š This content is yours to use. Download it, remix it, adapt it, share itāmake it work for your community.
After reading the lesson plan, please refer to the bottom of the lesson plan for self-reflection questions to assist with your next steps!
One Sentence Lesson Plan
Students will be able to:
Clearly express the amount of CO2 released (in multiple intuitive units) by burning 1 gallon of gasoline, come up with creative ways to describe the scale of US carbon emissions to others, and reach this goal by working through the scaffolded problem set that I have created for them.
Rationale and Context
It is challenging to convey the sheer magnitude of the CO2 produced globally every day by the burning of fossil fuels. This activity is designed to convey this magnitude to students and encourages them to devise their own ways of describing its scale to others.
The amount of CO2 produced daily by the burning of fossil fuels is immense, so significant that it is challenging to convey its sheer magnitude. This activity is meant to accomplish precisely that. This activity can also serve as a starting point for a conversation about decarbonization, making carbon emissions more visceral, tangible, and relatable.
Materials & Resources
- Mole Box
- A calculator
- Scaffolded Problem Set
Sharing: CC-BY-SA
SELF-REFLECTION: INVITATION FOR EDUCATORS:
1) Start With Scale That Matters to Your Subject
- What concept, phenomenon, or system in your discipline is difficult to grasp because of its scale (whether it is too big, too small, too abstract, or too removed from studentsā lived experience)?
- How do experts in your field talk about this scale? What language or frameworks do they use?
- What analogies or comparisons do you naturally reach for when explaining it to someone outside your field?
2) Identify the Scaffolded Pathway
- What are the discrete steps students need to work through to move from the problem/concept to a meaningful understanding?
- Where does the calculation, analysis, or reasoning get most difficult?
- What prerequisite knowledge does that step require?
3) Build in Translation: From Calculation to Communication
- Once students understand the answer/result, what counts as a creative way to express it? What forms can this translation take in your discipline? (Examples: In science, an analogy or visual. In literature, a metaphor or imageā¦.)
- What makes one translation more intuitive than another?
4) Decide What Students Are Learning Beyond the Answer
- What transfer skill are you hoping students walk away with? (e.g., āI can break down any large number,ā āI can find analogies for abstract things,ā āI can explain complexity to different audiencesā)
- Is this lesson primarily about understanding the magnitude of something? Or is it about practicing how to communicate large/complex ideas? Or both?
5) Plan for the āSo What?ā Conversation
- How can I frame decarbonization (or another complex topic) as a set of possibilities (technological, behavioral, political) rather than a fixed or abstract concept?
- What would it look like for students to carry this understanding into their daily lives or conversations outside the classroom?
- How might I encourage students to see themselves not just as learners of this information, but as people who can interpret and communicate it to others?