Energy culture as a determinant of a country’s position in the climate talks

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Energy culture as a determinant of a country’s position in the climate talks
https://cleanet.org/clean/community/activities/climate_talks.html

Tatyana Ruseva, Appalachian State University, CLEAN Community Collection

In this activity, students compare countries and nation states with high- and low-energy consumption rates within a specific region of the world. Students are encouraged to draw linkages between a country's energy culture and its position in multilateral climate negotiations.

Activity takes about 2-3 class periods.

Learn more about Teaching Climate Literacy and Energy Awareness»

See how this Activity supports the Next Generation Science Standards»

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High School

Disciplinary Core Ideas: 1

HS-ESS3.A2: All forms of energy production and other resource extraction have associated economic, social, environmental, and geopolitical costs and risks as well as benefits. New technologies and social regulations can change the balance of these factors.

Science and Engineering Practices: 3

Analyzing and Interpreting Data, Obtaining, Evaluating, and Communicating Information

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Analyzing and Interpreting Data, Obtaining, Evaluating, and Communicating Information

HS-P4.1: Analyze data using tools, technologies, and/or models (e.g., computational, mathematical) in order to make valid and reliable scientific claims or determine an optimal design solution.

HS-P8.1: Critically read scientific literature adapted for classroom use to determine the central ideas or conclusions and/or to obtain scientific and/or technical information to summarize complex evidence, concepts, processes, or information presented in a text by paraphrasing them in simpler but still accurate terms.

HS-P8.3: Gather, read, and evaluate scientific and/or technical information from multiple authoritative sources, assessing the evidence and usefulness of each source.

Grade Level

College Lower (13-14)
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College Upper (15-16)
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Topics

Energy Policy
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Energy Use
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Climate Literacy

This Activity builds on the following concepts of Climate Literacy.

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Humans can take action

Energy Literacy

This Activity builds on the following concepts of Energy Literacy.

Click a topic below for supporting information, teaching ideas, and sample activities.

Notes From Our Reviewers The CLEAN collection is hand-picked and rigorously reviewed for scientific accuracy and classroom effectiveness. Read what our review team had to say about this resource below or learn more about how CLEAN reviews teaching materials
Teaching Tips | Science | Pedagogy | Technical Details

Teaching Tips

Starting this activity with a lesson about international climate negotiations will provide a great framework for students to work in.
Educator should create a scoring rubric for the students before conducting this activity.
Suggested IPCC resource that looks at additional factors, beyond energy consumption http://www.ipcc.ch/publications_and_data/publications_and_data_reports.shtml.
Prior knowledge - students should understand the term "climate diplomacy".

About the Content

This activity uses various datasets to compare energy use around the world. Students will be asked to independently search the data to obtain information about their assigned country.
Links to good online sources for background information on energy use are provided.
Information about recent international climate debates and standpoints of nations is not provided.
Comments from expert scientist: Good references from EIA and IEA.

About the Pedagogy

The activity compares countries around the world and explicitly examines energy consumption of both high-income and low-income nations. This allows a focus on all types of cultures.
This activity presents a general layout for an engaging group activity, but it does not lay out all the documents and materials needed to use the activity. These would need to be generated by the instructor.

This resource engages students in using scientific data.
See other data-rich activities

Technical Details/Ease of Use

Instructor will have to create handouts and set guidelines for the student papers and posters.

Entered the Collection: January 2017 Last Reviewed: September 2016