd have to make them really, really sturdy because they could easily blow down if there was a strong storm.

People first went to the Southern Ocean, which is the ocean that surrounds the continent of Antarctica, for whaling.

Whaling is the hunting of whales for oil and meat.

Now, actually around the world now, most whaling is illegal and that's because people were whaling too much.

They were catching too many of the whales and the number of whales were going down.

It was possible that some were going to go into extinction, meaning that there would be none left.

So around the world, lots of laws have been put in place to stop it, but 250 years ago, there were such no rules and lots of people went to the ocean there to catch them.

On the photograph here, I've got something called a blue whale, which is the largest animal on earth.

Beside whaling and looking and hunting for the resources of Antarctica, some people just wanted to explore the continent.

There was a historical race between two explorers, a Norwegian called Roald Amundsen and Robert Falcon Scott from the UK.

They both wanted to reach the South Pole first, so in 1911 there was a race for them to get there.

Now, Roald Amundsen managed to get there first.

Amundsen got there first.

Now Scott and his team did actually make it, but they arrived 33 days later.

It was extreme conditions they had to encounter and survive through.

Now the way that they moved was mostly from using dogs to help them pull along their sleds.

Now unfortunately, after Scott had reached the South Pole, on his way back, him and his team sadly died because they got too cold and they ran out of food.

On the slide here, we've got a picture of the South Pole.

We can see actually surrounding the South Pole, it is very flat.

Let's check our understanding.

Who was the first person to reach the South Pole? Was it A, Roald Amundsen, B, Robert Falcon Scott, or C, Edmund Hillary.

Pause the video and either do this by yourself, or with the person you are sat next to.

The answer's A, Roald Amundsen, the Norwegian Explorer.

We're now going to look at why people decide to visit Antarctica today.

There are no permanent residents on Antarctica and that means that nobody lives there for their whole lives.

Mostly Antarctica is used for research, exploring and tourism.

Now, people that visit there for research are usually from organisations, such as the British Antarctic Survey, and they'll live in research stations.

People exploring will probably only be there for a couple of weeks to go up mountains and find new cliff faces.

And tourism is when people go on holiday.

Now, the most people that go on holiday to Antarctica, often, a lot of them don't actually set foot on the continent.

Instead, they are on cruise ships.

So if you have a look at the photograph on the right, we can see a picture of a cruise ship which was going around the continent of Antarctica.

Sometimes they might make little stop offs and the tourists will get off and have a look round, but a lot of the time they just actually just stay on the ship.

So nobody lives there all year round.

There's no permanent housing.

There are research stations where the scientists go, but other than that, it's an uninhabited, so that means nobody lives there, continent.

As I said, the researchers that do visit Antarctica live in research stations.

There is usually between 1,000 and 5,000 scientists on the continent a very long time.

If we have a look at the photograph that I've got on the right, that is an example of a research station.

Now, it doesn't look like a normal house, and the reason for that being they have to make it to endure the extreme conditions of Antarctica so they have to make them very well insulated so that they stay warm enough for the scientists to be able to stay in.

They also have to make them very strong because of the extreme winds there.

Now, because Antarctica is so extreme, you can't grow food on the continent, so they have to live off canned food or frozen food which is brought in by ship.

So after a long period of time, it can get quite hard work living in one of these research stations.

Now, if you decide to go work, or you'd be interested in working for one of these research organisations in the future, if you work for the British Antarctic Survey, you have to stay on the continent for at least 12 months to say that you are committed to doing the research, so it's quite a long time to be living off canned food.

Let's check our understanding.

Which of these would the scientists in Antarctica not eat? A, baked beans, B, bananas, or C, frozen peas? The answer's B, bananas.

Bananas are fresh fruit, so by the time they got to Antarctica, they're probably not that fresh anymore and they wouldn't be able to keep them for very long.

The first task that I'd like you to do is put the statements below into the correct order on the timeline.

So there are three dates that you need to match the statements up with 1820, 1911, and 2024.

You could do this on your worksheet or in your exercise book.

I'll read out the statements as well so you know what they are saying.

Amundsen becomes the first person to reach the South Pole.

There are still no permanent residents, but scientists and tourists visit the continent.

People started to visit Antarctica and hunt whales.

So, pause the video and put the statements in the correct part of the timeline.

Let's check if you got these right.

So in 1820, people started to visit Antarctica and hunt for whales.

In 1911, Amundsen becomes the first person to reach the South Pole.

He was the Norwegian explorer who beat Robert Falcon Scott, the UK Explorer.

And in 2024, so in current day, there are still no permanent residents in Antarctica, but scientists and tourists, people that go on holiday, visit the continent.

How did you do? We are now moving on to our second learning cycle, which is looking at what is the Antarctic Treaty.

More and more people decided they wanted to visit Antarctica when they could see the amazing sites there were there and people started to realise there were materials and resources which they could use from the continent.

However, people were worried that these resources would get used too much and the continent may become damaged, so countries from around the world decided that the continent needed protecting.

Now, Antarctica is not a country, it is a continent.

That means that it does not have a government that makes sets of rules like we do in other countries around the world, therefore, it needed something special to protect it.

The Antarctic Treaty was set up to protect the area.

A treaty is an agreement made between different countries.

The Antarctic Treaty started in 1961 and was signed by 52 different countries from around the world.

The countries that have signed up to the continent are ones that have been invested in the continent, so they might have done research there, they might have explored the area.

The main aim of the Antarctic Treaty is to protect Antarctica and keep it as an area for peace and science.

When we mean peace, it means there should be no fighting or no war on Antarctica.

Now, the Antarctic Treaty has got lots of different rules, making sure that we protect it.

On the slide here, I've got some of the main rules that the treaty has put in place.

So first of all, the main aim really is protecting the plants and the animals that live in Antarctica because if they were gone, it would really damage the whole continent and will be very upsetting.

Number two, there are no wars allowed on the continent, so no one is allowed to go and test bombs or nuclear weapons on the continent.

In some ways, people might think, well, it's a really good place to do that because nobody lives there, but that could damage the plants and the animals, so it needs to make sure that no weapons are tested and no one is allowed to go fight on the continent.

The third one is no digging for gas and oil.

Now it has been found that Antarctica does have a lot of gas and oil.

Now these are resources which we can use to make energy for transport and lots of different things.

However, the treaty has said we're not allowed to dig up for gas and oil, the reason for that being it would have a massive impact on the plants and animals that live there so they've just put an overall ban on it.

The fourth one, everyone is allowed to do research in Antarctica, so if you had something that you wanted to go and explore there, you would have to sign up and ask that you could do the research, but you should be allowed to do it.

However, the research that you do or you find out, you need to make sure that it is widely available so no one is able to keep their findings for themselves.

Everyone's research on Antarctica should be free to use or free to read after it has been done.

I'd like you to pause the video.

Are there any other rules that you would add to the Antarctic Treaty? Or is there any of these rules on here that you disagree with? Pause the video and discuss with your partner.

Let's check our understanding.

Which of these is not a rule of the Antarctic Treaty.

A, no scientific research allowed, B, no mining for gas or oil, or C, there are no wars allowed on the continent.

The answer's A, no scientific research because scientific research is actually promoted, which means that they encourage people to do it, but you're not allowed to mine for gas or oil and no wars are allowed.

I think it's time to do a task on this.

What I would like you to do is create a poster about the Antarctic Treaty.

Now, what you could include in your poster is what rules that the Antarctic Treaty does and why it was set up.

You could also put what the aim of the Antarctic Treaty is.

Now to help you out, I've put some examples of the rules which have been put in place.

So first of all, the protecting of plants and animals.

Second, that no wars are allowed.

Third, there's no mining for gas or oil.

And fourth, everyone is allowed to do research.

What could be brilliant is if you did a bit of extra research and found out what other rules there are in place which the Antarctic Treaty has put in.

If you can include some pictures on your poster, that would be awesome.

And also, which countries have decided to sign up to the treaty as well.

More detail, the better.

Now, you could do this on a Word document online.

You could even do it as a PowerPoint, if you would prefer, or on a big piece of paper.

It is completely up to you.

So, pause the video and good luck with your poster.

Here's an example of my poster for the Antarctic Treaty.

So as it says there, the Antarctic Treaty is an agreement which 52 countries have signed to try and protect Antarctica, and we've got a nice picture there of one of the research stations with some of the flags of countries that are signed up to the treaty.

I've also got some of the rules.

There are lots of different rules to try and protect the continent, protect plants and animals, no wars, no mining for gas or oil, and everybody is allowed to do research.

Is there any extra detail that I could add to my poster? I bet you've got a little bit more than me, don't you? On the slide, we've got a summary of today's lesson.

People first visited Antarctica 250 years ago to hunt for whales and to explore the continent.

Roald Amundsen was the first person to reach the South Pole in 1911, beating Robert Falcon Scott from the UK, who did sadly die after.

And today, Antarctica is visited by tourists, who are people that go on holiday, and scientists, which are people that do research on the continent.

The Antarctic Treaty started in 1961 and aims to protect the continent.

There are lots of different rules which people have to follow if they are to visit the area.

Now, that's the end of the lesson.

I hope you've enjoyed it.

There are lots of different interesting things that we've learned about.

I've had a great time teaching you.

Now it's time for you to go to share all this information with your family and your friends.

I'll see you later, bye.