Examining Electricity
Lesson Plans
Grades6, 7, 8Science, Social Studies, English Language Arts
This resource has been reviewed by SubjectToClimate's climate scientists and verified for scientific accuracy and up-to-date information. Learn about our review process →
Provided by EarthEcho International
What it is
- In this lesson from EarthEcho International, students will role-play as members of an energy council of a fictional country to research, debate, and determine the best form of energy to replace coal.
- The lesson will take about three one-hour class periods, where students will learn about energy from natural gas, biomass, solar, wind, and waves and how coal impacts the Chesapeake Bay Dead Zone.
Teaching tips
Positives
- Having students teach the rest of the class is an excellent way to give them responsibility for their learning.
- Students will be engaged in learning through active strategies like debate, research, and creating informative resources.
Prerequisites
- Students should understand that electricity is needed for many daily activities.
- Students should also understand that the electricity they use comes from sources like fossil fuels.
Differentiation & Implementation
- Adding to this lesson a mini-lesson about fossil fuels, climate change, and the greenhouse effect may help students understand the importance of renewable energy. The video, What Are Fossil Fuels? can help illustrate this point concisely.
- Teachers may want to give students more time to develop their argument, especially students who aren't used to public speaking.
- Language arts classes can use this activity as an exercise in public speaking, informative and explanatory writing and speaking, and persuasive speaking.
- Science teachers can use this lesson as a summative activity to assess what students have learned following a unit on renewable energy.
From the scientist review
This lesson introduces students to electricity generation and then tasks them with replacing the coal plants in a fictional nation. This resource is well-sourced, with all figures cited. Climate change is mentioned largely as an afterthought in the scenario card, though teachers could easily make climate concerns a bigger part of the debate. This resource is recommended for teaching.
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