This course about industrial climate solutions includes the following sections: sustainable steel, clean concrete, textiles, pre-combustion carbon capture, post-combustion carbon capture, oxygenated combustion, and carbon utilization.
This course contains text, interactive questions, infographics, links to references, a video, and two sections at the end called "Open Problems" and "Final Quiz."
Teaching Tips
Positives
This course is very easy for students to navigate.
Students earn a certificate if they complete the course.
Students should have a basic understanding of climate change prior to beginning this course.
Students will need a computer and Internet connection to use the interactive features.
This course presents potentially controversial uses of captured CO2: to help extract hard-to-reach crude oil and to create other fuels and plastics. The most effective solutions to climate change are listed here.
Differentiation
This course provides two levels of learning. Use the button in the top left of the page to toggle between "Simple" and "Advanced." The "Simple" setting is recommended for middle school students, while the "Advanced" setting is recommended for high school students.
Stronger students can spend time reading and exploring any of the links to actual scientific papers.
Students can proceed through this course at their own pace.
Discussion topics for this course could include:
How can we reduce the perceived need for more/newer/different things to help reduce the emissions associated with producing them?
How can we make reusing and recycling a required part of the life cycle of most goods to reduce the energy and materials required to make "new" things?
The resource explains the contribution of steel production and other industry on global CO2 emissions. Steel is an important resource, but it also portends a bleak future for environmental health and quality. Datasets used in the resources including the procedure for steel production is valid. This resource is recommended for teaching.
Standards
English Language Arts
Reading: Science & Technical Subjects (6-12)
6-8.RST.10 By the end of grade 8, read and comprehend science/technical texts in the grades 6-8 text complexity band independently and proficiently.
9-10.RST.10 By the end of grade 10, read and comprehend science/technical texts in the grades 9-10 text complexity band independently and proficiently.
11-12.RST.10 By the end of grade 12, read and comprehend science/technical texts in the grades 11-CCR text complexity band independently and proficiently.
Science
ETS1: Engineering Design
MS.ETS1.2 Evaluate competing design solutions using a systematic process to determine how well they meet the criteria and constraints of the problem.
HS.ETS1.3 Evaluate a solution to a complex real-world problem based on prioritized criteria and trade-offs that account for a range of constraints, including cost, safety, reliability, and aesthetics, as well as possible social, cultural, and environmental impacts.
PS1: Matter and Its Interactions
7.PS1.3 Gather and make sense of information to describe that synthetic materials come from natural resources and impact society.
HS.PS1.5 Apply scientific principles and evidence to provide an explanation about the effects of changing the temperature or concentration of the reacting particles on the rate at which a reaction occurs.
