This video identifies why it is necessary to develop replacements for traditional gasoline-fueled cars by discussing oil spills, air pollution, global warming, and extreme weather.
Students will learn about the positives and negatives of electricity and other liquid fuel alternatives.
The video introduces the concept of green premiums or economic barriers to fossil fuel alternatives.
The resource includes comprehension questions and links to additional resources to explore.
Teaching Tips
Positives
This video is relatable for most students because people use passenger vehicles in many places around the world.
Electric cars are becoming popular, especially among younger generations, making this video engaging for students. Students are likely to be familiar with popular brands like Tesla.
Additional Prerequisites
Students should be familiar with fossil fuels and their environmental impact.
Students and teachers must create free accounts to utilize the "think" feature, which includes 5 multiple choice and 3 short answer questions.
Differentiation
Students could explore how green premiums apply to technologies other than car fuel.
Students could research the innovations mentioned in the video and identify the benefits and challenges in implementing them.
Chemistry classes could discuss the structure of hydrocarbons and how they are used to produce energy.
Other resources on this topic include this video about the cost of electric cars, this lesson about lithium mining and electric car batteries, and this video about the best cars for the environment.
Students can learn more about the challenges of producing and using biofuels in this Seeker video.
Scientist Notes
This TED-Ed video details the strengths and challenges of how we power our cars. To achieve the standards set by the Paris Climate Agreement, it is necessary to drastically cut the number of fossil-fuel-burning vehicles in operation. This resource is recommended for teaching.
Standards
Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS)
ESS3: Earth and Human Activity
MS-ESS3-3 Apply scientific principles to design a method for monitoring and minimizing a human impact on the environment.
HS-ESS3-2 Evaluate competing design solutions for developing, managing, and utilizing energy and mineral resources based on cost-benefit ratios.
College, Career, and Civic Life (C3) Standards
Dimension 2: Economics
D2.Eco.6.6-8 Explain how changes in supply and demand cause changes in prices and quantities of goods and services, labor, credit, and foreign currencies.
D2.Eco.1.9-12 Analyze how incentives influence choices that may result in policies with a range of costs and benefits for different groups.
D2.Eco.3.9-12 Analyze the ways in which incentives influence what is produced and distributed in a market system.
