Fossil Fuels
A second book I will read aloud is "Why Should I Save Energy?". The story presents what happens when there is no electricity; this gives the narrator an opportunity to explain how electricity is created from fossil fuels to later propose the scenario of a world where fuel runs out; a logical conclusion about the need to save electricity and fuels ensues. We will then discuss petroleum, carbon and natural gas.
The discussion about fossil fuels will make a connection with the first book we read which links plants to energy. We will briefly discuss photosynthesis, watch a video and have a geologist guest talk to us about fossil fuels, the new technologies and discoveries (liquefied gas, tar sands oil, shale gas, and oil shale) and the eventual disappearance of these fuels. The third literature connection will be "Living Sunlight" which emphasizes the concept of solar light helping to produce the energy present in every living being.
During the next session, we will discuss the impact of fossil fuels in the environment. Several demonstrations follow in which students will strip-mine a chocolate cookie, clean an oil spill, and look at carbon particles on the bottom of a glass after putting it over a flame. For the first one, students divided in groups will use toothpicks to try to remove the chocolate chips with as little damage as possible to the whole cookie. They cannot use their hands or any other utensil. I will encourage some brainstorming about the best technique before actually doing the work. After all the groups have mined their cookie, students will discuss their results, and the condition of their "site", the cookie. From here, another discussion will ensue about coal mining and the environment. For the second activity, cleaning the oil spill, students create a habitat in a tub with water. (I will ask them to bring some things from home for their group habitat.) I will pour 1 tablespoon of oil into the habitat, and they will brainstorm the best way to try to clean it from the spill. However, before cleaning, I want them to take a few minutes to observe any impact the oil can be producing in their habitat. After the activity, I will guide the students to discuss oil spills in the world; the article from The New York Times referenced above in the section on Petroleum has a detailed map online with oil spills that I will show the class. The last activity here is about carbon in the atmosphere. I will light a candle and have the students place a jar or glass above the flame until soot forms. I will guide them to see the connections between the first session when they found out wax was a type of fuel to explain now how most candles are usually made with paraffin, which is derived from oil. The candle then is a type of hydrocarbon and burns like any other hydrocarbon, including all fossil fuels.
We will later watch and discuss the video "Fossil Fuels" from Schlessinger Media, and examine a few graphs about total energy consumption in the US and the world by source types. Most of these graphs come from the Energy Kids web pages in the US Energy Information Administration website.
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