Activity
Day 1
1. As students enter the classroom, have questions posted them to respond:
- What is meant by the conservation of mass? (Hint-balancing chemical equations)
- Balance these equations:
- These are all combustion reactions with organic compounds. What two products are always formed from the combustion of organic compounds?
2. Review answers to assigned questions. The last equation may be difficult for students. Try practicing more equations, if necessary. There is a balancing equations website with interactive practice (see Related and Resource Websites).
3. Discuss again the idea of mass conservation. Look at products for last equation to be balanced. If another atom of sulfur was present in the reactant, how would this effect the balanced equation? Have the students re-balance the equation with another sulfur atom:
4. In general, combustion reactions are all very similar, producing carbon dioxide and water. Other products depend on other present elements. Sulfur will produce sulfur dioxide. Nitrogen will produce nitrogen dioxide or nitrogen monoxide. Coal is a very complex substance containing countless compounds. This discussion of mass conservation will help students understand products of coal combustion based on relative elemental composition.
5. Allow students to have class remainder research coal. Here are questions to guide them: NOTE: Most teachers will need computer lab for an entire class for Internet research.
- What is coal composed of?
- What names are used in classifying coal? Describe their meanings.
- What compounds are created through coal combustion? Are there other coal components that might not combust?
Students begin by using websites labeled coal classification, World Coal Institute, and coal macerals (see Related and Resource websites). These websites are a good starting place but encourage students to look elsewhere.
6. Discuss class findings. When discussing the compounds created by coal combustion ask questions to get an idea of students’ previous knowledge about environmental health concerns, becasue they will be researching these next.
Day 2 and 3
1. The discussion from the end of Day 1 might need to be completed at the beginning of Day 2. Otherwise, review some of ideas from Day 1.
2. In preparation for the lesson ‘s final project, a short paper on the potential environmental health impacts of coal combustion products, begin to gauge how much experience your students have had with research, especially Internet. Discuss search engines, keyword searching, and evaluating credible sources. Try allowing students to independently research today, helping them when necessary.
3. Ask students to research potential environmental health impacts of coal combustion products. A massive amount of information is available on these topics, so two days are given for students to sort through it all. As stated before, this is a chance for them to have guided practice with technical Internet research. Monitor the class closely to ensure they are on-task, finding reliable information, and refining their search as necessary. Otherwise, allow them freedom in researching information satisfying their curiosity and answering their own questions.
4. As students finish their research, they should begin to write their papers. Direct students to write a one to two page paper describing potential health impacts of coal combustion products. As much as possible students should refer to the chemical components.
Homework
The short paper on the environmental health impacts of coal combustion will need to be completed at home.
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Embedded
Assessment
Some ideas for grading the paper:
1. Is the paper well organized, with an introduction, body, and conclusion?
2. Does the student reference information properly?
3. Are the sources used reliable? If they are slanted, does the student present the information as fact when it might not be?
4. Are opinions on the environmental health impacts of coal backed with factual research?
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