“Crude prices, refining, transportation and retail costs, middleman's profits and taxes, how do the different components of the price of gasoline influence what consumers pay at the pump? "
Source: Radio-Canada
Take advantage of this headline to discuss in class the subject of petroleum and the impacts related to fluctuations in gasoline prices.
Goals
At the end of the activities, the student will be able to:
- Identify the presence of oil in many objects in the environment;
- Develop an advertising campaign in web animation software;
- Name the components that influence the price of gasoline;
- Invent a new type of gasoline for the future;
- Summarize your learning by noting key words when taking notes.
Suggested Activities
ACTIVITY 1: The essence, essential and diverse
Inform your students that a headline Radio-Canada dissects the price of gasoline for the benefit of consumers and that this topic will be explored in more depth.
The various components related to the price of gasoline are very well detailed, starting with the retailer's profit margin, the cost related to transportation, the profit margin for refining, taxes and the cost of crude oil.
Download the logbook My sky essence! in .pdf format.
Distribute a copy of the notebook My sky essence! so that students can record their observations (page 1), or their questions, while you invite a few of them to come and present (read aloud) one of the five components (crude, taxes, refining, transport, margin) influencing the price of gasoline for the population.
Continue the activity by questioning your students in order to know their conceptions, or their knowledge, in relation to petroleum, its advantages and disadvantages, alternatives, etc.
Brainstorm with your students to wrap up this activity. It will serve as an introduction to the quiz for Activity 2. Write the word ESSENCE on the board, then have a student write down the ideas, in keywords, that the class will come up with throughout this storm of ideas. aimed at activating prior knowledge. Students can also write down key words from their logbooks (page 2).
Here are some questions:
- What everyday objects consume gasoline?
- What types of essences do you know?
- Do you know of other petroleum products?
- How do you think consumers will react when reading this headline?
ACTIVITY 2: Interactive quiz on gasoline and petroleum
Watch the following animation of the site Brainpop with your students so that they can learn more about the topic.
Here are terms discussed in the interactive capsule which will be followed by the quiz.
- The differences between coal and oil
- Usefulness of petroleum over the years (boat cracks, torches, waterproofing wood)
- Carbon dioxide, greenhouse effect, global warming
- Oil spills, oil reservoirs
- Exhaustible natural resources
- Factors that influence the price of gasoline
- Reduce pollution through small daily actions
- Refining of mineral oil
- Fuel, gasoline, kerosene, derivatives, gasoline
Complete the Interactive quiz by clicking on the blue icon to the left of the oil and gasoline animation. There are 3 different ways to answer the 10 questions of the questionnaire (progressive, interactive, printed).
Invite your students to keep track
in their logbook
My sky essence! (page 3).
ACTIVITY 3: Contest: The essence of the future!
Offer your students to organizer an advertising campaign aimed at promoting a new type of gasoline which could emerge in the near future. The gasoline of the future must be renewable, ecological, fair, etc. The originality of the ideas submitted will be evaluated and a winner will be honored with a " Gold gallon ".
Group your students into small teams. This grouping promotes discussions and exchanges and maximizes the learning achieved by your students.
For their advertising campaign, give criteria to be respected adapted to their skills. They will have to produce an animation in a software of their choice or by experimenting with the suggestion in the ICT track lower. Determine what you want to assess to guide them through the requirements.
Finally, the pupils will be able to vote and declare the most original advertising idea. The winning team will, by the same token, be the recipient of the " Gallon of gold ”.
Here are some criteria you could impose on your students:
- Include real data, either by mentioning one of the 20 largest producers of oil in the world or one of the 20 countries consuming most on the planet;
- Name the positive impacts on the environment;
- Etc.
ICT TRACK:
Suggest that your students make short advertising ads using Powtoon, a favorite for animated presentations. This tool allows you to add animated characters as well as text. Of particular interest are the templates provided for the advertisements.
A grid for planning the advertising campaign is available in the logbook My sky essence! (page 4).
Your students will be able to choose from the different models available to create their advertising messages.
A printable version is also available in the logbook (page 5).
Suggest that your students make short advertising ads using
For further
Calculate the cost of gasoline for a given trip using this website. Calculates or with Mappy on the side of Europe. Do the same exercise, but with the carpooling this time, very popular in Quebec (or consult the site Kilbillet for European routes).
Have your students analyze the data on petroleum products in 2014 and to generate measurable data.
More about the magazine
Here are some applications for mobile tablets that allow you to find gasoline at the best price:
- In the Apple App Store: GasBuddy (Canada, USA) - Free and Dynavix Central Europe - Paying
- In the Google Play Store for Android: Cheap Gas Price - Free
A complete file on oil production (PDF)
by the Planete-Energies.com site.
Of educational activities, on oil and its transformations (PDF)
by the LaClasse.fr site.