Classroom Resource

Fossil Fuels StudyJam

Subject Area

Science

Grade(s)

4, 6

Overview

Millions of years of heat and pressure turned the fossils of dead plants and animals into deposits of fuel, such as oil, natural gas, and coal. Fossil fuels are a non-renewable resource, and they create pollution, so it is important to conserve them.

The classroom resource provides a slide show that will describe fossil fuels and explain how they are formed. There is also a short test that can be used to assess students' understanding.

Science (2015) Grade(s): 4

SC15.4.5

Compile information to describe how the use of energy derived from natural renewable and nonrenewable resources affects the environment (e.g., constructing dams to harness energy from water, a renewable resource, while causing a loss of animal habitats; burning of fossil fuels, a nonrenewable resource, while causing an increase in air pollution; installing solar panels to harness energy from the sun, a renewable resource, while requiring specialized materials that necessitate mining).

Unpacked Content

UP:SC15.4.5

Vocabulary

  • natural resources
  • natural renewable resources
  • nonrenewable resources
  • fossil fuels
  • air pollution
  • pollution
  • solar energy
  • environment
  • effects
  • affects
  • habitat
  • solar panel
  • impact
  • solution
  • derived
  • harness

Knowledge

Students know:
  • How energy is derived from natural resources.
  • How energy resources derived from natural resources address human energy needs.
  • Positive and negative environmental effects of using each energy resource.
  • The role of technology in improving or mediating the environmental effects of using a given resource.

Skills

Students are able to:
  • Waves, which are the regular patterns of motion, can be made in water by disturbing the surface.
  • When waves move across the surface of deep water, the water goes up and down in place; there is no net motion in the direction of the wave except when the water meets a beach.
  • Waves of the same type can differ in amplitude (height of the wave) and wavelength (spacing between wave peaks).

Understanding

Students understand that:
  • Energy and fuels that humans use are derived from natural sources, and their use affects the environment in numerous ways.
  • Resources are renewable over time, while others are not.

Scientific and Engineering Practices

Obtaining, Evaluating, and Communicating Information

Crosscutting Concepts

Cause and Effect
Science (2015) Grade(s): 6

SC15.6.10

Use research-based evidence to propose a scientific explanation regarding how the distribution of Earth’s resources such as minerals, fossil fuels, and groundwater are the result of ongoing geoscience processes (e.g., past volcanic and hydrothermal activity, burial of organic sediments, active weathering of rock).

Unpacked Content

UP:SC15.6.10

Vocabulary

  • Natural resources
  • Minerals
  • Fossil Fuels
  • Groundwater
  • Geoscience processes
  • Distribution
  • Extraction
  • Depletion
  • Water cycle
  • Rock cycle
  • Plate tectonics

Knowledge

Students know:
  • Humans depend on Earth's land, ocean, atmosphere, and biosphere for many different resources.
  • These resources are distributed unevenly around the planet as a result of past geoscience processes.
  • The water cycle, the rock cycle, and plate tectonics are examples of geoscience processes that distribute Earth's resources.
  • The environment or conditions that formed the resources are specific to certain areas and/or times on Earth, thus identifying why those resources are found only in those specific places/periods.
  • The extraction and use of resources by humans decreases the amounts of these resources available in some locations and changes the overall distribution of these resources on Earth
  • As resources as used, they are depleted from the sources until they can be replenished, mainly through geoscience processes.

Skills

Students are able to:
  • Articulate a statement that relates a given phenomenon to a scientific idea, including that ongoing geoscience processes have caused the distribution of the Earth's resources.
  • Identify and use multiple valid and reliable sources of evidence to construct a scientific explanation of the phenomenon.
  • Use reasoning to connect the evidence and support an explanation of the distribution of Earth's resources.

Understanding

Students understand that:
  • The Earth's resources are formed as a result of past and ongoing geoscience processes.
  • These resources are distributed unevenly around the planet as a result of past and ongoing geoscience processes.
  • The extraction and use of resources by humans decreases the amounts of these resources available in some locations and changes the overall distribution of these resources on Earth.
  • Because many resources continue to be formed in the same ways that they were in the past, and because the amount of time required to form most of these resources (e.g., minerals, fossil fuels) is much longer than timescales of human lifetimes, these resources are limited to current and near-future generations. Some resources (e.g., groundwater) can be replenished on human timescales and are limited based on distribution.

Scientific and Engineering Practices

Constructing Explanations and Designing Solutions

Crosscutting Concepts

Cause and Effect
Link to Resource
https://studyjams.scholastic.com/studyjams/jams/science/energy-light-sound/foss…

CR Resource Type

Interactive/Game

Resource Provider

http://studyjams.scholastic.com/
Accessibility
License

License Type

Custom

Custom License Type (URL)

http://www.scholastic.com/terms.htm

Comments or Notes

The test may be completed as a whole group or independently on student devices.

Approved Date

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