Lesson Plan

Explore how to accelerate the phase-out of coal

COP26-01_02

Intent

Lesson Outcomes

  • Understand how to accelerate the phase-out of coal 
  • Describe the steps needed to implement and to accelerate the phase-out of coal 
  • Implement the steps to accelerate the achievable phase-out of coal in day-to-day life

Sustainability and Climate Change (Provisional Framework):

  • Give young people a sense of agency where anxiety stems from climate concerns

Working Scientifically

  • Recording data and results of increasing complexity using scientific diagrams and labels, classification keys, tables, scatter graphs and bar and line graphs

Resources

Resources: Class presentation, pens and pencils. 

Handout: Complete a personal audit which identifies your personal carbon footprint.

Rocket words

  • coal
  • atmosphere
  • COP
  • emissions
  • acid rain

Implementation

Starter

Highlight an area of the classroom to act as a percentage scale (i.e. a space by the board is 0% and the opposite side of the room is 100%.) Ask the children ‘in 2020, what percentage of our electricity was fuelled by coal?’ and allow them to go and stand where they think the percentage lies. Then ask ‘in 2015, what percentage of our electricity was powered by coal?’ Use the children's movements and placements on the 'scale' to assess their understanding of the previous lesson and answer and questions.

Main Teaching

Use the presentation slides to work through the following questions with the children. What steps can you take personally and as a school which will support actions to stop coal being used? What organisations and campaigns support the pursuit of low carbon energy? How can we support them, both as a school and individually?

Fact Film: Parts of India are facing power outages owing to the coal shortage crisis | Power Plants | English News - How can India access power without coal?

Career Film: This is Christian Sellars. Christian works as a Research Technologist for National Nuclear Laboratory.

Expert Film: This is Christian Sellars. Christian works as a Research Technologist for National Nuclear Laboratory. Christian talks about where the energy you use comes from.

Mission Assignment

Ask the children to complete a personal audit which outlines their own carbon footprint. How can they model the behaviour they are seeking others to take in their own lives?

The activity sheet (handout/rocket number 2) contains a format for the children to complete their personal audit and to identify the areas of their life that contribute most and least to their carbon footprint.

Challenge task: Ask the children to create a pie chart to show how much energy they use in the following areas:

  • Approximately how many miles they travel by car, bus, train and plane.
  • The energy usage in their home.
  • How much money they spend on shopping.
  • The composition of their diet.

Impact & Assessment Opportunities

Plenary

Ask the children to discuss the areas of their pie chart that they wish to reduce and the areas which they wish to change.