What the Frack!

In "every day is earth day", Colin and I, taught 8 students all about Hydraulic Fracturing. We taught a direct, inquiry, and cooperative lesson.  I started the lesson off by having the students, "environmentalist" as we refer to them by, a strong image of Simba and his father from "the Lion King". I asked what they thought of this image, and the overall feeling the got from it.

This is a powerful image displaying our environments future if we continue living carelessly. The students were shocked by this image. I asked what if this was their son's future? the responded by saying "they would need to fix it!" I said how about we take steps to prevent it instead. Let's help others be aware of the impact of pollution on our environment.
I chose to discuss the affects of fracking because, it's a subject most people don't know about. Even I was sheltered from the issue until introduced to the documentary "Gasland". This documentary had a huge impact on my life and choice of studies in my undergraduate years of college. I showed the students a clip from Gasland similar to the one I'm posting below (there's was censored).

 

They were in awe of these living conditions. "You can't drink that water! There is gas or something in there", they responded. "That is crazy!".  My favorite comment of the evening was "I knew nothing about fracking until you taught us". After hearing that, I knew I did my job. Even if my teaching wasn't on point, I made a difference by creating more knowledgeable students and I am proud of that. 

Fire Water

Today we met with our students in field work for the first time. I think it was a successful first meeting. The students seemed very engaged inn our introduction to Hydraulic Fracturing. The kids recognized the dangers of this process immediately after viewing a short clip from "Gasland". In this clip, a man held a lighter up to his running faucet and his water set on fire. "Is water supposed to set on fire?", we asked. "No!", they responded. "Why is there gas in the water?", the students pondered. As we began to explain the process of fracking, it was evident that failures can occur causing pollution to the air and water in the surrounding environment. We felt it was important to expose the children to both sides of the debate. We explained that the world runs on money. For an economic stand point, fracking is a gold mine. On the other hand, from an environmental and social stand point, fracking is a death sentence. We really got the students engaged in conversation and thinking. I think that is why they showed so much enthusiasm in our topic. It is certainly not an easy topic that many people have prior knowledge on. I thought it would have been much more difficult for them to grasp, but they displayed passion and critical thinking. I am excited to see what great ideas they come up with next time.