Energy

Day 25

Investigating Coal Production and Consumption with GIS

Students will use My World GIS or Web GIS to investigate where coal reserves are located in the USA. Students will use GIS to investigate coal production and consumption for different countries. Students will examine how coal consumption and production have changed over a 28-year period, 1980 - 2008, both worldwide and in the US. They will also analyze relationships between coal consumption and country populations.
 
Note: This instructional sequence focuses primarily on teaching with My World GIS. Please consult the Investigating Coal Production and Consumption with Web GIS Teacher Guide below for instructional support for teaching with the Energy Investigations Web GIS.
 
Video overviews of the learning activity are located below in the Teacher Resources/Content Support section of this Web page. These overviews show how to use the GIS for data analysis in the investigation. You may wish to show your students an overview video as you introduce the learning activity.
 
 
  1. Ask students to respond to the following question in their journals. What is coal commonly used for?
     
  2. Inform students that they will investigate US coal reserves and analyze coal production and consumption of countries.
     
  3. Distribute the Investigating Coal Production and Consumption with My World GIS handout and investigation sheet to each student.
     
  4. Instruct students to download the Coal Map.m3vz on to their computers from the student resources Web page and open it in My World GIS.
     
  5. Have students examine USA and worldwide coal reserves. Instruct students to answer questions on their investigation sheets.
     
  6. Use an LCD projector to display My World at the front of the room. Model how to use the Analyze Mode to analyze coal production, consumption, and population data. Illustrate how to do this with an example.
     
  7. Have students repeat this task on their computers as they answer questions on their investigation sheets. Guide the students as they do the task.
     
  8. Review and discuss aloud student responses to key questions.Ask students if they have any questions about concepts covered in the lesson and respond to their questions.
     
  9. If students at the completion of the activity do not understand that in many countries, as population increases so does a country's coal consumption, modify instruction to ensure students understand this concept.
     
  1. Have students close and not save any changes they made to the My World GIS file when they finish (if other students in later classes will use the file).

Materials Needed:
 

My World Handouts 

(1) Investigating Coal Production and Consumption with My World GIS Teacher Guide (PDF / MS Word) 

(2) Investigating Coal Production and Consumption with My World GIS Student Handout (PDF / MS Word) 

(3) Investigating Coal Production and Consumption with My World GIS Investigation Sheet (PDF / MS Word)


My World GIS File 

Coal Map (M3VZ)


My World Assessment Information 

Investigating Coal Production and Consumption with My World GIS Assessment (PDF / MS Word)


Web GIS Handouts 

(1) Investigating Coal Production and Consumption with Web GIS Teacher Guide (PDF / MS Word) 

(2) Investigating Coal Production and Consumption with Web GIS Student Handout (PDF / MS Word) 

(3) Investigating Coal Production and Consumption with Web GIS Investigation Sheet (PDF / MS Word)


Web GIS

Energy Investigations


Web GIS Assessment Information 

Investigating Coal Production and Consumption with Web GIS Assessment (PDF / MS Word)


Supplemental Homework Readings for Students 

Coal (PDF)


Teacher Resources/Content Support 

Fossil Fuels

Fossil Fuels - Print Version (PDF) 

Web GIS Coal Tutorial (QuickTime Video)