To My Folks (6Th Graders) at P.S. 78

To my folks (6th graders) at P.S. 78:

President Obama here.

Look….the good ol’ U.S. of A is in quite a “pickle” recently…the Presidential Election is crazy, Americans are fighting each other, scary clowns roam the streets, and to top it off, everybody has forgotten about climate change! We need smart people to create an energy policy for the future – one that uses clean energy, but at the same time keeps America the richest country in the world. That’s where you come in.

I am assigning you the difficult task of researching the top energy sources for the United States – where our energy comes from:  Fossil fuels (Coal, oil, and natural gas)  Solar power  Nuclear power  Wind power  Water power (Hydroelectric, tidal, and wave power)  Geothermal energy  Biomass  Experimental/cutting-edge energy sources

But which energy is the energy of our future? Your team will prepare a report on one of these energy sources.

After each team presents its findings, you will make your final recommendations to me. Which energies will lead us to the future, and which power will spell doom for the human race? Don’t let me down.

Sincerely,

Team Jobs Job 1 - Introduction/definition – 3 slides 1. Define the energy source. Where does the energy come from? 2. Are there different forms/versions of the energy source? 3. How do humans actually “harness” the energy, using technology and engineering?

Job 2 - Pros and Cons – 6 slides 1. Explain at least 3 advantages of using the energy source (3 slides) 2. And 3 disadvantages of using the energy source. (3 slides)

Job 3 – Renewable or nonrenewable – 3 slides 1. Is the energy “renewable” or “nonrenewable”? 2. Why do you think it is categorized as renewable or nonrenewable? 3. If it is nonrenewable, when will we run out of it? If it is renewable, how exactly is the energy replaced? Go into detail.

Final slide or slides: All group members - Do you think this is the energy of the future? Why or why not?

Resources  Eia.gov/kids  Eia.gov  Other middle-school or high-school level websites which you can search

Rubric You are graded as an individual on these categories: 1 Point – Below 2 Points – 3 Points – 4 Points – Above Standards Approaching Meeting Standards Standards Standards Research Little evidence of Some evidence of Necessary Extra research detail research research level of using many research website sources Media All three areas – images, Lacking in two Lacking in one Uses a perfect audio, and text – are areas – images, area – images, balance of insufficient audio, or text audio, or text images, audio, and text Presentation/ Very unclear Ideas are Ideas are Deeply engaging - Commun- presentation/ communicated communicated holds attention of ication skills communication somewhat clearly effectively – audience – in not too simple, addition to level not too 3 complicated