Students practice graphing data, research historical events, and analyze the graphs in this guide and the Energy Information Administration's Energy Perspectives booklet to determine and explain energy trends in the United States during the last 50 years.
This interactive mapping activity will help students understand the relationship between the population of a given state and the amount of energy consumed there.
Students will construct a topographical map of the United States, including the outer continental shelf and exclusive economic zone, that shows the major land and underwater formations. Students are then divided into groups to research and prepare short presentations on the various resources, where they are located, how they were formed, how they can be recovered, their uses and economic benefits, and the environmental impacts associated with their recovery.
Students will work cooperatively to evaluate the advantages and disadvantages of the energy sources used to generate electricity by developing energy plans for a fictitious country and presenting the plans to the class.