Activity
Day
1
1.
Have the handouts of a “World without Oil” prepared
for students to read when they come in the door. Ask
students to think about the different ways that they
consume energy throughout their days.
2. After completing the reading, students should form groups of 2-5 students
and brainstorm the different ways in which they consume energy on a daily
basis. Ask the students to focus on tracing the energy consumption all
the way back to the natural resource from which it originated. Give each
group poster board so that they can share their ideas when done. Each
group should present what ideas they came up with to the rest of the
class.
3. After sharing their ideas with the class, each group should choose
one common consumable product, such as a food item, a school supply,
clothing, books, CD’s, etc. Teachers should monitor the student’s
discussion, and try to steer the students into selecting a reasonable
product. A reasonable product would be one that is commonly used, and
one whose production could be easily researched.
4. For homework, students should brainstorm every way in which energy
is consumed in order for that product to reach them in their homes or
schools.
Day
2
5.
Allow the groups to reconvene and share the ideas that
they came up with on their own for homework. Each group
should be preparing to list to the class all the energy
consumption involved in the production of their respective
products.
6. Discuss each group’s findings. The teacher should encourage
and make note of any comment discussing the consumption of electrical
energy. All consumption is acceptable, and important to note, but the
upcoming unit deals with electricity.
7. If time allows and computers are available, the Power House website
(URL provided under Related and Resource Websites) is a great simulation,
allowing students to directly see how turning on appliances contributes
to their monthly electric bill.
Closure
Any
time remaining should be used for discussion. Begin
to discuss the idea of renewable versus non-renewable
resources. Start asking what can be done to save energy.
There are countless ways to do so, at almost every
step of production and consumption of products!!
Embedded
Assessment
This
lesson is early in the unit, so no formal assessment
is required. The diagrammed pathway of energy offers
insight into a groups understanding.
Homework
From
the first night:
Ask students to brainstorm about all of the energy consumption that goes
into a certain every day product that they selected in groups.
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