#3003. Energy Exploration

Science, level: Senior
Posted Tue Dec 16 00:02:17 PST 2003 by Zhang Minghua (zmhnju@hotmail.com).
Yucai High School, Shanghai,PRC
Materials Required: English-Chinese dictionary,computer with internet access
Activity Time: 8 periods spread for 4 weeks
Concepts Taught: major energy forms,Three Gorge Dam

Brief description:
This multi-disciplinary activity is energy-based and designed to cultivate the students' critical thinking, environmental awareness and international sense which is an essential quality for the talents in this international metropolis Shanghai.
Objective:
Science
Help the students get a general idea about the energy forms exploited in the world
develop the students' knowledge the latest trend about energy development
help the students develop the basic skills to investigate the scientific principles underlying a certain energy form
English
Enlarge the students' vocabulary on the field of energy
Enhance the students' reading ,writing and comprehensive skill
Economic
Cultivate the students' economic sense throug the price analysis and Investigation on the factors that influence the price of the major energy forms like crude oil and natural gas,.
Society
Develop the students' awareness of the importance and necessity of developing clean energy for the environmental protection ,economic and social sustainability
Develop the students' critical thinking on the interaction between the human activity and natural resources on the planet
Internet skills
Develop the students' skill on the information collecting on web and judgement on the ocean of enormous sources.

Materials needed:
English -Chinese dictionary, computer with internet portal, paper

Activity
Week 1
Step 1:Brief description about the activity
Step 2:vocabulary study
bioenergy ÉúÎïÄÜ coal ú
fossil fuels »¯Ê¯ÀàȼÁÏ geothermal µØÈÈÄÜ
hydrogen Ë®µç natural gas ÌìÈ»Æø
nuclear ºËÄÜ oil ÓÍ
renewables ¿ÉÔÙÉú×ÊÔ´ wind ·ç
sustainable development ¿É³ÖÐø·¢Õ¹ sustainability n.
recycle Ñ­»·Ê¹Óà battery µç³Ø
photosynthesis ¹âºÏ×÷Óà diesel ²ñÓÍ
¡­¡­..
there are a lot of new words you will encounter in your future research work if you dig into the English language based website, in these situations you can turn to your dictionary for the new words or the Kingsoft series software will be of great help.

Step 3:Brief description about the existed energy forms in the world
Step 4:Have the students read the distributed material and make notes, answer the question listed in the final part of the material.

Week 2
Web quest
The student will be divided into groups with two members each, students in each group will jointly complete the task assigned.
1. List five websites which you find most informative for your research.
2. Find out the website for OPEC(organization for the petroleum export countries),and illustrate the function of OPEC
3. Draw a chart indicating the price trend of natural gas in world market based on the information you collected.
4. Choose a specific energy form and describe its formation (or scientific principle) , history, current exploiting condition both in china and in the world.

Week 3
How do the batteries work?
Have the students read the distributed materials and study the underlying science in different batteries. The students will learn the scientific method to research a certain energy form.

Week 4
Three gorge project
Step 1:Have the students read the handouts and answer the question in the worksheet.
Step 2:Group discussion
The students will be grouped into teams with four member each, one of the students take the role of the local government official who advocates the project strongly, one of the students assume to be a social worker who disfavors the project, one of them will be responsible for the note-taking, the note should be taken in a detailed and completed manner. One of the students portrays a decision-maker in a national committee who will make the final decision based on the reasoning of his/her above two team members.