This activity is part of a larger set of activities and presentations developed by the Michigan Geographic Alliance to help teachers meet the proposed Social Studies standards in 6th and 7th grade. The Michigan Geographic Alliance website also has explanatory presentations, supplementary maps, and readings. In this 20-40 minute intermediate…

This 45 minute inquiry lesson can be used for a high school world geography or AP Human Geography course when the class discusses various issues regarding world energy resources. The lesson focuses on two particular issues: fossil fuel dependency and the growing energy demand. Students will examine the geographic distribution of current energy…

Courses: Digital Storytelling, Community Journalism. Objectives: This course is designed to introduce students to basic concepts in digital storytelling and community journalism. "Immersed in urban oil" is an interdisciplinary project-based, community-engaged course focused on documenting the historical and contemporary oil…

Courses: Professional Speaking, Business and Professional Communication, Environmental Communication, or any course covering topics related to neoliberalism and the environment. Objectives: In this single-class activity, students will first examine the possible environmental effects of fracking near the Bakken Oil Formation in North Dakota.…

We describe an activity that is suitable for high school students and makes use of plastic bottles. This activity allows students to familiarize themselves with gas chemistry by introducing technologies that were applied in old submarine systems. Plastic bottles, which are representative of submarines, are used as reaction vessels. Three simple…

Solar energy is clean, free, and abundant worldwide. The challenge, however, is to convert it to useful forms that can reduce our reliance on fossil fuels. This article presents an activity for physical science classes in which students learn firsthand how solar energy can be used to produce electricity specifically for transportation. The…

Gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) and GC-tandem MS (GC-MS/MS) are useful in many separation and characterization procedures. GC-MS is now a common tool in industry and research, and increasingly, GC-MS/MS is applied to the measurement of trace components in complex mixtures. This report describes an upper-level undergraduate experiment…

Saudi Arabian Petrochemical Company (SAPCO), a petrochemicals manufacturer, has decided to make some major internal changes to gain increased market share and continue its success. It has been easy going for some time now, and business has been very good, but in order to take that next step, SAPCO needs to attain the Responsible Care…