Fracking Explained: Opportunity or Danger

• This video explains how hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, is used to extract natural gas from rock and highlights the dangers that are associated with the process.
  
• Students will learn about the enormous amounts of energy and water fracking requires and the risk of water contamination associated with pumping the leftover toxic chemicals back into the wells. 

Positives

• This video explains the process of fracking in easy-to-understand terms with simple visual aids that will appeal to visual learners and English language learners.
• The short format of the video makes it an ideal introduction to a more in-depth lesson on fracking. 

Additional Prerequisites

• The video begins with an advertisement. 
• Because the video was produced in 2013, some of the statistics about fracking are not up to date. 
• The video does not address the potential connection between fracking and earthquakes or fracking and air pollution. 

Differentiation

• Ethics classes could use this video to discuss the whether the benefits of procuring natural gas for fuel outweigh the negative impacts that fracking has on the environment and on people's health. 
• Engineering classes can use this video to compare and contrast fracking with other methods of extracting fossil fuels. 
• Earth science classes can research the formation of natural gas to better understand why there is a limited supply of it in the earth. 
• Other resources related to this topic include Youth Climate Story: Fracking and Earthquakes in Ohio, Youth Climate Story: Fracking in Pennsylvania, and ACE Report: How To Make A Fossil Fuel. 
  

While some of the information in this video is out of date, as this video was made in 2013, the overall review of the fracking process is accurate. This resource is recommended for teaching.