DRAKE UNIVERSITY LESSON PLANNING TEMPLATE

GENERAL INFORMATION Name: Gina Digiantonio Lesson Title: Environmental Science Grade level(s)/Course: 9th grade, General Biology Date taught: Day 4 INFORMATION ABOUT THE LESSON Content Standards: Understand and apply knowledge of the interdependence of organisms Enduring Understanding and/or Essential Question: o o o Humans modify ecosystems What effect have I had on my environment? What connections exist within an ecosystem?

Instructional Objectives:
Students will explain their understanding of the connections between energy and conservation by writing a letter to a Representative of their state.

Prior Learning/Prior Thinking Students should already be aware of energy concerns. This lesson will expand upon their knowledge. LESSON IMPLEMENTATION

Focus/Purpose Statement Student will recognize the different types of energy consumption, processing, and refinement. Procedures

DRAKE UNIVERSITY LESSON PLANNING TEMPLATE

Plant experiment (5 minutes) Talk about different energy mining techniques, deforestation, and fracking through lecture o Short video clip of fracking movie Promised Land (2 min) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AHQt1NAkhIo o Powerpoint on the impacts on the environment and if there is any better alternatives (20 minutes) Key topics that will be included in the powerpoint What types of energy sources are most prominently used? o Nonrenewable sources like oil, coal, and natural gas How do we retrieve and process those sources of energy? o Includes drilling into the ground or mining. In the case of natural gas it then needs to be refined into a usable state. The source must also be transported which uses more energy. What detrimental effects does the harvesting and use of energy have on the environment? o The land is torn up, pollutants are put into the air, and there can be health effects to things such as mining What are alternative sources of energy? o Renewable energy sources like wind, solar, and geothermal power. What are the limitations to those? o They depend on weather conditions and cannot provide all of the energy that we need What are the drawbacks of alternative energy? o They can be more expensive, throw off migratory patterns of birds, and can be hard to find places to put them o Look at fracking in more detail (10 min) The health concerns of fires due to release of natural gas vs. the people who argue it is safe and effective o Write a letter to a political representative about the fracking policy or another energy topic. (13 min) Model letter provided

Closure Students will be working on their letters Materials and Resources Powerpoint of energy

DRAKE UNIVERSITY LESSON PLANNING TEMPLATE

Video clip Model letter

ASSESSMENT Before the lesson Ask students if they have seen the movie

Summative- Model letter to representatives Working on plants