Engagement – Renewable Resources

Materials Needed
- White board or poster paper with T-Chart headings Renewable and Non-
renewable
- Small post-it notes (9 per group/three students)
- List these nine types of energy on the board in mixed up order. Add
others if you wish. (coal, oil, natural gas, nuclear, solar, wind, biomass,
geothermal, hydroelectric)

Objective Introduction

1. Have the students do a Think-Pair-Share to discuss the objective. One

student will read the objective and the other student will respond with
their understanding of the objective (topic).

Class Activity
1. Let’s review what students may already know about renewable and non-
renewable resources.

2. Give student triads 9 post-it notes. Have them copy the 9 words you
wrote on the board. You might consider giving the triads numbers or
letters to identify their group. They could put this on their post-its, and this
will help you in asking groups to justify their answers.

Student Activity

1. Ask students to come up and put their post-it under the correct title on the
T-Chart.

2. Look for similarities and differences in their answers. If you’ve identified

the groups, you can ask them “why” they put their post-it where they did.

3. Arrange the post-its correctly.

4. Have them make a copy of the T-Chart in their notebook and list the
energy types under the correct title. (Nuclear is considered non-
renewable.)

Common Misconception(s)

- Students do not understand that the amount of energy used to produce

renewable energy can sometimes be excessive.
- Students do not understand that non-renewable resources are not
available everywhere. (Wind/geothermal would be a good examples.)
- Students may not understand the environmental impact of fossil fuels.

© Kesler Science, LLC