Year 4 – Mining for Fossil Fuels
It All Started With A Chocolate Chip Cookie!
“Stop playing with your food!”
A command all our boys are very familiar with. Which is why Year Four’s first Unit of Inquiry lesson this term was taken on with a bit of apprehension, but a lot of enthusiasm as well.
The boys were provided with a piece of environment (a chocolate chip cookie), mining tools (a skewer) and given the task to extract all the fossil fuels they could find (chocolate chips). With a lot of self-discipline to resist eating the fossil fuels as they were extracted, the boys successfully began to mine through their cookie.
After it was time to put our tools down, the boys then converted the fossil fuels to energy (by eating them) and we came together to discuss our learning.
As a class we identified issues surrounding:
– impacts of mining for fossil fuels on the environment (the cookie no longer represented a cookie)
– fossil fuels are non-renewable sources of energy (once the chocolate chips were gone, a new cookie would be needed to find chocolate chips)
– the issue of the planet running out of fossil fuels and a need for renewable sources of energy such as solar, wind, water power etc.
This activity was just the instigator to a deeper inquiry into Climate Change as a result of burning fossil fuels for energy. The boys demonstrated research and thinking skills as they inquired into:
– What is Climate Change?
– Cause of Climate Change
– Impacts of Climate Change
– What can we do about Climate Change?
It didn’t take long for Year Four to see a need for more alternate sources of energy and make clear links to our Central Idea: Energy may be harnessed and produced from various sources, changed, stored and used for our benefit.
The boys described the need for energy sources that are renewable and have a low impact on our environment.
Year 4 have now split into small groups and have chosen a renewable energy source that they will inquire into throughout the term. They will use our Key Concepts of Form, Function and Responsibility to drive their inquiry process. The boys will share their learning with the class through their own ‘Energy Grid’ on our classroom wall.
It has already been an engaging and informative unit for the boys and we are all looking forward to where this Unit of Inquiry will take us as we investigate sustainable energy sources and their impact on our future.
Who would have thought that a chocolate chip cookie could do so much!
Shayne Pollard
Year 4 Teacher
