Lesson Plan - Surviving the Endurance

Build Background Knowledge

Before students watch the video “The Search for a Sunken Ship,” have them set up a T-chart to take notes about problems faced by the Endurance crew in the early 1900s and by the Endurance22 team in 2022. After watching the video, use Think-Pair-Share to discuss these questions: What problems did the teams encounter? Which ones did they both face? How did they solve the problems?

Preview Vocabulary

Use the online Skill Builder Words to Know to preteach the domain-specific terms autonomous, documentary, expedition, floe, frostbite, native, polar, savage, shroud, specimen, treaty, and uninhabited. Have students refer to the Skill Builder as they read.

Read the Article

Read the article aloud or have students read it independently or in pairs. As students read, direct them to mark problems that Ernest Shackleton and his crew encountered with the letter P and solutions to those problems with the letter S. (Or have students highlight that information using different colors.)

Answer Close-Reading Questions

Have students write their responses, or use the Close-Reading Questions to guide a discussion.

• Who was Ernest Shackleton? What was he trying to accomplish with the Endurance expedition? (Key Details)
Shackleton was an adventurer who had served in Britain’s Royal Navy. The Endurance expedition was his third trip to Antarctica. He had previously gotten within about 100 miles of the South Pole. This time, he was trying to lead the first expedition to cross the continent by foot.

• How does the sidebar “Antarctica at a Glance” support the article? (Integrating Information)
The sidebar provides key facts about Antarctica that help explain why the continent went almost totally unexplored for hundreds of years and is still “shrouded in mystery.” The sidebar explains that Antarctica is nearly 1.5 times the size of the United States but that 99 percent of its terrain is a thick ice sheet. No native residents live there, but about 1,100 to 5,000 researchers work there at any given time, depending on the season.

• How does the map “The Endurance Voyage” add to your understanding? (Text Features)
The map shows the path that the expedition took near Antarctica. It helps me understand just how long the men were in danger, from January 1915 until their rescue in August 1916. The map shows how ice floats in the Weddell Sea and becomes more solid toward the middle of Antarctica. I can see how much longer Shackleton’s journey from Elephant Island to South Georgia Island in a lifeboat was compared with the journey the entire crew took from the ice floe to Elephant Island in lifeboats. The map also shows how far Antarctica is from the South American countries of Argentina and Chile.

• Summarize the section “Mere Survival.” (Summarizing)
After the Endurance got stuck in ice on January 18, 1915, the crew prepared to survive onboard during the polar winter, a period of about six months with almost no sunlight. Shackleton tried to keep the men busy by giving them jobs to complete, such as hunting seals and penguins or gathering specimens for research. In October, sea ice crushed the Endurance and they had to abandon the ship. Each crew member took food, equipment, and just 2 pounds of personal items. Once the ship sank on November 21, their mission changed from exploring Antarctica to surviving on the ice floe where they had set up camp.

• What details support the idea that Shackleton’s crew faced “a desperate struggle for survival”? (Text Evidence)
The article explains that Shackleton knew the expedition would be dangerous from the start, “with long hours of darkness in the bitter cold and no promise of a safe return.” On the ice floe without their ship, “food dwindled and extreme hunger set in” and “the men were forced to shoot and eat their sled dogs.” In April 1916, the floe they were on split apart, and the crew “spent six long days battling a violent sea” in their three lifeboats to reach Elephant Island.

• How did Shackleton manage to rescue all of his crew? (Problem and Solution)
On April 24, Shackleton and five members of his crew set out on an 800-mile journey to South Georgia Island on the strongest lifeboat. For 16 days, rough seas tossed the James Caird around, soaking the men’s clothes and creating the constant risk of frostbite. Once they arrived, Shackleton was determined to make it back to rescue the rest of the crew, but bad weather delayed his return for months. He finally made it back to Elephant Island with a ship big enough to rescue the rest of the men on August 30, 1916. Amazingly, every single one of them was alive.

• How did the Endurance22 expedition add to Shackleton’s story? (Analyzing Events)
In March 2022, researchers on the Endurance22 expedition located the original Endurance ship almost 2 miles below the surface of the ocean. Two autonomous robotic submarines discovered the ship on the seafloor. According to the international Antarctic Treaty, the Endurance is considered a historical monument and can’t be disturbed. However, researchers have been able to use technology to take scans of the ship that they can study. A documentary is also in the works. Tim Jacob, one of the Endurance22 crew members, says he feels a connection to Shackleton’s original mission.

Analyze Primary Sources

Guide students to complete the Skill Spotlight activity at the end of the article independently or in pairs. You might want to review responses by projecting the Presentation View of the magazine at junior.scholastic.com and examining specific details.

Read a Map

Assign the Skill Builder Map Reading: The Endurance Voyage to have students answer 10 questions about a map of the expedition. You might challenge fast finishers to write two additional questions and swap with a classmate. Review responses and correct any misconceptions. For more map reading practice, including a lesson on polar maps, check out our Map Skills Boot Camp, available at junior.scholastic.com/mapskills.

Assess Comprehension

Assign the 10-question Know the News quiz, available in PDF and interactive forms. You can also use Quiz Wizard to assess comprehension of this article and three others from the issue.