Middle school students hear about energy continuously: in the news, in many of their classes, and at home. Most students realize that recent wars have been fought over energy resources, and many will accept that overreliance on fossil fuels is changing the global climate. Students understand that as the world population surges past seven billion,…

Coal fueled the Industrial Revolution and, as a result, changed the course of human history. However, the geologic history of coal is much, much longer than that which is recorded by humans. In your classroom, the coal cycle can be used to trace the formation of this important economic resource from its plant origins, through its lithification, or…

Presents an exciting way to acquaint students with current methods to clean up oil spills. Students also have the freedom to create new clean-up methods as they think through the problem and experiment to find effective solutions. (PR)