Human Energy Systems | Activity 5.3

Target Student Performance

Students explain how different personal activities (energy scenarios) lead to CO₂ emissions.

Resources Provided

5.3 Energy Scenarios Cards (1 per class)
5.3 Energy Scenarios Placemat (1 per student)
5.3 Energy Scenarios PPT
Large Scale Four Questions Handout

Setup

Print the 5.3 Energy Scenarios Cards. You will need to cut these apart before class. You may want to laminate them first in order to make them last longer. Prepare one copy of 5.3 Energy Scenarios Placemat for each pair of students. Prepare a computer and projector for the 5.3 Energy Scenarios PPT.

Directions

1. Use the instructional model to show students where they are in the course of the unit.

Show slide 2 of the 5.3 Energy Scenarios PPT.

2. Activate prior knowledge.

Show Slide 3 of the PPT. Remind students of the rules column in the Large Scale Four Questions Handout. Tell them it is their job today to tell stories about how energy use causes carbon atoms to move. Their stories will be expected to follow the rules!

3. Divide students into pairs.

Tell students to find a partner. Pass out 5.3 Energy Scenarios Placemat to each pair of students. Tell them to use the placemat to help them tell their story—they can draw arrows to help illustrate their story.

4. Play the energy scenario game.

Pass out one card from 5.3 Energy Scenarios Cards to each group. Give the students five minutes to discuss as a group how the energy use on their card causes carbon atoms to move between pools.

Ask each pair to select a “spokesperson” to share their story with the class. The spokesperson should read the energy use to the class and use the handout to tell the story of how carbon moves and is transformed.
For each story that is told, invite the rest of the class to “fact check:” Do their stories follow the rules and answer the Carbon Pools Question, the Carbon Cycling Question, and the Energy Flow Question?

5. Play another round: new scenarios.

This time tell students to come up with a form of energy use that has not already been mentioned in class and to determine how carbon atoms move from between pools as a result of this energy use.

Have the other students in each pair act as spokespeople and share their stories.
Discuss how the stories follow the rules and answer Carbon Pools Question, the Carbon Cycling Question, and the Energy Flow Question.

6. Discuss the increasing atmosphere pool and the Stability and Change Question.

Show Slide 4. Ask students to think about how carbon atoms moved as a result of all of these energy uses.

Which pool is getting bigger as a result of these energy uses?
Pose the question: “What will happen to the climate if we continue to burn fossil fuels at the same rate that we are now?” (Business as usual)

Assessment

During the presentation of the energy scenarios, help the students identify any instances of “rule breaking.” Do the students confuse matter and energy? Do they ever suggest that matter can turn into energy? Do they suggest that energy can disappear? If so, remind them to have a look at the rules and see how their accounts of energy in their scenarios match or don’t match.