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INTRODUCTION
These Teaching Tips will help you prepare for and utilize this interactive lesson in your classroom.

About this Lesson
This lesson asks students to decide how best to balance a city’s need for electricity with concern for the environment. As director of the (fictitious) Greenville Light & Power Department, each student will evaluate three proposals offered to them, which contain both fossil fuel and renewable energy options. Students will use three criteria: availability, cost, and reliability of the different energy sources. To do this, they’ll gather and then analyze evidence presented in the lesson materials, which include videos, maps and other graphical data, and informational text. As a final assessment, students will write an evidence-based argument that supports their decision.

Standards
The lesson supports the following disciplinary core ideas and science and engineering practice from the Next Generation Science Standards:

DCIs
ESS3.A: Natural Resources
All forms of energy production and other resource extraction have associated economic, social, environmental, and geopolitical costs and risks as well as benefits. New technologies and social regulations can change the balance of these factors.
ETS1.B: Developing Possible Solutions
When evaluating solutions, it is important to take into account a range of constraints, including cost, safety, reliability, and aesthetics, and to consider social, cultural, and environmental impacts. (secondary)

The Practice
Engaging in Argument from Evidence
Engaging in argument from evidence in 9–12 builds on K–8 experiences and progresses to using appropriate and sufficient evidence and scientific reasoning to defend and critique claims and explanations about natural and designed world(s). Arguments may also come from current scientific or historical episodes in science.

• Evaluate competing design solutions to a real-world problem based on scientific ideas and principles, empirical evidence, and logical arguments regarding relevant factors (e.g., economic, societal, environmental, ethical considerations).

The lesson also supports Writing in Literacy in History/Social Studies, Science, and Technical Subjects in the Common Core State Standards, as well as similar state standards.

Interactive Tools
Students are assisted in their inquiry by a variety of tools. The information they save or submit in most of these tools, including their notes, is automatically collected in their “My Work” record. This lesson makes use of the following tools:

Take Notes
Throughout the lesson, this tool records students’ notes in response to onscreen prompts. Students may be asked to respond to a question, list information, analyze a primary source (including photographs or visual images), or react to the videos. In some cases, there is a free-text field for entering notes, and in others, there is a table or chart with blank cells for students to complete.

Review It! (Quizzes)
Students can answer multiple choice or true/false questions and get feedback.

Highlight It!
To practice close reading, students are asked to highlight words, phrases, or sections of the video transcript that pertain to a given topic.

Write It!
Students use this tool to complete their final writing assignment. It provides three options: using a built-in onscreen editor, uploading a document they have written in another application, or providing a link to a document in an online service such as Google Drive. Let students know which method they should use. They can refer to their saved notes as they work on their assignment. 
They can also use Write It to upload or link to a non-textual assignment such as a drawing, a storyboard, a podcast, or a video.

Highlight and Comment
Students are asked to take notes using a highlight and comment feature. They can select any text on a page and then append their comments or annotations to the highlighted words. These are saved automatically in their copy of the lesson, but are not compiled as part of “My Work.” To review them, students should look back at the relevant pages of the lesson.

COMPLETING THE LESSONS

Before the Lesson
Use these tips to help you become familiar with the lessons and adapt them, as necessary, for the needs of your students.

• Go through each page, including all of the interactive tools, so that you can experience ahead of time what students will be doing. As you go through each page, jot down your own expectations for students’ responses.
• After you have reviewed the lesson, decide whether you will need to provide additional background information for students so that they can better understand the context of the lesson. NOVA, the show that produced the program from which the videos in the lesson were adapted, hosts a video library in the Energy section of the NOVA Labs site. Various titles examine how we use energy in our daily lives, converting energy from one form to another, a “smarter” electrical grid, and pros and cons of solar and wind power.
• Important note about lesson design: This lesson is designed around an activity—deciding on one of three proposed solutions—that purposely has no “right” answer. The central task to the lesson is making an evidence-based argument for one or another option. Students will use the lesson media as the key source of evidence to support their choice (argument) or refute another option. The key point of the lesson (objective) is how well they support and defend their choice using evidence drawn from the video clips. The lesson also revolves around a fictitious city: Greenville. By keeping the city generic, students will consider the broader perspective and pros/cons of each option in a way that is reflective of the narrative of the videos. Students will come to a decision based on the most compelling and relevant information from the lesson, as well as the knowledge and perspectives they bring to the lesson, rather than making choices to fit a particular city’s context.
• Review common note-taking techniques with students. As you may have already discussed in class, notes can be words, phrases, or sentences and should represent what students think are the most important aspects of what they see and hear.
• Determine if students will be working individually, in pairs, or in groups, or if you will be presenting all or parts of the lesson to the whole class at once.
• Decide whether you want to expand the lesson to include class discussion, debate, or other whole-group activities. If so, determine where students should pause their independent work so that everyone is at the same place for the discussion or activity. 
• The text contains definitions for terms and words relevant to the content. However, for general vocabulary, and especially for primary source materials, you may want to preview additional words and/or concepts that students could find unfamiliar or challenging. 
• Explain to students the timeline for completing the lesson. Mention the different types of activities they will encounter and let them know how you expect them to submit their work. You may want to provide an outline of this information on a chart, chalkboard, or whiteboard, or as a handout.
• Remind students that they can watch the videos as many times as they choose. 

During the Lesson
In most cases, students are expected to work through the lesson on their own or in pairs, except for classes that may require teacher facilitation throughout (such as for younger students). Even when students are working on their own, teachers should be available to keep the lesson on track, organize groupings, facilitate discussion, answer questions, and ensure that students meet all learning goals. It may be useful to review students’ notes midway through the lesson to make sure they have understood the materials thus far. Be sure that they are taking adequate notes so that they can complete the final assignment. If students show interest in a particular element of the lesson, you may pause the lesson for a class discussion.

ASSESSMENT

Modification of the Final Assignment
If appropriate to your curriculum, or if students would benefit from differentiated instruction, you may want modify the final assignment or activity. In this case, provide students with alternative instructions in a separate printout.

Extending the Lesson
Have students develop a deeper understanding of the finite nature of fossil fuels. They might research statistics on how much coal, oil, or natural gas we’ve used (historically) for electricity or other energy purposes. Or they might make actual calculations for how soon we’ll deplete these resources based on known supplies and how fast we’re currently burning them.

For a more data-driven activity, have students visit NOVA's Energy Lab Interactive and try the Research Challenge. They can use scientific data to design renewable energy systems for cities across the U.S.—and compete with others to see whose designs can produce the most power.

Hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, is referenced in The Hidden Costs sidebar on Page 5. Have students learn more about this controversial extraction technique. While fracking has significantly increased natural gas supplies in the United States, it has prompted much debate over its impact on human health and the environment. Resources on PBS LearningMedia from Need to Know and SciTech Now contain video and support materials to facilitate further examination on the topic. Students may then debate whether fracking is a good idea for our country as it seeks to meet its energy needs.

Organize an in-school field trip to the boiler room (or solar installation, if there is one) so that students can understand the type of energy the school—and many other buildings—runs on and why.

Sharing, Reflection, and Self-Assessment
After students have submitted their final assignments, offer them a chance to share their written ideas or expressions with the whole class, such as posting their work on a class website. Have students discuss both what they have learned and the self-paced process they used. You may want to use the following questions:

• What did you learn?
• What was surprising?
• What questions do you still have?
• What was the easiest for you to understand and do? What was the most difficult? 

Peer Review
Once students have submitted their completed assignments, consider incorporating peer review into the process, using your preferred method or one of the following: 

• Praise/Question/Polish: Have the student reviewer praise the work, ask any questions he or she may have, and offer one suggestion for improvement. 

• Keep/Change/Add/Delete/Move: Ask student reviewers to pick three of these five “verbs” and give their feedback accordingly. 

• Claim/Evidence: Have student reviewers complete the following sentences: 

• The main idea of this assignment is ___________________________.
• The most compelling evidence offered in this assignment is _______________. 

Lesson Assessment
In addition to the final assignment, the work that students do throughout the lesson should be monitored so that it serves as part of a formative assessment. You may also include a student’s participation in class discussion (if you have added that to the lesson). 

Below is a rubric that you may use for assessing the final essay: 

Excellent: Provides a clear and accurate response to the question in a well-organized format that follows the essay structure—introduction, three supporting paragraphs, and conclusion— and includes clear transitions between paragraphs. Ideas are elaborated and well supported by quotations from or references to primary and secondary sources. Subject-specific vocabulary is used in the correct context.  

Good: Provides an adequate response to the question that follows the essay structure. Ideas are generally well organized and are supported by relevant quotations from or references to primary and secondary sources.  

Fair: Provides a generally accurate response to the question that may be supported by quotations from or references to primary and secondary sources. Response may follow part of the essay structure. 

Poor: Provides an inaccurate response to the question or fails to address the question. May include misinterpretations. Understanding of the topic is not apparent.