Planet Earth: Ice Worlds Video Activity

The BBC Planet Earth series is an extremely high quality set of nature photography documentaries hosted by David Attenborough. This activity sheet is based on the Ice Worlds program, from Series 1 of Planet Earth (which was released in 2006, but the content is quite timeless). The questions focus on basic trophic interaction terminology, i.e. producer, primary consumer, secondary consumer, etc., so it is advisable to pre-teach those terms. There is a bonus question on commensalism.

Recommended use: print out 1 sheet for each student then play the documentary in class as they fill out the questions. This can also be done as a pair or group activity. A mark scheme is included with the download.

Acquiring the video: there is a notepad file included with detailed links and instructions for getting the video; I would actually recommend purchasing the DVD as it is quite affordable and can be used in other ways. However, there are various free download options depending on location; if you are in the UK (or have a VPN set to a UK access point) you can use the BBC website.

Personal note: this activity was run successfully with a class in Thailand. I selected the Ice Worlds program over the others because I wanted to show the Thai students an ecosystem that was as different as possible from their own, so they could have a sense of the enormous disparity in terrestrial ecosystems.