APES: Energy Madness

So this year starting in March we began our energy unit.  This is a huge part of the AP Environmental Science curriculum and it covers two chapters of information.  Instead of us going through a power point of the information and talking about it, students were responsible for informing their classmates.  The challenge they received is the following:

In honor of March Madness, you are trying to market and move your energy into the FINAL FOUR part of our Energy Championship Bracket.  You will do this by convincing your classmates to switch to your type of energy.  You must read your sections in the textbook and be ready to answer questions.  You should be experts in your topic.  In your presentation you should include the following (this list was brainstormed together as a class):

Type of Energy

How does it work?

Trade offs (Advantages & Disadvantages)

Cost?  Economically Viable?

How long is your energy going to last?

Environmental Impacts

Policies & Limitations

Who is leading? Countries (imports/exports)

Randomly the bracket was filled out which created head to head presentations that were given against one another.  Students were again asked to pirate up their presentations.  Some students took it to the next level and actually created statements within their presentation as to why they should not invest in their competitors energy.  After each round, students voted on a Google Form to determine which energy would move forward to the next round.

After the first round was complete, the final rounds went with head to head 1 min debates as to why their energy is a better choice than the one they were up against.  Students got really into this.  I allowed them 2 minutes to prepare and then 1 minute to share.  After these rounds we also voted, until we got to the finals and ended up with a team winning the championship.

This was both student centered and very engaging.  They really got into the competitive nature of it.  When I do this again next year, I would create smaller groups and have them focus on just ONE type of energy, whether it be a renewable or non-renewable type, not both.  I would also like to allow for more student choice in the types of energy, so in forming groups I may ask students for their first, second, and third choices, and then form groups based on their interests.

Here is a link to the entire document that includes our brackets and rubric for the presentations.  The rubric was created from some collaboration with the English Department.  I could also see allowing students to pick standards (from a predetermined list) that they would be assessed on to make it more personalized.

I welcome any feedback that you are willing to offer!