Energy

Day 26

Investigating Natural Gas Production and Consumption with GIS

Students will use My World GIS to investigate countries with natural gas reserves. Students will use GIS to investigate natural gas production and consumption for different countries. Students will examine how natural gas consumption and production have changed over a 28-year period, 1980 - 2008, both worldwide and in the US. They will also analyze relationships among countries’ natural gas consumption and their populations.
 
Note: This instructional sequence focuses primarily on teaching with My World GIS. Please consult the Investigating Natural Gas 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 natural gas commonly used for?
     
  2. Inform students that they will investigate countries with natural gas reserves and analyze natural gas production and consumption of countries.
     
  3. Distribute the Investigating Natural Gas Production and Consumption with My World GIS handout and investigation sheet to each student.
     
  4. Use an LCD projector to display My World at the front of the room.
     
  5. Instruct students to download the Gas Map.m3vz on to their computers from the student resources Web page.
     
  6. Ask students to open the Gas Map.m3vz file in My World GIS.
     
  7. Have students examine worldwide natural reserves. Instruct students to answer questions on their investigation sheets.
     
  8. Model how to use the Analyze Mode to analyze natural gas production, consumption, and population data. Illustrate how to do this with an example.
     
  9. Have students repeat this task on their computers as they answer questions on their investigation sheets. Guide the students as they do the task.
     
  10. Review and discuss student responses to key questions. Ask students if they have any questions about concepts covered in the lesson and respond to their questions.
    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 Natural Gas Production and Consumption with My World GIS Teacher Guide (PDF / MS Word) 

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

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


My World GIS File 

Gas Map (M3VZ)


My World Assessment Information 

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


Web GIS Handouts 

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

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

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


Web GIS

Energy Investigations


Web GIS Assessment Information 

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


Supplemental Homework Readings for Students 

Natural Gas (PDF)


Teacher Resources/Content Support 

Fossil Fuels

Fossil Fuels - Print Version (PDF)

My World GIS Gas Tutorial (QuickTime Video) 

Web GIS Gas Tutorial (QuickTime Video)