Human Interaction with the Environment.... Help, Help, Can You Save the Planet

Congratulations!!! You have just been chosen by your president to help him in the search for the best source of energy for your country.

In your group of 3 to 4 people pick the one who is best fit for the role of president. It has to be a good speaker, as he/she will have to attend a world conference and speak in front of other presidents. The president has to assign a different source of energy for each member to investigate and check whether it is applicable for their country.

Once you have divided yourselves into groups of 3 to 4, each group will have to choose one of the following countries:

Italy, Norway, Egypt, Canada, Japan, Mexico, Ice land

Once you reach your country’s parliament, the president will assign a source of renewable energy to each of the team members.

When you’re assigned the type of energy, you have to look for websites on the Internet that can explain how this type of energy is created. After that, you will have to look deep into the country’s features such as rivers, waterfalls, the weather, etc. and check whether his type of energy could be used. When you’re ready from your research you have to present your findings in the form of a chart to show whether your type of energy can be used in your country. You will also have to prepare a short handout on the computer summarizing what you have said in the chart to distribute to the rest of the class.  

While the team members are doing their research, the president has to carry out a general research on the country itself and by taking into consideration things like the financial situation of the country, the area available and environmental concerns he/she will be able to make an informed decision as to which energy source will be used.

When the president makes the final decision he/she will have to present his members’ findings in a PowerPoint presentation that he will present at the World Energy Convention.

You have to act quickly as the convention is in a week’s time!!!

As soon as your type of energy is assigned you have to start off by browsing the internet for information and note down any relevant data that you find. Whether or not the type of energy can be used, you still have to present your findings in the form of a chart and short handout.

As for the president, you need to take charge of the situation, make sure that everyone is on task and do some background research yourself in order to make sure that you know enough about the various types of energies and your country.

Some questions that you might want to consider:

What is my country famous for?

Where does my energy come from?

How does my energy work?

Is it expensive?

What are the advantages and disadvantages of my energy source?

Here are some websites that might help you in your search:

Weather:                  www.windfinder.com

Solar Energy:            www.consumerenergycenter.org/renewables/solar/index.html

                                    javascript:nicTemp();                               

                                    www.nrel.gov/learning/re_solar.html

                                   javascript:nicTemp();

Biomass Energy:      www.consumerenergycenter.org/renewables/biomass/index.html

                                javascript:nicTemp();

                                www.bera1.org/about.html

                                javascript:nicTemp();

Geothermal Energy:                                                                                                                                    www.consumerenergycenter.org/renewables/geothermal/index.html

                                www.nrel.gov/learning/re_geothermal.html

                                www.sandia.gov/media/geother.htm

                                www.doe.gov/energysources/geothermal.htm

Hydro Energy:          www.consumerenergycenter.org/renewables/hydro/index.html

                               javascript:nicTemp();

                               www.canhydropower.org/hydro_e/p_hyd_b.html 

                               javascript:nicTemp();

Wind Energy:     www.consumerenergycenter.org/renewables/wind/index.html

                              javascript:nicTemp();

                              www.nrel.gov/learning/re_wind.html

                              javascript:nicTemp();

Congatulations!!!!!

The world energy conference is now over and you have done brilliantly. Your country is now investing in renewable sources of energy and it is all thanks to you!

By searching the various kinds of energy sources you have learnt a lot about renewable energy and how it works.

Angela Bartolo B.Ed (Hons.)-
Physics

Dawn Buhagiar B.Ed (Hons.)-
Biology

Donna Gatt B.Ed (Hons.)-
Physics

Focus:

This web quest is ideal
for Form 3 physics students. This mainly focuses on autonomous and discovery
learning. Pupils will be highly motivated by this imaginary situation and
hopefully feel the need to search for information, and thus increase their
understanding on alternative forms of energy.

Objective goals:

Ideally this web quest
is presented to the students after a brief introduction of the topic ‘work,
energy and power’. The main aim of this web quest is to get the students to get
a general overview of all the different alternative forms of energy. This would
also include some of their pros and cons. Through the use of this web quest, the
students will be encouraged to come up with the information themselves as
opposed to being just handed the information.

Resources:

Prerequisite skills:
confidence in the use of internet searching  

Time required:

Two single lessons,
and a double lesson. The first single lesson will be needed in order to get the
students orientated with what they need to do. It is very important that during this first lesson the students are split up into groups, and they must choose the country
that they will be representing.

The individual
research that they need to carry out on their assigned renewable energy is to
be done at home. Although websites have been suggested for all the different renewable
forms, students should be encouraged to explore the internet in order for their
presentations to be as innovative as possible. Each student will then need to find
a suitable way in which to present the information to the rest of their group (PowerPoint
presentation/charts). Students will also need to summarize what they have written in the form of a short handout, which is to be ideally completed on the computer. the handout will then be handed out to the rest of the students, thus serving as the class notes for renewable energy resources.

A single lesson will
then be needed for the president to make his/decision as to which would be the most
suited form of energy that should be used. The president will design the PowerPoint
presentation at home.

The double lesson will
be needed in order to carry World Energy Conference, in which all the presidents
will present their most suited forms of energy.