VCE Environmental Science Units 1 and 2: 2016–2020; Units 3 and 4: 2017–2021

VCE Environmental Science: Sample teaching planSample Course Outline – VCE Environmental Science Unit 4: How can the impacts of human energy use be reduced?Note: This is a sample guide only and indicates one way to present the content from the VCE Environmental Science Study Design over the weeks in each school term. Teachers are advised to consider their own contexts in developing learning activities: Which local fieldwork sites would support learning in the topic area? Which local issues lend themselves to debate and investigation? Which experiments can students complete within the resource limitations of their learning environments?

Week Area Topics Learning activities

1

What is a sustainable mix of energy sources?

Fossil fuels (formation; calculations of longevity of deposits; changes in the rate of fossil fuel use over time)

Observation skills: candle observations Online interactive exploration: carbon cycle Video analysis: ‘300 years of fossil fuels in 300 seconds’ Simulation: energy security – supply versus demand

2

3

Comparison of different energy sources (renewable and non-renewable energy sources; conservation of energy; efficiency of energy conversions; environmental impact of resource use; future energy use projections)

Online research: CSIRO and ABC websites to investigate energy sources used in Australia

Jigsaw activity: comparison of costs of electricity/price of one litre of milk in different countries

Analysis: comparison of renewable and non-renewable energy sources Life Cycle Analysis – students self-select an everyday product for analysis Role-play: Q&A panel discussion of the implications of developing a new

mining site in neighbourhood

4

5Use of science to reduce the impacts of energy use (strategies for increasing energy conversion efficiency; rehabilitation of energy source sites; sustainability principles relevant to energy extraction and conservation)

Eco-solutions: production of traditional versus ‘green’ paint; plastic versus cloth made from hemp/bamboo; plastic versus paper from biomass

Research: ways that organisations improve energy efficiencies Online interactive: design a sustainable house Design, build, test and evaluate a ‘pot-in-a-pot refrigerator’

6

7 Practical investigation

Practical investigation (experimental variables; scientific research methodologies and ethics; data organisation, analysis and evaluation; organisation of environmental science concepts; nature of evidence; scientific report writing conventions)

Poster evaluation: strengths/weaknesses/opportunities/threats of provided examples

Investigation design brainstorming: three groups: ‘energy options’, ‘design of energy-efficient or energy-conserving devices’, or ‘global warming’ as an

8

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© VCAA 2017

VCE Chemistry Units 1 and 2: 2016–2020; Units 3 and 4: 2017–2021 SAMPLE TEACHING PLAN

extension of prior investigations Test: hypothesis formulation and experimental design Student investigation: negotiation, confirmation and materials preparation

10

Is climate predictable?

Major factors that alter Earth’s atmosphere (structure of the atmosphere; astronomical cycles; solar energy; carbon sequestration; lifespans of greenhouse gases; altered proportions of different gases in the atmosphere over time)

Scientific model construction: layers of the atmosphere annotated to show important properties/interesting facts including gas composition

Experiments: composition of white light; absorption and emission of heat energy by different materials; temperature rise of water in different coloured bottles; rate of heat dissipation from a system

Research: artificial processes for carbon sequestration Animations: Milankovitch cycles Data analysis: fossil fuels and changes in atmospheric composition of

gases over time

11

12

13Measurements that give useful information about changes in the climate (methods of measuring past and present changes in the atmosphere; magnitude and rate of change in individual atmospheric gases over time; measures to assess rate of climate change)

Measurement skills: formation of a paper ‘clot’ by students in class and collation of data – mean; standard deviation; distinction between error and uncertainty; difference between reproducibility and reliability

Data analysis: Bureau of Meteorology: ice core and tree ring data Data analysis: atmospheric gas concentration data sets over time Visualisation: NASA’s ‘Climate time machine’

14

15

Consequences of changing composition of gases in the atmosphere (natural and enhanced greenhouse effect; climate data evaluation; projected consequences and uncertainties of the enhanced greenhouse effect on Earth’s systems)

Media file – annotations of at least four recent articles related to climate change

Experiment: natural and enhanced greenhouse effects Literacy: write a letter of appeal for urgent intervention and preventative

action related to a specific region facing negative impacts of atmospheric changes

Analysis and evaluation of cartoons relating to climate change

16

17

18Unit revision

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