Environmental
Impact of Energy
Program
Area
This activity
is designed for use in the Grade 10 Geography of Canada and Grade
9 Self and Society programs. The activity integrates the social
and environmental study of energy and natural resource use utilizing
reading and writing skills from the Languages program. In the
Grade 10 Geography of Canada program this activity should be used
as a focused study on energy within the units on Natural Resources
and Canada At Work: Commerce and Industry. Within the Grade 9
Self and Society program this activity could be used to investigate
the effect of technology and change on social and environmental
issues and opportunities.
Learning
Outcomes
Teaching,
learning and evaluation will focus on the student's ability to:
- Investigate
and evaluate the impact of new technologies on Canada's environment,
economy and culture;
- Outline
ways of managing renewable and nonrenewable natural resources
for a sustainable society;Ķ
- Comprehend,
organize and evaluate information from a variety of sources.
Classroom
Development
- Assign
students in pairs. Each pair will be assigned an Energy Factsheet
and a Research Organizer Sheet. There are 13 factsheets, so
plan according to your class size. These factsheets are available
from the Energy Educators of Ontario.
- Each
student pair will complete the Research Organizer based on its
fact sheet. Each pair of students will then prepare a 5 min
presentation to the class based on the information in its factsheet
and organizer. Students should follow the format of the organizer
in their presentation.
- Schedule
the class for a 5 min presentation by each set of students.
The class will be responsible for taking notes based on the
presentations. Students should develop a mini-organizer in their
notebooks for each topic. This will allow them to record organized
point form notes.
- Discuss
the activity with the class. Consider the following:
a) Which is the most important energy resource at present? Why?
b) Which resource will be most important in the future? Why?
c) Which energy resource has the most negative environmental
impact? Why?
d) Which energy resource has the least negative environmental
impact? Why?
e) What might Canada's energy future look like?
Background
Information
This topic
is covered well in The State of Canada's Environment (1991),
Chapter 12 Energy: a balance of power, which provides an overview
of energy supply, use, environmental impacts and management issues
in an up-to-date Canadian context. The National Geographic
Special Report On Energy, February, 1981 provides a good review
of these issues.
Timing
Allow 50-70
min to prepare. Presentations and final discussion should take
50-70.
Resources
Canada,
Ministry of Supply and Services. The State of Canada's Environment
(1991). Ottawa: Canada Communication Group.
Energy Educators
of Ontario. Energy Fact Sheets. Toronto: Energy Educators
of Ontario.
Student
Material
- Energy
Fact Sheets: from Energy Educators. Call (416) 323-9216.
- Energy
Fact Sheet Organizer
Research
Organizer Sheet
Topic: |
Origins and Use:
|
Environmental Impact:
|
Conclusions/ Limitations:
|
Conclusions/ Future Potential:
|
Other:
|
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