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How is Your Community Adapting for Electric Vehicles?

Secondary, Middle

Description

Electric vehicles have increased significantly in popularity in a few short years. Many individuals are making the transition to alternative fuel sources for transportation.

This resource is created to accompany other lessons. It is important for students to have an understanding of the five topics below before diving into action.

  • The history of electric vehicles
  • The types of electric vehicles
  • The battery technology
  • The emissions
  • How to buy an electric vehicle

Once students understand the growing trend and the direction the market is headed as well as where the technology started, and where it is now, it is time to take that into action. Student will be asked to spread the word about Electric Vehicles and create a positive change in their community by exploring and researching the following question: “How is our community adapting for electric vehicles?

During this time, students will be asked to communicate with people or a business that have adapted to the shift of electric vehicles. By the end of this unit, students will have a better idea of how they can contribute and make a difference to the climate change movement as their first car will likely be an electric vehicle. Some topics are more advanced than others. Lessons are best suited for junior high and high school learners.

General Assessment

Strengths

  • There is multiple lessons and extra resources ready for the teacher and each lesson is well developed and easy to understand.
  • Documents and worksheets needed by the students are provided and ready to copy.
  • Students will conduct their own research and make educated decisions relating to the use of electric vehicles. 
  • The lesson has students doing a multitude of different activities in different formats which lends itself well to different learning styles.

Recommendation of how and where to use it

This resource would be an excellent add on to courses where we discuss alternate forms of energy. 

Relevant Curriculum Units

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Themes Addressed

  • Air, Atmosphere & Climate (1)

    • Air Pollution

  • Energy (2)

    • Alternative Energy
    • Energy Use

Sustainability Education Principles

Principle Rating Explanation
Consideration of Alternative Perspectives Good

The multitude of activities and background information included in this resource provide students with a complete view of the issue. Students can then form their own opinion and take an informed position on the subject. 

Consideration of Alternative Perspectives:
  • Satisfactory: absence of bias towards any one point of view
  • Good: students consider different points of view regarding issues, problems discussed
  • Very good: based on the consideration of different views, students form opinions and  take an informed position
Multiple Dimensions of Problems & Solutions Very Good

In order to completing the activity, students have to look at a multitude of other activities, that examines the differences in the efficiency of transportation vehicle fuel types.

  • Identify the types of EVs and charging stations,
  • Complete a calculation on the operating cost comparison between internal combustion engines (ICE) and electric vehicles
  • Calculate the greenhouse gas emissions for a vehicle travelling from one place to an other using different transportation vehicle fuel types (diesel, gasoline, electric vehicle, and hybrid vehicle)

Multiple Dimensions of Problems & Solutions:

Effectively addresses the environmental, economic and social dimensions of the issue(s) being explored.

  • Satisfactory: resource supports the examination of  these dimensions
  • Good:  resource explicitly examines the interplay of these dimensions
  • Very Good:  a systems-thinking approach is encouraged to examine these three dimensions
Respects Complexity Good

Some lessons are more complex than others.

Respects Complexity:

The complexity of the problems/issues being discussed is respected.

Acting on Learning Good

The lesson is about informing the community and taking action.  

Acting on Learning:

Learning moves from understanding  issues  to working towards positive change — in personal lifestyle, in school, in the community,  or for the planet

  • Satisfactory: action opportunities are included as extensions 
  • Good: action opportunities are core components of the resource
  • Very Good: action opportunities for students are well supported and intended to result in observable, positive change
Values Education Good

This resource offers students many opportunities to share about electric vehicles. 

Values Education:

Students are explicitly provided with opportunities to identify, clarify and express their own beliefs/values.

Empathy & Respect for Humans Poor/Not considered
Empathy & Respect for Humans: Empathy and respect are fostered for diverse groups of humans (including different genders, ethnic groups, sexual preferences, etc.).
Personal Affinity with Earth Satisfactory
Personal Affinity with Earth:

Encourages a personal affinity with -the natural world.  

  • Satisfactory: connection is made to the natural world
  • Good: fosters appreciation/concern for the natural world
  • Very Good: fosters stewardship though practical and respectful experiences out-of-doors 
Locally-Focused Learning Very Good

The take action activity in this resource is connected to the student’s community. Students will interview people or businesses in their community.

Locally-Focused Learning:

Includes learning experiences that take advantage of issues/elements within the local community. 

  • Satisfactory: learning is made relevant to the lives of the learners
  • Good: learning is made relevant and has a local focus
  • Very Good: learning is made relevant, local and takes place ‘outside’ , in the community 
Past, Present & Future Very Good

This resource offers backgrounders on the history of the electric vehicles and talks about how they will most likely be driving an electric vehicle in the future. 

Past, Present & Future: Promotes an understanding of the past, a sense of the present, and a positive vision for the future.

Pedagogical Approaches

Principle Rating Explanation
Open-Ended Instruction Good

This lesson allows students to research and explore many aspects of their learning in regard to electric vehicles. The resource has a multitude of sharing activities, but also includes guided worksheets. 

Open-Ended Instruction :

Lessons are structured so that multiple/complex answers are possible; students are not steered toward one 'right' answer.

Integrated Learning Good

This resource does depend on Math to do some calculations but is not really teaching students mathematics. Curriculum links for Science and Social Science are included. 

Integrated Learning:

Learning brings together content and skills  from more than one  subject area

  • Satisfactory: content from a number of different  subject areas is readily identifiable
  • Good:  resource is appropriate for use in more than one subject area
  • Very Good:  the lines between subjects are blurred 
Inquiry Learning Good

Students are faced with questions pertaining to the Electric Vehicles and have to do research in order to answer the question about how the community is adapting to the change. 

Inquiry Learning:

Learning is directed by questions, problems, or challenges that students work to address.   

  • Satisfactory: Students are provided with questions/problems to solve and some direction on how to arrive at solutions.
  • Good: students, assisted by the teacher clarify the question(s) to ask and the process to follow to arrive at solutions.  Sometimes referred to as Guided Inquiry
  • Very Good:  students generate the questions and assume much of the responsibility for how to solve them.  . Sometimes referred to as self-directed learning.

 

Differentiated Instruction Good
Differentiated Instruction:

Activities address a range of student learning styles, abilities and readiness.

  • Satisfactory:  includes a variety of instructional approaches
  • Good: addresses  the needs of visual, auditory &  kinesthetic learners
  • Very Good: also includes strategies for learners with difficulties
Experiential Learning Very Good

This resource has students interview someone from their community about the EVs taking them beyond the school walls. This is also very relevant to their lives as they will use some sort of transportation in their day-to-day activities.  

Experiential Learning:

Authentic learning experiences are provided

  • Satisfactory: learning takes place through ‘hands-on’ experience or simulation
  • Good: learning involves direct experience in a ‘real world context’
  • Very good: learning involves ‘real world experiences’ taking place’ beyond the school walls.
Cooperative Learning Satisfactory

Students will have to work in groups. 

Cooperative Learning:

Group and cooperative learning strategies are a priority.

  • Satisfactory:  students work in groups
  • Good: cooperative learning skills are explicitly taught and practiced
  • Very Good: cooperative learning skills are explicitly taught, practiced and assessed
Assessment & Evaluation Good

A marking rubric is provided.

Assessment & Evaluation: Tools are provided that help students and teachers to capture formative and summative information about students' learning and performance. These tools may include reflection questions, checklists, rubrics, etc.
Peer Teaching Satisfactory
Peer Teaching:

Provides opportunities for students to actively present their knowledge and skills to peers and/or act as teachers and mentors.

  • Satisfactory: incidental teaching that arises from cooperative learning, presentations, etc.
  • Good or Very Good: an opportunity is intentionally created to empower students to teach other students/community members. The audience is somehow reliant on the students' teaching (students are not simply ‘presenting')
Case Studies Satisfactory

One activity is about the “History of the Electric Vehicle” as well as some consumer reports on electric cars.

Case Studies:

Relevant case studies are included.  Case studies are thorough descriptions of real events from real situations that students use to explore  concepts in an authentic context.

Locus of Control Good
Locus of Control: Meaningful opportunities are provided for students to choose elements of program content, the medium in which they wish to work, and/or to go deeper into a chosen issue.