WGBH Educational Foundation, Teachers' Domain
Video length: 5:44 minutes.Learn more about Teaching Climate Literacy and Energy Awareness»
See how this Video supports the Next Generation Science Standards»
Middle School: 2 Disciplinary Core Ideas
High School: 3 Disciplinary Core Ideas
7.6 Vulnerable populations.
4.7 Different sources of energy have different benefits and drawbacks.
5.3 Systems-based approach.
5.5 Political factors.
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Teaching Tips | Science | Pedagogy |
- Fracking is a controversial political subject. This video may be used to introduce a discussion of the tradeoffs between need for increased energy supply and environmental damage and human health impacts that may result from extraction activities.
- Another discussion point could be the question of confidentiality with respect to intellectual property vs public health.
About the Science
- An animated diagram shows how the process of hydraulic fracturing (fracking) is used to extract natural gas.
- The resource also discusses the health and pollution problems that are potentially associated with the process.
- One of the challenges of investigating the possible link between the contaminants and illness is that the gas industry is not required to disclose which chemicals they use in fracking fluids, as that information is protected by intellectual property rights.
- Passed initial science review - expert science review pending.
Next Generation Science Standards See how this Video supports:
Disciplinary Core Ideas: 2
MS-ESS3.A1:Humans depend on Earth’s land, ocean, atmosphere, and biosphere for many different resources. Minerals, fresh water, and biosphere resources are limited, and many are not renewable or replaceable over human lifetimes. These resources are distributed unevenly around the planet as a result of past geologic processes.
MS-ESS3.D1:Human activities, such as the release of greenhouse gases from burning fossil fuels, are major factors in the current rise in Earth’s mean surface temperature (global warming). Reducing the level of climate change and reducing human vulnerability to whatever climate changes do occur depend on the understanding of climate science, engineering capabilities, and other kinds of knowledge, such as understanding of human behavior and on applying that knowledge wisely in decisions and activities.
Disciplinary Core Ideas: 3
HS-ESS3.A1:Resource availability has guided the development of human society.
HS-ESS3.A2:All forms of energy production and other resource extraction have associated economic, social, environmental, and geopolitical costs and risks as well as benefits. New technologies and social regulations can change the balance of these factors.
HS-ESS3.D1:Though the magnitudes of human impacts are greater than they have ever been, so too are human abilities to model, predict, and manage current and future impacts.