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Sustainability Lesson Clearinghouse

The Price of Power

Lesson Description:
Students will ...

Examine air quality statistics of various american cities; speculate about how pollutant levels could be potentially decreased.
Learn about the current political debate over environmental protection agency regulations for power plants by reading and discussing “cleaning coal-fired plants: the debate burns on.”
Research different parties’ views on requiring selective catalytic reduction systems at coal-burning power plants.
Synthesize their understanding of requiring selective catalytic reduction systems by writing and presenting opening arguments at a mock congressional hearing on the topic.

Lesson Type:

Other

Sustainability Topic:

Energy

Time Needed:
45 minutes – 1 hour

Standards Addressed:
Grades 6-8

Geography Standard 8- Understands the characteristics of ecosystems on earth’s surface. benchmarks: knows changes that have occurred over time in ecosystems in the local region; knows the potential impact of human activities within a given ecosystem on the carbon, nitrogen, and oxygen cycles
(CTSS – ’social’, ‘6-8’, ‘geo3’)
Geography Standard 14- Understands how human actions modify the physical environment. benchmarks: understands the environmental consequences of people changing the physical environment; Understands the ways in which human-induced changes in the physical environment in one place can cause changes in other places; understands the ways in which technology influences the human capacity to modify the physical environment; understands the environmental consequences of both the unintended and intended outcomes of major technological changes in human history
(CTSS– ’social’, ‘6-8’, ‘geo4’)
Geography Standard 18- Understands global development and environmental issues. benchmarks: understands how the interaction between physical and human systems affects current conditions on earth; understands the possible impact that present conditions and patterns of consumption, production and population growth might have on the future spatial organization of earth; knows how the quality of environments in large cities can be improved; understands why different points of view exist regarding contemporary geographic issues
(CTSS– ’social’, ‘6-8’, ‘geo6’)
Language Arts Standard 4- Gathers and uses information for research purposes. benchmarks: uses a variety of resource materials to gather information for research topics; determines the appropriateness of an information source for a research topic; organizes information and ideas from multiple sources in systematic ways
(CTSS– ‘english’, ‘6-8’, ‘4’)
Language Arts Standard 7- Demonstrates competence in the general skills and strategies for reading a variety of informational texts. benchmarks: applies reading skills and strategies to a variety of informational texts; summarizes and paraphrases complex, explicit hierarchic structures in informational texts; uses new information to adjust and extend personal knowledge base; seeks peer help to understand information; draws conclusions and makes inferences based on explicit and implicit information in texts; differentiates between fact and opinion in informational texts
(ctss – ‘english’, ‘6-8’, ‘7’)

Grades 9-12

Science Standard 7- Understands how species depend on one another and on the environment for survival. benchmark: knows ways in which humans can modify ecosystems and cause irreversible effects
(CTSS– ’science’, ‘9-12’, ‘7’)
Geography Standard 8- Understands the characteristics of ecosystems on earth’s surface. benchmarks: understands how relationships between soil, climate, and plant and animal life affect the distribution of ecosystems; knows the effects of both physical and human changes in ecosystems
(CTSS– ’social’, ‘9-12’, ‘geo3’)
Geography Standard 14- Understands how human actions modify the physical environment. benchmark: understands the global impacts of human changes in the physical environment
(CTSS– ’social’, ‘9-12’, ‘geo4’)
Geography Standard 18- Understands global development and environmental issues. benchmarks: understands why policies should be designed to guide the use and management of earth’s resources and to reflect multiple points of view; understands contemporary issues in terms of earth’s physical and human systems
(CTSS– ’social’, ‘9-12’, ‘geo6’)
Language Arts Standard 4- Gathers and uses information for research purposes. benchmarks: uses a variety of news sources to gather information for research topics; synthesizes a variety of types of visual information, including pictures and symbols, for research topics
(CTSS– ‘english’, ‘9-12’, ‘4’)
Language Arts Standard 7- Demonstrates competence in the general skills and strategies for reading a variety of informational texts. benchmarks: applies reading skills and strategies to a variety of informational texts; scans a passage to determine whether it contains relevant information; summarizes and paraphrases complex, implicit hierarchic structures in informational texts, including the relationships among the concepts and details in those structures; uses new information from texts to clarify or refine understanding of academic concepts; uses discussions with peers as a way of understanding information

Materials Needed:

Pens/pencils
Paper
Classroom blackboard
Copies of the Environmental Protection Agency’s chart “Peak Air Quality Statistics for the Six Principal Pollutants by Metropolitan Statistical Area, 2000"
copies of "Cleaning Coal-Fired Plants: The Debate Burns On"
Four slips of paper or inded cards
Resources for researching air pollution and coal poants

Submitted By:
Green Education Foundation (GEF) on Behalf of National Environmental Education Week

School or Group:
National Environmental Education Week

Contact Email:
service@greeneducationfoundation.org

Lesson Documents: