Lesson 2: Where Does Coal Come From?

Creator: Ashley Ashbeck

C&I 371, Spring 2009

Lesson 2: From Coal to Outlet: Where Does Coal Come From?

Grade Level: 1st Grade

Unit Topic: Energy Conservation

Time Needed: 60 minutes

Lesson Context: This second lesson in the unit on “energy conservation” is following an introductory lesson that brought to the surface the ideas and understandings the students have of what energy and saving energy is. This lesson introduces the students to the main non-renewable energy source that we get more than half of our electricity from—coal. We will explore how coal is formed and mined—the activities and discussions will bring up two important and oftentimes controversial issues surrounding coal mining:

1.        Coal is a non-renewable resource with only a limited supply—as consumers of coal, we need to monitor and limit our use of its energy in order to extend the coal reserves.

2.        The mining of coal, both surface and deep, can have extreme environmental impacts on the land and its restoration.

The lesson that will follow this will provide the students with activities and discussion that will allow them to understand how coal is transformed into electricity, and how it is carried to our homes and schools.

MMSD Standards:

·         Give examples of how economic resources in the home, school, and community are limited (scarcity) and how people must make choices about how to use these resources.

UW-Madison Teacher Standards:

·         STANDARD 5: EXPLAINS AND JUSTIFIES EDUCATIONAL CHOICESTeachers can articulate and defend their curricular and instructional choices with sound ethical and pedagogical justifications.

o    Because coal contributes to more than half of the electricity produced, I felt it important for the students to learn where that coal comes from, and to learn and have a reaction to what coal mining does for the environment, and how our own usage of electricity affects the reserve levels of coal. And because coal is non-renewable, we as responsible members of society must try to preserve those coal reserves for as long as we can—which means using less electricity.

Wisconsin DPI Social Studies Standards:

·         A.4.4 Describe and give examples of ways in which people interact with the physical environment, including use of land, location of communities, methods of construction, and design of shelters.

o    Students experience this first-hand when they “mine” their chocolate chip cookie, and then try to pieces it back together.

Content Objectives:

                Students will learn that...

·         Coal is used to create more than half of the energy (electricity) we use—it is what we call an energy source.

·         We get our energy from multiple sources—the sun, wind, water, natural gas, biomass, and coal.

·         Much of the land that we mine coal from today was once covered by ocean millions of years ago—that ocean slowly became swamp as the water left the land, and that swamp contained many plants.

·         Coal is formed far underneath the ground from dead plants that have been buried and compressed.

·         The United States has the world’s largest known coal reserves. The coal is mined in mainly three regions of the country—the Western Region, the Interior Region, and the Appalachian Region—with Wyoming in the Western Region mining the most coal.

·         Because coal is buried and hidden underneath the ground, we can’t see it and therefore it’s hard to know exactly how much coal we have left to mine.

·         Surface mining is done when coal is located close to the surface (less than 200 feet underground), and underground mining is done when the coal is located far underneath the ground (up to even 1,000 feet underground).

·         Coal is called a non-renewable resource because it takes millions of years for it to form, and because it takes so long to form, once we use it all up there won’t be any left.

·         The United States government estimates that if we keep using the high amounts of energy we are using, we will use up all of our coal reserves in 225 years.

Process Objectives:

                Students will…

·         Observe a model of how coal is formed.

·         Predict how many chocolate chips (pieces of coal) they will mine from their cookie.

·         Model the mining process by “mining” chocolate chip cookies, experiencing the difference between surface mining and underground mining.

·         Brainstorm the positive and negative effects that surface and underground mining have on restoring the land.

Materials:

·         **Contact your local utility company and ask whether they have coal samples available for classroom use. Typically, there are samples of coal fresh off the train, after the coal has gone through the crusher (size of small pebbles), after the pulverizer (a fine powder), and then fly ash (the residue after going through the boiler).

·         From Lesson 1, get a count of how many students categorized coal as creating energy and having energy.

·         Pictures categorized in Lesson 1 (Attachment A)

·         Computer projector

·         Laptop

·         PowerPoint

·         Dead plant leaves, a few green plant leaves

·         Sand

·         Water

·         Larger, flat, clear container

·         Syringe

·         Paper clips

·         Toothpicks

·         Paper plates

·         Napkins

·         Large, soft chocolate chip cookies

Procedure:

·         Without talking, go to the light switch and turn off the classroom lights. When the students notice what you’ve done, turn the lights back on and ask, what are we using when we turn the lights on? (Electricity.) Then ask the question, where do we get our electricity from? Brainstorm and write what the students suggest on the board.

·         Show the students a piece of coal and ask them what they think it is. Tell them it’s a piece of coal, and then ask them whether they think coal creates energy and has energy. Remind them of the class numbers for how many categorized coal as creating energy and having energy. Coal is used to create more than half of the energy (electricity) we use—it is what we call an energy source. Pull out the coal picture that the students categorized in Lesson 1, along with the rest of the pictures. Tell the students that, along with coal, we get our energy from other sources as well. We get our energy from multiple sources—the sun, wind, water, natural gas, biomass, and coal. Pull these clip art pictures out of the pile from Lesson 1 to show the students. We are going to first focus on how this black piece of coal can turn our lights on! The students will be following the path that a piece of coal takes from under the ground before it’s mined, to the electricity that is used when we turn on the light switch.

·         Model of Coal Formation: Gather the students around a table for a demonstration of how coal is formed. Tell them that coal doesn’t just exist like this, it is formed over millions of years underneath the ground. Pour a layer of sand in the container and then a layer of the green and dead leaves—pour in enough water slowly so that the sand and leaves are submerged in water. Much of the land that we mine coal from today was once covered by ocean millions of years ago—that ocean slowly became swamp as the water left the land, and that swamp contained many plants. Remove some of the water from the container using a syringe. As time went on, that layer of plants would get covered by sediment and buried, more plants would grow on top, those would get covered by sediment and buried, and the cycle would continue. Create a few layers of leaves and dirt to model this process. All of this layering created pressure that would press down on the plants that were buried, and would compress them—which means pack them together really tight. With a layer of sand on top of your model, press down with your hand to simulate the compacting of the plant material. Coal is formed far underneath the ground from dead plants that have been buried and compressed. Stress that is takes MILLIONS of years for coal to form.

·         Start the PowerPoint slides of the Powder River Basin in Wyoming, and tell them that this coal mine is one of many in the United States. The United States has the world’s largest known coal reserves. The coal is mined in mainly three regions of the country—the Western Region, the Interior Region, and the Appalachian Region—with Wyoming in the Western Region mining the most coal. Show the slide of the United States with these coal mining regions highlighted. Explain using the PowerPoint slides how coal is mined from the reserves, taking the coal up to the point of being loaded on trains to be shipped out.

·         Coal Mining Activity: Hand out the paper clips and toothpicks, plates, and napkins. The paper clips and toothpicks are the students’ mining tools. Distribute the cookies. The students are going to be coal miners for this activity. Ask the students what they think the chocolate chips represent and the cookie part represent—chips=coal, cookie=land. Have the students predict how many chips they think they’re going to mine from their cookie—write those predictions on the board. Warn the students that they are to not eat any part of the cookie until they’re told they can—they will eventually get to eat them. Let the students mine their cookie. When they’ve finished, have them count the number of chips they mined, and record that number on the board next to their predictions.

o    As a wrap-up to this activity, ask the following questions:

§ How close were you to your prediction of how many chips you could mine?

·         Make sure to hit on the point that, because coal is buried and hidden underneath the ground, we can’t see it and therefore it’s hard to know exactly how much coal we have left to mine.

§ Was it harder to mine the chips that were at the top of your cookie, or buried inside your cookie?

·         Touch on the two types of mining—surface mining and underground (deep) mining. Surface mining is done when coal is located close to the surface (less than 200 feet underground), and underground mining is done when the coal is located far underneath the ground (up to even 1,000 feet underground). Talk about how each type of mining is done, focusing especially on what is done to the land.

o    Have the students try to piece their cookie back together now that they’ve mined all of the coal out of the land. Ask them whether this was easy or hard? Were they able to piece the land back together? Lead this into a discussion of the positive and negative effects that surface and underground mining have on the land and restoring the land. Create a pro-con chart to document the students’ contributions.

·         Lesson Closure: Gather the students in a circle on the carpet. Use a piece of coal (wrapped in a plastic bag) as the talking piece for this closing discussion. Ask the question, do you think coal mining is good or bad for the environment? See where this question leads. Tell the students that, coal is called a non-renewable resource because it takes millions of years for it to form, and because it takes so long to form, once we use it all up there won’t be any left. Inform the students that each year the United States uses more and more coal to produce energy (electricity). The United States government estimates that if we keep using the high amounts of energy we are using, we will use up all of our coal reserves in 225 years.

Assessment:

Informal: I will be looking for participation on the part of the students—watching the model with engagement, asking questions, and contributing to the discussion. Participation in this lesson also involves the student thoughtfully estimating how many pieces of “coal” they can mine from their cookie, following the directions and taking the mining activity seriously, and then making an effort in trying to piece their cookie back together.

Formal: As a student’s “ticket out the door,” I would write the following prompt on the board: Today I learned….and this made me feel….. The students’ tickets will serve as a formal assessment for me to see what was the most salient concept or fact that they learned, and also how it made them feel.

Resources:

(2008). Coal—A fossil fuel. Retrieved April 10, 2009, from                                    http://www.eia.doe.gov/kids/energyfacts/sources/non-renewable/coal.html