- Investigations in Environmental Science
- Course Overview
- → Lesson Summaries
- Unit 1: Land Use
- → Unit 2: Energy Generation
- Unit 3: Water Management
- Sample Pages
- Replacement Pages and Updates
- Coal Power Plant Virtual Tour
- Correlations
- Price List
Investigations in Environmental Science
Lesson Summaries, Concepts & Practices
Unit 2: Energy Generation |
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| LESSON SUMMARIES | CONCEPTS & PRACTICES |
| Chapter 1: Electricity | |
| Lesson 1: The Demand for Energy Students act out a news report about an electricity shortage and critically examine the arguments made by each stakeholder. |
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| Lesson 2: What is Electricity? Reviewing basic electricity concepts and performing an electrical circuitry lab lays the foundation for students roles in solving the electricity shortage as members of an environmental task force. |
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| Lesson 3: Energy Transformations Students investigate a variety of different kinds of energy transformations and learn about the ways people convert energy from one form to another. |
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| Lesson 4: Large Scale Electricity Generation Readings introduce students to the environmental resources required to produce electricity and where electricity comes from. |
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| Chapter 2: Fossil Fuels | |
| Lesson 1: What Are Fossil Fuels? Students learn about coal formation, conduct experiments to categorize different types/properties of coal, and evaluate the environmental effects of extracting coal from the earth. |
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| Lesson 2: Stored Energy Experiments of burning foods allow students to calculate the stored energy in each and how much of that energy is lost during transformation. |
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| Lesson 3: Power Plants Computer software guides students through the internal processes of a power plant. Students apply their knowledge to create a flow chart explaining the entire energy conversion progression. |
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| Lesson 4: Operating a Power Plant A computer model simulation allows students to run a power plant, taking into consideration consumer needs, available resources, pollution regulations, and environmental impacts. |
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| Lesson 5: Improving Power Plant Efficiency Students graph data to analyze the efficiency of power plants over time, identify points in the energy transformation process where energy is lost, and think about ways to improve efficiency. |
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| Lesson 6: Consumer Energy Use After calculating their own energy uses and comparing it to that of people from different eras, students reflect on ways to conserve energy and predict the energy uses of families in Wisconsin. |
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| Chapter 3: Impacts | |
| Lesson 1: Combustion of Fossil Fuels Students explore the chemistry of combustion and discover the unintended outputs of burning coal through lab experiments. |
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| Lesson 2: Ash and Particulates Through readings and collecting particulates in their own school, students explore the environmental impacts of power plant emissions such as mercury. |
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| Lesson 3: Acidic Deposition and Smog Labs and readings introduce students to the effects of acidic deposition on ecosystems and human-made materials and the impact of smog on large cities. |
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| Lesson 4: Water Impacts Students calculate the amount of water used by coal-burning power plants and explore how it changes when passing through a plant to begin addressing the environmental effects of power plant's water usage. |
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| Lesson 5: Dispersion of Impacts Students synthesize knowledge of the layers of the atmosphere, how smokestacks reduce the concentration of pollutants, and how airborne pollution spreads in plumes to diagram the impacts of a new power plant. |
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| Chapter 4: Plant Siting | |
| Lesson 1: Midwest Power Based on their knowledge of power plants and the needs and geography of the region, students determine the consequences of building a plant and what constraints and considerations go into deciding the plant location. |
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| Lesson 2: Exploring Lake Geneva Using computer software, ArcView, students determine the most appropriate locations for a coal-burning power plant in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin. |
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| Lesson 3: Decision Synthesizing all their knowledge from the unit, students create Stakeholders Charts and select the best location for the power plant and present their decision to the class. |
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| Chapter 5: Global Climate Change | |
| Lesson 1: The Threat to Global Climate Change Students learn about climate change and its possible consequences, and how scientists gather information about it. |
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| Lesson 2: Earth's Natural Temperature After exploring the difference between weather and climate students analyze graphs of temperature changes on local and global levels and analyze the potential impact of climate change over time. |
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| Lesson 3: Sunlight and Temperature WorldWatcher computer datasets help students explore how different areas are affected by energy from the Sun. |
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| Lesson 4: Predicting Temperatures Using their knowledge of sunlight and reflectivity, students use a computer model to predict temperatures on Earth and compare their results to actual surface temperatures. |
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| Lesson 5: Greenhouse Effect Students conduct experiments and use a computer model to explore how different gases in the atmosphere hold heat near the Earth's surface. |
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| Lesson 6: Carbon Dioxide Graphs help students relate the temperature on Earth to carbon dioxide concentrations in the atmosphere. Students determine the impact human activities have on the natural carbon cycle and greenhouse effect. |
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| Lesson 7: Misconceptions Responding to letters from concerned citizens affords students the opportunity to synthesize their knowledge of energy generation, global climate change and the greenhouse effect. |
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| Chapter 6: Alternative Energy | |
| Lesson 1: What Are the Alternatives? Students research and report on alternative energy sources, their benefits, and their environmental impacts. |
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| Lesson 2: Setting the Stage Using the Environmental Decision-Making process, students apply their knowledge of alternative energy sources to develop balanced energy solutions for three communities. |
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| Lesson 3: Researching the Options Performing data analysis in ArcView helps students create Cascading Consequence Charts of the effects of using each energy source at their assigned location. |
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| Lesson 4: Decision Synthesizing all their knowledge from the unit, students select the best option for their location and present their decision to the class. |
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