Energy Sciences

Activities

Students will have a science journal to keep a record of all vocabulary, models, and general notes of ideas, questions and sketches. They will utilize Cornell notes format for note-taking strategies. The two-column layout will contain the main ideas/headings along with vocabulary in the left column and notes, sketches, questions, and definitions in the right-hand column. This science journal will be used for reflection on weekly assessments and the final assessment.

Week 1 Activities: Students will build a content background of key concepts and ideas essential to developing the understanding of academic words. A photograph of a city with polluted air will be projected along with a short passage of key words. This image will help shape and guide the learning of air pollution. Students will be asked what causes the city sky to look the way it is. From this image, students will brainstorm in small groups and record their ideas on a chart. A timer will be used to create a sense of urgency. Once time expires, another photograph of a clear sky in the city will be projected. The discussion will be of how clean air is good for the ecosystem unlike what dirty air does to our environment. Here I like to focus on a discussion geared towards the direction of students’ thinking processes to embrace empathy. Empathy is feeling what others feel, not just understanding what they feel. I want students to understand the needs beyond themselves and appreciate the world from someone else’s perspective. For the unit to be meaningful, connecting students thinking with content background terms such as air pollution, climate change, ecosystems, energy (fossil fuels), health (asthma and various respiratory problems), waste, and water pollution. The brainstorming charts will be kept visible throughout the unit where students can refer back to them as the unit progresses. They will be allowed to include their input and other facts to it. 

During the next lessons, students will be immersed into Diné Culture and History through traditional storytelling and folktales.  The first story shared will be the Navajo Clan story. The purpose is to establish self-identity and one’s kinship with others, nature, and become aware that we respect the Earth as “Our Mother.” The activity will begin with students’ self-introduction. This is an important part of Navajo custom. Students will introduce themselves with clans, where one is taught at an early age of their matrilineal lineage. The clans identify an individual of whom they are and where they come from. K’e is the strength of the family and holds the family together. With their introduction, they have established respect and acknowledgement of each other just as they do to Mother Earth and Father Sky. The Diné language is eloquently spoken and represents their footprint as being a part of the environment. 

Finishing up the week’s last activity is the Navajo Creation Story, which will focus on oral mythology storytelling, allowing students to understand the origin of Diné. These oral traditions and philosophies will clarify the journey and struggles of the people from the emergence to present day. It provides direction and strength to challenge the future. Most students are familiar with storytelling. It’s a teaching tool used by parents and grandparents at home and through community events for all ages. This technique is passed on from generation to generation. For example, storytelling teaches students how to live off the land and how to survive in the natural environment where it is strongly emphasized to the younger generation. Students will be introduced to the shorter version of the Navajo creation story, which describes the prehistoric beginning of the Diné people and settling in the sacred Dinétah, the traditional homeland of the Diné. The purpose is to understand that they have an immense responsibility in this world. They need to acknowledge earth and sky as significant beings. A timeline integrated with art and writing activities will enhance the learning. This is an organizational method I often use when I teach a timeline activity. The timeline fold is a four-part creased layout.  This allows students’ minds to think in sequential manner.  It is also a way for students to use their creativity while reinforcing important thinking and communication skills. The activity will reemphasize “Walk in Beauty.”  “Walk in Beauty” is a terminology that we use in our spiritual prayers to connect to our holistic being in the universe. In traditional teachings, the number four has a symbolic meaning tying them to Navajo history and belief. It represents our cardinal directions, sacred mountains, clans, color of natural elements, components of Navajo Philosophy and our traditional songs and prayers which are chanted in a count of four. Students will be given a few minutes to brainstorm with their small group on their interpretation before beginning their timeline. Finally they will summarize each part of the timeline. Students will share the story with their parents as a home-to-school connection assignment.

Week 2 Activities: I will read aloud “The Air We Breathe” as a preview reading to assist students’ learning about the concept “Air.” The book explains what atmosphere is and why it is important to life on earth.  Students will then discuss questions pertaining to the atmosphere so they can understand that only some pollution is visible. They will be given time to take notes in their science journal of their understanding.

Another reading will be assigned as a home-to-school connection homework activity. Students will explore “How Do Your Lungs Work?” The book focuses on how air feels going through their respiratory system. Some physical activities will be done by students and parents to test their breathing rate and take note of changes in their body system. The following day, a discussion will take place on asthma and other health-related effects. Students will reflect on their notes as they present a drawing of their upper body with each part of the respiratory system colored and labelled. Students will include a cause and effect in their presentation.

The first experiment is to understand why air is invisible, colorless, and tasteless. We will discuss the impact of air in the environment. In this experiment, students will understand that air has mass, although they can’t feel it, and recognize that air takes up space, even though they can’t see it.  Students will make a hypothesis if air exists. Students will investigate “Does Air have Volume?” In the experiment students will crumble up a sheet of paper into a ball and firmly push to the bottom of the cup. Next they will turn the cup upside down and lower it into the water for a few seconds. They take the cup out of the water and will notice the paper is still dry. It is dry because air does have volume. As the cup is placed upside down it fills with air. The air inside the cup submerges putting pressure against the water; therefore, it did not fill the cup with water. As a result the paper is dry meaning air takes up space. As they observe and describe what is happening to air in a cup. They will conclude by describing air, how it behaves in water, how they recognize they found air, and tell where they also can find air.

Next, they will see what carbon dioxide is like by experimenting with “Soda Fizz.” Students will hypothesize the process through the scientific methods of observing and describing what is happening when they drop mentos candy into soda. Initially, I want the students to gain knowledge that this same reaction occurs when a power plant burns coal.  Only the toxic CO₂ cannot be seen emitted into the atmosphere. Over time, CO₂ gets trapped in the atmosphere and affects the ecosystem. They will determine the level of concentration being emitted which affects our health, plants, animals, and everything in the environment.

The second experiment will be the introduction and exploration of “The Carbon Dioxide – Oxygen Cycle.” Students will compare and contrast related reading material from the previous activity. Here students will understand the big picture of what carbon dioxide is and how it affects global warming. They will use a compare and contrast Venn diagram to process their thinking and communication skills.

Week 3 Activities: Students will begin this experiment by conducting a survey to collect data. First, they will design the survey with it geared toward 5^th and 6^th grade students. Questions will be simple, asking students if coal is burned in their household or other family members’ households and if any family members or extended family members have asthma or any respiratory problems. Students will conduct the survey, total the results of the survey, and create a large bar graph. Of course, due to privacy concerns, the survey will be kept anonymous.

Second, students will reflect on notes from the previous weeks’ lessons and describe what they find interesting and include any new information about air pollution.  They will then be introduced to a video on YouTube: “Air Pollution – Enough is Enough.” The information in the presentation touches on most background content and key concepts as well as a review of causes and effects, and solutions to air pollution. After this presentation, students should be able to identify one cause and effect, and come up with how they can be contributors by preventing further damage to our planet.

Third, students will participate in a scientific inquiry activity. Students will hypothesize what properties make CO₂ hazardous to our health. CO₂ is heavier than air; therefore, it can accumulate in the environment and lack proper circulation. This atmospheric carbon dioxide is a greenhouse gas serving to trap heat from the planet's surface that would otherwise radiate back into space. The gas can pose an asphyxiation hazard to those who are working with it in large quantities.²³ Students will then conduct a simple investigation through observation and record keeping to interpret the survey data and draw a conclusion from the results. The grouped students will receive prepared water samples from various locations: a reservoir with soot (burnt coal), a creek sample, and tap water. The aim is to measure how acidic or basic the various solutions are.  Students will dip pH paper to test each sample of water.  The measure of pH is on a scale of 0 to 14. Acidic water has pH values between 0 and 7, zero being the most acidic. Basic water has pH values between 7 and 14, 14 being the most basic.²⁴

An informational text pertaining to solutions for air pollution for kids will be assigned and discussed. The reading assignment will be from the internet “Doing Your Bit.”  (“Clean Air Kids”). From the completion of the reading, students will brainstorm on these ideas and add additional ideas to our charts from the first week’s activity. The groups will then select one solution and write their action on it.

In the final week, students will take part in an educational field trip to bring awareness of the effects from the coal mining industry and to address the cause and effect of air pollution. The trip to Peabody Coal Mine located on Black Mesa will include a tour of the surface mining operation. On another day, we will take a trip to the Navajo Generating Station in Page, Arizona for a visit to an educational facility to learn about the emission from fossil fuel burning and learn about the company’s plan to innovate clean air and energy.

The final assessment of this unit will be writing an opinion essay entitled “How Energy Impacts our Environment.” An opinion writing rubric will be used for grading.  Finally, students will present their writing project during Earth Week. During Earth Week, students will celebrate by participating in career development opportunities as future scientists, educators, leaders, and artists.