Dear Diary

Teacher: Diana Turner / Lynn Salazar, Shadow Ridge Alternative High School, Hesperia Unified School District

Objectives

Students will identify ways in which their personal use of energy contributes to carbon dioxide emissions.

• Subjects: Science
• Suggested Grade Level: 5 to 7
• California Standards Addressed:
  • Investigation and Experimentation
  • Scientific progress is made by asking meaningful questions and conducting careful investigations.
    • Classify objects in accordance with appropriate criteria
    • Develop a testable question
    • Plan and conduct a simple investigation
• Time: Will vary according to required modifications for students, generally 2 to 5 days.

Materials

• Paper
• Pencil
• Dry-erase board, pencils, color pencils

Preparation and Background

Brainstorm what carbon dioxide is during journal time. Then discuss some facts about carbon dioxide. Carbon dioxide is considered to be the largest contributor to the green house gases. More than half of the electricity produced in this country comes from utility plants powered by coal. Coal burning is our largest source of carbon dioxide, the major green house gas.

Procedure

• Students will become familiar with one of the major sources of carbon dioxide: the production of electricity. They will identify ways in which they might decrease their contribution to the carbon dioxide in our atmosphere by decreasing their use of electricity.
• This activity helps to show students their potential impact on global warming. Most people believe that air pollution is a problem caused by factories and cars. This makes them feel they can do nothing to help alleviate air pollution problems.
• However, this is not the case. The largest contributor to excess carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is from the burning of fossil fuels. We burn fossil fuels directly in our cars. But our largest contribution to excess carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is from our use electricity. Every time we use electricity, we are contributing to greenhouse gas emissions. (draw visuals to exhibit these concepts).
• In your “Green Diary” (have students make a front cover and decorate it ahead of time), write down ways that you contribute to carbon dioxide in our community.
• After 15 minutes, break students up into small groups of 3 or 4 and have them discuss their responses. Then, have staff group leader chart the responses on a dry erase board.
• In a follow-up activity, have students create a poster that says “Ways that we contribute to carbon dioxide in our community.”