23 Degrees 5 Minutes

Ages: 9-11
Contributor:
Sam Collins

An old explorer close to freezing in the Arctic re-lives the events that have brought him there.

Watch this video with your children, and then try some of our teaching and activity ideas below.

Teaching Ideas and Resources:

Watch the sequence from 1:40 to 2:25 where Professor Orit explains metaphor. Make a collection of metaphors like “raining cats and dogs”
Write your own dialogue between Babbage (the Explorer) and Professor Orit and act it out with a partner.
Compare Professor Orit to other professors in books, for example, Professor McGonagall in Harry Potter, Professor Branestawm, and Professor DuPont in Cockatoos by Quentin Blake.
Compare the two settings of the story; the university and the arctic.
Stop the film at 5:15. What effect does the rain have on the story?
Write the story of what happened to the professor after he went missing.
Write a newspaper report about Babbage’s rescue.
Write a story that uses flashbacks.
Make a storyboard for the film.
Watch the trailer for the film and then plan your own – what would you put in it?

Practice using a protractor to measure real-life angles. What is the closest you can find to 23 degrees, 5 minutes?
2, 3 and 5 are all prime numbers. What are the next 10 prime numbers?
Go searching for Fibonacci numbers using these ideas from Mensa.

Write an explanation of how the tilt of the Earth causes the seasons.
Make a fact file about an Arctic habitat – what would you need to survive? How are animals adapted to the conditions?
What materials could you use to provide good insulation in extreme cold?

The blog of the film shows the visual references used in the film (photographs and pictures from the time when the film is set). Choose a time in history and research visual references you can use to make your own image of the time.
The blog has a fascinating section on how the characters developed. Try out some different sketches for a character of your own.
This blog entry shows how different colours and lighting were used in the film. Sketch a scene in pencil, photocopy it and try colouring it in different ways – what is the effect?

Research arctic exploration and create a timeline.
Set at the turn of the 20th century in Dublin. What was it like in your area then?
Stop at the film at 1:26; what kind of transport can you see? How is it different from today?