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Combating Coal Ash Lesson

Provided by: Great Lakes Now

Lesson Plans Grades 6-8

Synopsis

In this lesson, students will participate in multiple activities to look at the harmful effects of coal ash in Michigan.
Students will watch a video that warns about how coal ash threatens the Great Lakes area, read an article detailing the possible dangers of extreme weather near coal plants, experiment with filtration methods, and use the Understanding Global Change website to create models of the cause-and-effect relationships associated with coal ash.

Subjects: Biology

Authors: Great Lakes Now, Detroit PBS

Region: Michigan

Languages: English

Positives

The use of the modeling tool gives students a simple introduction to climate modeling and cause-and-effect relationships.
The water filtration activity allows students to be creative and demonstrate what they know about a variety of topics, such as states of matter, properties of matter, and others.

Prerequisites

Teachers should refer to the Introduction section of the lesson plan for a list of topics students should be familiar with.
It may benefit students to know the emissions-based impacts associated with coal before they learn about the impacts of coal ash.
Students should know how to draw particle diagrams.

Differentiation & Implementation

Younger students may not be able to read the article independently in one class period. They may benefit from extra time or having the article read to them.
After completing the filtration experiment, students can try filtering water where they don't know the composition of contaminants.
After using the modeling tool, students can brainstorm other ways to model coal ash's impacts or use the tool to model other climate change impacts.

Scientist Notes

Teaching Tips

Standards

Resource Type and Format