Viva Las Vegas

By Matthew Barber / Nicholas Harth •

Grade Level	9th
Subject Area	Physical Science
Duration	Six to eleven 50-minute class periods
Setting	Standard classroom and computer laboratory
Background Knowledge	Students will need some experience with watts, joules, energy, work, and energy transformations.
Author	Matthew Barber / Nicholas Harth

Summary
Students act as representatives from competing energy production concerns attempting to sell the Las Vegas City Council a new power plant. The students research their own power generation technology, the technologies of other groups, and the Las Vegas area, in order to write and present a detailed report describing how their power plant will best fit the Las Vegas community. Students are required to learn not only the mechanical facts of how power is generated, but also to evaluate the costs and benefits of such generation.

Objectives
Students will: Evaluate a power plant technology and its effects on a community. Demonstrate their ability to research, analyze, and evaluate a topic in a written report and a presentation.

Ohio Standards
Earth and Space Sciences Describe how Earth is made up of a series of interconnected systems and how a change in one system affects other systems. Explain that humans are an integral part of the Earth's system and the choices humans make today impact natrual systems in the future. Physical Sciences Demonstrate that energy can be considered to be either kinetic (motion) or potential (stored). Explain how energy may change form or be redistributed but the total quantity of energy is conserved. Science and Technology Explain the ways in which the processes of technological design respond to the needs of society. Explain that science and technology are interdependent; each drives the other. Predict how human choices today will determine the quality and quantity of life on Earth. Design a solution or product taking into account the needs and constraints (e.g., cost, time, trade-offs, properties of materials, safety, asthetics). Scientific Ways of Knowing Explain how societal issues and considerations affect the progress of science and technology.