07+Review+of+Energy+Sources

This week, we will review critically review energy sources by discussing pros and cons of each, and explore data related to energy use in our state, country and world. 1) First, review how electricity is generated from an energy source (choose any source and talk through together, using a diagram if needed to help. Videos from this week describe this.) Comment on any common errors you noticed in their reflections this week if you had time to review briefly. Help students realize that in order to convince people to want to conserve energy, it will be important for students to understand the connection between energy sources and electricity.

2) Students will work with partners or in small groups to summarize pros and cons of different energy sources.

Make copies of this document to distribute, and give students time to review their notes/videos. To save time, you can assign pairs to a source, and have them report out while others fill in the blanks. Take a few minutes to discuss nuclear energy, since this content was new in homework this week.



3) Share existing data on energy uses and trends. Use your own sources (e.g. https://www.eia.gov/ or consider page 11 from this pdf)

You can either project this data or hand out to groups.

Have students discuss: Given the pros and cons of different sources you've read about, how do you feel about our consumption patterns?

Using strategic and values thinking: How would you like our energy use to look in 2050? What would that line on the graph look like? (Futures thinking) What values guide your decisions about energy sources to develop further? (Values thinking)

What steps do we need to get there? (Strategic thinking)

Cool graphic to include in Blackboard or in Power Point for consideration:

http://www.behindenergy.com/personal-choices-to-reduce-our-contribution-to-climate-change/?lang=en