High school students investigate the economic and environmental implications of green energy as a local company suggests the development of a wind farm in their county. This has created uproar in their community as residents take sides, either for or against the wind farm. The school is located directly below the proposed site and students wonder what impact it could have on their school community.
Scenario:
Students look at the issues surrounding energy and the concepts of supply and demand, factors of production, trade off and incentive. They examine how technology can help decision-makers identify the best locations for energy development.
As part of an economics unit, students consider the pros and cons of fossil fuel versus green energy. They look at some convincing evidence that suggests that we need to power our world with something less harmful than our current practices. Students watch time lapse photography of the ice caps on the Ted Talk
http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/james_balog_time_lapse_proof_of_extreme_ice_loss.
html and consider the optimum extraction of fossil fuels (consume at the current rate, slow the rate down, eliminate consumption), the impact of carbon emissions and the greenhouse effect, and the benefits of utilizing green technology even when the price is equal to that of fossil fuel. (4a)
Students examine:
• The trade-offs of replacing traditional energy resources such as oil and natural gas with green energy
• Market forces such as supply and demand and the impact on energy prices
• Environmental considerations for energy development
Students work with Google Earth, to examine interactive resources developed by the National Resource Defense Council (NRDC) that assist environmentalists, renewable energy developers, utility companies, and others meet the challenges of going green http://www.nrdc.org/land/default.asp.
Students use this mapping project to consider where and how to develop renewable energy resources in our local region, while minimizing damage to the region's land, wildlife and cultural resources.
NRDC has used Google Earth to map the most well-known lands and other natural resources in the American West that are protected by local, state and federal regulations, as a way to initially identify areas that are best kept off limits to energy development.
Using this as a model, students use Google Earth to develop colored layers to plot places in Vermont that are protected by local, state and federal regulations (wilderness areas, refuges, areas of critical environmental concern, state parks, etc.). They also examine other factors, such as population density, elevation, wind patterns, and important bird migration routes and habitats.
Students watch a film about wind and solar energy development and have a discussion about the environmental considerations of energy development in their classroom. They review facts and policy found on websites such as the Vermont Agency of Natural Resources State Land Wind Power Policy Development website
http://www.vermontwindpolicy.org/ , as well as newspaper and web articles about green energy in Vermont. They share what they learned about energy development with their classmates through a class discussion and a Q&A using a teacher-developed wiki at http:// pbworks.com (4a).
In class they begin a teacher-led lesson on supply and demand to consider the impact of oil production cuts on oil prices and the growing attractiveness of alternative energy in Vermont. The teacher has them review some articles about supply and demand for energy resources including http://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newSTR_69.htm . Students plot data to develop a graph for oil supply and demand based upon changes in oil
production and changes in prices. When oil prices increase, demand shifts and people consider using alternative energy. Using Excel spreadsheet software, they plot their own supply and demand curves for different types of energy and present them to their
classmates using a xy scatter chart. They discuss the trade-offs of replacing traditional energy resources such as oil with green energy, consider the optimum extraction of fossil fuels (consume at the current rate, slow the rate down, eliminate consumption), and the benefits of utilizing green technology even when the price is equal to that of fossil fuel (4c).
In order to visualize a wind farm at the proposed site, students examine a British project (http://www.juicygeography.co.uk/gewind2.htm) that uses a combination of Google SketchUp and Google Earth to allow stakeholders to envision how a wind farm might look in various geographic locations. Students form groups and one group places a 3-D rendering of wind turbines in the proposed location near the school (6c). Other groups design wind farms around the state by placing 3-D renderings of wind turbines in locations that appeared the most promising (based upon the Google Earth work conducted earlier which maps areas in Vermont protected by local, state and federal regulations, population density, elevation, wind patterns, and important bird migration routes and habitats).
Student groups present their work as two-minute videos during a panel discussion with the Vermont Agency of Natural Resources http://www.anr.state.vt.us/, the local zoning board, and the company pursuing wind energy development in the county. The short video presentations combines maps and photos with video clips of themselves on camera arguing for or against wind power in Vermont as an alternative energy source (4b,4d).
Final products are presented in the following public forums:
• Supply and demand curves on the school’s website
• Google Earth maps of Vermont to the Vermont Agency of Natural Resources
• Panel discussion with video exhibits
Student Standards
– The following NETS-S are noted in the Scenario:4. Critical Thinking, Problem Solving, and Decision Making (A,B,C,D) 6. Technology Operations and Concepts (C)
Teacher Standards
–Teachers who teach this unit address the following NETS-T:1. Facilitate and Inspire Student Learning and Creativity (A,D)
2. Design and Develop Digital-Age Learning Experiences and Assessments (A)
Content Grade Expectations
The scenario writer has identified the following content grade expectations that s/he felt might be assessed in this scenario. In most of these scenarios, there may well be
opportunities to assess other or additional content grade expectations across a variety of disciplines. If you are interested in developing a unit or lessons based on the following scenario, and you don’t see any grade expectations in your content area, we encourage you to capture the ideas presented in the scenario and make it your own by adding components that address the grade expectations you are most interested in assessing.
H&SS9-12:18 -Students show an understanding of the interaction/interdependence between humans, the environment, and the economy by…
• Explaining patterns and networks of economic interdependence that exist nationally and globally (e.g., currency, stock market, world trade).
• Examining how producers in the U.S. and/or world have used natural, human, and capital resources to produce goods and services and comparing and contrasting the findings (e.g., compare the use of the labor supply in different countries).
• Drawing conclusions about how choices within various economic systems affect the environment in the state, nation, and/or world (e.g., mixed, command, and market economies).
H&SS9-12:20 - Students make economic decisions as a consumer, producer, saver, investor, and citizen by…
• Examining the causes and long term effects of people’s needs and/or wants exceeding their available resources, and proposing possible solutions (e.g., distribution and use of fresh water).
H&SS9-12:11 - Students interpret geography and solve geographic problems by…
• Observing, comparing, and analyzing patterns of national, and global land use over time (e.g., agriculture, forestry, industry) to understand why particular locations are used for certain human activities; speculating as to which areas might be used in the future and the impact of that usage.
• Identifying, utilizing, and evaluating appropriate maps for specific purposes (e.g., choosing resource allocation maps in order to investigate oil distribution).
• Using a variety of grid systems to locate places on maps and globes (e.g., UTM or Public Land Survey Systems).