School visits
Does your school class or nursery want to visit Breheimsenteret?
We have set up programmes for nurseries and primary and lower secondary schools related to learning goals within science, social studies, and geography. We provide practical help to upper secondary schools, colleges, and universities that visit the area for fieldwork and outdoor teaching in the glacier landscape.
Do you want a visit from our nature guide?
We bring the necessary equipment and visit schools within reasonable distance from Jostedalen.
Our education programme is under development, and we are interested in developing new activities along with your school/nursery. Contact us in order to adapt your visit to your group as much as possible.
Examples of educational activities
Grades 1-4
- The Landscape after the Glacier: How running water and grinding ice have formed the terrain around us. 1 h at school
- Animals in the National Park: Get to know some of the animals that live in the national parks and find out which ones eat the others. 1–2 h at Breheimsenteret, can also be combined with exploring the glacier landscape
- People near the Glacier: Stories and legends from the dramatic events of the Black Death and the Little Ice Age. 1–2 h at Breheimsenteret
Grades 5-7
- Ice, Water, and Snow: The particle model, phase transitions, measurements of glaciers. 2.5 h at school
- Roads to Jostedalen: The history of human traffic over the glacier and tourism. 1 h at Breheimsenteret
- The Landscape after the Glacier: How ice and water have formed the landscape. 1 h at school
- Glaciers and Climate: How the climate has changed throughout history, what a glacier is, why it comes into being, and why it recedes. 2 h at Breheimsenteret
- Sustainable Development: Hydroelectric power and wild reindeer. 1 h at Breheimsenteret, can be combined with visits to power stations
- Predators and Management: The conservation of predators is controversial and often conflicts with other interests. Pupils get to get know about the management of nature areas in Norway and about some of the challenges of wolverine conservation. 1 h at Breheimsenteret
Grades 8-10
- Glaciers and the Landscape: Glaciers change according to the season and over the years. A glacier (bre) is distinguished from a snowdrift glacier (fonn) and grows and shrinks according to the changing weather conditions. In the exhibition, the pupils find answers and examples of how they have formed our landscape over thousands of years. 1–2 h both at and outside Breheimsenteret
- Traces of the Ice: The pupils explore the glacier landscape and the vegetation that takes hold after the glacier has receded. They also try their hand at dating the landscape through lichenometry. 2–3 h outside Breheimsenteret
Nature guiding
Our knowledgeable guides take you on a trip through history and nature. In the moraine landscape that extends from Breheimsenteret to Nigardsbreen, you can see the transformations of the landscape that have taken place since the ice retracted. The trip’s duration and distance can be adapted to the group. During the peak months, there are daily departures from the car park at the Nigardsbrevatnet lake. For more information and to book a trip, please contact jostedal@jostedal.com.
The cold, hard facts
- Glaciers are climate indicators; growth and withdrawal depend on how much snow falls during the winter and on how warm it is during the summer.
- Glaciers are historical archives; artefacts that have been left behind in the glacier and that are encompassed by ice do not deteriorate, since they are not exposed to air. As a result, many old skis and hunting equipment from several thousand years ago have been found in Breheimen.
- Glaciers have helped create the fjords and valleys that are so characteristic of Norway.
- 90% of all the ice in the world is in Antarctica.
- Around 1740, during the so-called Little Ice Age, Nigardsbreen extended a further 4.5 km compared with today, stopping almost by Breheimsenteret.
- The climate on Earth has swung back and forth between ice ages and intermediate periods many times.
- Norway is the only country in Europe where reindeer are still found in the wild, which means that we bear a particular responsibility for taking care of the animals.
- The Jostedalsbreen Plateau is one of the largest wilderness areas in Norway.
Glacier photos from Jostedalen
Many of the glaciers around Jostedalsbreen have been regularly photographed for certain periods during the past hundred years. Glacier photos are interesting to study in order to find out how the glaciers have changed. Sometimes pictures do say more than words. A photo archive is available at the Geological Survey of Norway website. Search for: Bergsetbreen Nigardsbreen Austerdalsbreen Stegholtbreen
Jostedalsrypa
The legend of Jostedalsrypa (“the Jostedal Grouse”) is one of the most famous stories from when the Black Death devastated Norway in the mid-fourteenth century. The legend tells of a girl who supposedly was the only survivor in Jostedalen after the plague ravished the area.
If you want to learn more about this legend, a good deal of information is available from the local historical society (Jostedal historielag) and at Breheimsenteret’s exhibition.
