Provided by: Project Look Sharp |Published on: April 27, 2021
Lesson Plans Grades 6-8
Synopsis
In this activity, students will analyze and interpret information about hydrofracking from the American Petroleum Institute, Water Defense, and the National Institutes for Health.
This resource includes a lesson plan, a student handout, a student worksheet, and two video clips.
This lesson requires students to think critically about hydrofracking.
This lesson does a good job of showing the difference between biased material and unbiased material.
Additional Prerequisites
Teachers must make a free account to use this resource.
This handout will help students to understand how to analyze media messages.
Teachers may want to research the sources to understand the different perspectives and biases.
The lesson plan refers to a "constructivist media decoding process," details about which can be found here. These materials will help teachers understand the goals and design of the lesson.
Differentiation
Students can respond to the questions individually or in small groups before discussing the answers as a class.
Students can create a commercial that explains the risks and the benefits of hydrofracking. After, students could reflect on the challenges of presenting balanced information without expressing their opinion.
Other resources on this topic include this video on hydraulic fracturing, this TED video on using geothermal energy to power the world, and this video of a youth climate activist working to counter earthquake-inducing fracking in Ohio.
Scientist Notes
Teaching Tips
Standards
Resource Type and Format
About the Partner Provider
Project Look Sharp
Project Look Sharp is a nonprofit, mission-driven outreach program of Ithaca College. Their mission is to help K-16 educators enhance students' critical thinking, metacognition, and civic engagement through media literacy materials and professional development.