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This CNNfyi.com lesson plan is supplemented with material from Riverdeep.com


Evaluating energy sources

May 18, 2001
Web posted at: 6:22 PM EDT (2222 GMT)

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Curriculum connections: Social Studies and Environment

Objectives

  • Identify and explain energy sources.
  • Evaluate the benefits and drawbacks of different energy sources and predict which would be the best sources in the future.

Standards
National Council for the Social Studies
IX Global connections, grades nine - 12
High school students should be able to think systematically about personal, national, and global decisions, interactions, and consequences, including addressing critical issues such as peace, human rights, trade, and global ecology.

Benchmarks On-Line
The designed world, Energy sources and use, grades nine-12
High school students should know all fuels have advantages and disadvantages so that society must consider the trade-offs among them.

High school students should know that decisions to slow the depletion of energy sources through efficient technology can be made at many levels, from personal to national, and they always involve trade-offs of economic costs and social values.

Materials
CNNfyi.com article, "Europe looks to find energy alternatives"
Internet access
Riverdeep's Wave wattage
Riverdeep's Going solar

Suggested time
One class period

Procedure
1. As students enter the classroom, have them answer the following question in their journals: What do you think our major source of energy will be 100 years from now? Explain your reasoning.

2. Have students read the CNNfyi.com article, "Europe looks to find energy alternatives," and ask the following:

  • What has become a global dilemma? Why do you think the Dutch are willing to dig deeper into their pockets for energy? What resource is Sweden trying to phase out, and why? Why has the country ruled out nonrenewable resources such as natural gas and coal, according to a recent report by the International Energy Agency? What are some other alternative sources of energy for Sweden?
  • What are some goals for the Dutch by 2010 and 2020? What is President Bush proposing to use as energy sources for the United States? Is he following other countries' examples? Explain your answer. What do you think Bush meant by saying that his energy plan was a blueprint for averting a "darker future" for America? Based on what you have read, would most European countries applaud or denounce his plan? Explain.

3. As a class create a concept map for energy sources on the board. Energy sources should be divided into nonrenewable resources and renewable resources. Nonrenewable resources are nuclear materials and fossil fuels. Renewable resources are biomass, sun, wind and water. Ask the students, what do you think are the differences between nonrenewable and renewable energy sources.

4. Divide the students into small groups and assign each group one of the following energy sources: nuclear material, fossil fuels, biomass, sun, wind and water. Have each group conduct research using their textbooks and on and off-line resources about the benefits and drawbacks of their assigned energy source. Have students share their information with the class.

5. Ask students if any of them would like to revise their answers in their journals based on the information from the class presentations. Discuss their entries and ask if anyone wrote about a resource that has, to date, not been considered. Generate a class discussion about the future of energy sources.

Assessment
Have each student prepare either a written or oral presentation from the perspective of an international diplomat responding to Vice President Dick Cheney about the Bush plan. Direct them to include which energy sources other countries believe the United States should use and why. Remind students to include specific examples from their research and from the presentations of their classmates.

Accommodations
Visual/spatial
Students can create charts showing the benefits and drawbacks of the energy sources they think could be used in the next 100 years.

Challenge
1. How is electrical power in your community supplied now? How might it be supplied in the future? Does your community have potential as a site for solar energy? Wind energy? Hydroelectric power? Using a local map, locate the power plants that supply your city, or locate potential areas where alternative sources might be developed. Prepare a display using your map and any other appropriate materials.

2. Students can read more information on hydroelectric power in Riverdeep's Wave wattage and follow the activities.

3. Students can read more about solar energy from Riverdeep's Going solar article and answer the questions at the end of the article.

If you use CNN NEWSROOM, view Powering the Planet and use the Daily Guide from April 23, 2001 for additional activities.



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Worth the cost?
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Lesson plan: Power crisis in California
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RELATED SITES:
Biomass
The Kyoto Protocol
EPA Global Warming Site: Impacts

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