Energy, Environment, and Health

CONTENTS OF CURRICULUM UNIT 12.07.08

  1. Unit Guide
  1. Introduction
  2. Classroom and School Environment
  3. Rational
  4. Objectives
  5. Strategies for future Energy
  6. Appendix 1 Annotated Bibliography
  7. Appendix 2 IB Objectives
  8. Appendix 3 Student Handouts and Diagrams
  9. Endnotes

Energy for the Future, Superheroes Need Not Apply

Debra Blake Semmler

Published September 2012

Tools for this Unit:

Rational

The aims of the International Baccalaureate Physics course is to expose students to the most fundamental experimental science, which seeks to explain the universe from the smallest particles to an understanding of the origins of the universe. Yet more importantly, students will study the impact of physics on society, the moral and ethical dilemmas, and the social economic and environmental impact of the work of scientists in a global context. A unit of study in the IB physics core curriculum is on energy, power and climate change. The most important objective for students to gain from this curriculum unit is an understanding that scientifically based decisions made by world leaders based on the best available information will impact our lives and environment in the future. I want students to understand the physics behind these decisions and have a sense of the difficulty in making informed choices based on science but also on risk analysis and management to meet the energy requirement of the future.

My curriculum unit will include a review of energy and the laws that manage the transfer and cyclical nature of energy. Students will research and compare alternative energy sources based on energy density, costs, advantages and disadvantages. The final project in the curriculum unit will require students to form a global energy panel and outlining energy policy for an assigned region of the world to meet the energy needs and environmental concerns for the next 25 years.

Comments:

Christina C Forbes

January 2, 2016 at 10:14 pm

This post needs serious editing

The content is fine. But the writing is poor. Typos, bad grammar, failures of clarity abound. Not a good platform for public school children to learn from. A good editor who knows something about energy terminology is needed, quickly. For example, the text confuses kilowatts and kilowatt hours. Examples need to be crystal clear. The writing is not up to Yale standards (I am a Yale Law School graduate). Happy new year, Christina Forbes Alexandria, Va.

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