Enough Energy? Play the Renew-a-Bead Game
The “renew-a-bead game” provides youngsters with a quantitative illustration of how non-renewable resources are depleted while renewable resources continue to provide energy. Student pairs remove beads—representing units of renewable and non-renewable energy—from a bag—representing a country. A certain number of beads are removed from the bag each "year." At some point, no non-renewable (fossil fuel) energy beads remain. Since groups/countries have different ratios of renewable and non-renewable energy beads in their bags, they compare the remaining beads and time when they ran out of energy to see the value of utilizing a greater proportion of renewable resources as a sustainable energy approach. A student worksheet with instructions, data collection table and discussion questions is provided.
Coal, oil and natural gas—which come from our limited reserve of fossil fuels—provide more than 85% of all the U.S. energy consumed. What happens when we have exhausted our fossil fuel reserves?Copyright Climate Watch Magazine, NOAA Climate Services http://www.climatewatch.noaa.gov/article/2009/carbon-dioxide-earths-hottest-topic
Engineers research, develop and design equipment that captures energy from renewable and fossil fuel resources for human use. Given the eventual depletion in fossil fuel resources, engineers design technologies that capture renewable energy resources in more efficient, reliable and economically competitive ways. The bag of beads used in this game represents a physical model of our energy resources. Engineers use models of systems to help them understand the systems, discover problems, and find solutions.
After this activity, students should be able to:
- Explain why an increased dependence on renewable energy sources is an inevitable part of our future.
- Describe how the depletion of fossil fuels is a serious global issue.
CCSS.Math.Content.6.RP.A.3c Find a percent of a quantity as a rate per 100 (e.g., 30% of a quantity means 30/100 times the quantity); solve problems involving finding the whole, given a part and the percent.
Grade 6
Do you agree with this alignment?CCSS.Math.Content.8.SP.A Investigate patterns of association in bivariate data.
Grade 8
Do you agree with this alignment?CCSS.Math.Practice.MP2 Reason abstractly and quantitatively.
Grades K-12
Do you agree with this alignment?
Energy is the capacity to do work.
Grades 6-8
Do you agree with this alignment?STEL-3E Analyze how different technological systems often interact with economic, environmental, and social systems.
Grades 6-8
Do you agree with this alignment?
recognize and apply mathematics in contexts outside of mathematics
Grades -1-12
Do you agree with this alignment?use observations about differences between two or more samples to make conjectures about the populations from which the samples were taken
Grades 6-8
Do you agree with this alignment?select, create, and use appropriate graphical representations of data, including histograms, box plot, and scatterplots
Grades 6-8
Do you agree with this alignment?work flexibly with fractions, decimals, and percents to solve problems
Grades 6-8
Do you agree with this alignment?use graphs to analyze the nature of changes in quantities in linear relationships
Grades 6-8
Do you agree with this alignment?understand and use ratios and proportions to represent quantitative relationships
Grades 6-8
Do you agree with this alignment?
Develop descriptions, explanations, predictions, and models using evidence. Students should base their explanation on what they observed, and as they develop cognitive skills, they should be able to differentiate explanation from description--providing causes for effects and establishing relationships based on evidence and logical argument. This standard requires a subject matter knowledge base so the students can effectively conduct investigations, because developing explanations establishes connections between the content of science and the contexts within which students develop new knowledge.
Grades 5-8
Do you agree with this alignment?Mathematics is important in all aspects of scientific inquiry.
Grades 5-8
Do you agree with this alignment?Use mathematics in all aspects of scientific inquiry. Mathematics is essential to asking and answering questions about the natural world. Mathematics can be used to ask questions; to gather, organize, and present data; and to structure convincing explanations.
Grades 5-8
Do you agree with this alignment?Human activities also can induce hazards through resource acquisition, urban growth, land-use decisions, and waste disposal. Such activities can accelerate many natural changes.
Grades 5-8
Do you agree with this alignment?
6.RP.3.c Find a percent of a quantity as a rate per 100 (e.g., 30% of a quantity means 30/100 times the quantity); solve problems involving finding the whole, given a part and the percent.
Grade 6
Do you agree with this alignment?MP.2 Reason abstractly and quantitatively.
Grades -1-12
Do you agree with this alignment?Investigate patterns of association in bivariate data.
Grade 8
Do you agree with this alignment?
MS-ESS3-4 Construct an argument supported by evidence for how increases in human population and per-capita consumption of natural resources impact Earth's systems.
Grades 6-8
Do you agree with this alignment?
MS-ESS3-4 Construct an argument supported by evidence for how increases in human population and per-capita consumption of natural resources impact Earth's systems.
Grades 6-8
This resource focuses on the following Three Dimensional Learning aspects of NGSS:
Science & Engineering Practices- Develop a model to predict and/or describe phenomena.Do you agree with this alignment?
Disciplinary Core Ideas- Typically as human populations and per-capita consumption of natural resources increase, so do the negative impacts on Earth unless the activities and technologies involved are engineered otherwise.Do you agree with this alignment?
Crosscutting Concepts- Scientific knowledge can describe the consequences of actions but does not necessarily prescribe the decisions that society takes.Do you agree with this alignment?
- All human activity draws on natural resources and has both short and long-term consequences, positive as well as negative, for the health of people and the natural environment.Do you agree with this alignment?
- Models can be used to represent systems and their interactions.Do you agree with this alignment?
Do you agree with this alignment?- Develop a model to predict and/or describe phenomena.
Each group needs:
- 1 paper bag containing 100 black and white beads, with black beads representing non-renewable energy resources and white beads representing renewable energy resources; the ratio of black to white beads varies by group
95 black beads + 5 white beads
90 black beads + 10 white beads
80 black beads + 20 white beads
70 black beads + 30 white beads
- small cloth
- extra bag
- calculator
- Renew-a-Bead Game Worksheet (PDF), one per student
What do we call energy resources that are replenished at the same rate that we use them? (Listen to student answers.) That’s right, we call them renewable energy resources. What are some examples of renewable energy resources? (Listen to student answers.) That’s right; solar, wind, geothermal and tidal energy are good examples. Biomass can be renewable if we use the plant material at the same rate that it grows. If we chop down and burn all the trees in a short period though, that resource is not considered renewable.
If you think about it, fossil fuels may also be considered a form of solar energy because they were generated from biomass materials that existed millions of years ago. But we do not consider them to be renewable because we use them at a MUCH faster rate than they were generated.
The goal of today’s game is to use a model of an energy system to see how important renewable resources are so that our country (represented by the paper bag) does not run out of energy (represented by the beads).
Before class:
- Count out the colored beads and put them into bags for each group.
- Organize the rest of the materials for each group.
- Make copies of the Renew-a-Bead Game Worksheet (PDF), one per student.
With the students:
- Divide the class into groups of two students each. Distribute the materials.
- Provide context and kick off the game by presenting the Introduction/Motivation content.
- Make sure students understand that the bag and beads are intended to represent a country and its energy resources mix; we call this a model.
- Expect students to be able to follow the worksheet instructions and complete the tasks.
- Class discussion: Regroup and compare answers among the different "countries." Discuss results and takeaways. Suggested questions and topics to cover:
- What happened to the black beads? (The non-renewable energy units were all used up! Relate this to the importance of a country obtaining some renewable energy resources, given that present fossil fuel reserves will inevitably be used up at some point in the future.)
- Looking ahead, what advice would you give to a country that is making plans so it has enough future energy resources? (Many possible answers. One possible solution to our current energy situation is to use of more renewable resources now, rather than mostly non-renewable energy resources. If fossil fuels are limited, what is our smartest use of them?)
- What is a model? What was the model in today's game? What do the game components represent? (The renew-a bead game is an example of modeling. Scientists and engineers often make models to help them understand situations, discover issues and problems, and find alternatives, improvements and solutions. Talk about how modeling is used in your research and/or classes.)
- As a class, review students' completed Fossil Fuel Graphing Homework, which was assigned in the associated lesson, Energy Resources and Systems.
- Go over the graphs and results as a class.
- Discuss the inevitable demand/ supply problem that we will face with fossil fuels because they are non-renewable.
- Discuss uncertainties: We do not know when we will face these problems, but it will likely be in students' lifetimes.
Worksheet: At activity end, have students hand in their data tables and answers to the worksheet discussion questions for teacher review.
Contributors
Susan Powers; Jan DeWaters; Clarkson and St. Lawrence University Students (K-12 Project Based Learning Partnership Program)
Supporting Program
Office of Educational Partnerships, Clarkson University, Potsdam, NY
Acknowledgements
This activity was developed under National Science Foundation grant nos. DUE 0428127 and DGE 0338216. However, these contents do not necessarily represent the policies of the National Science Foundation, and you should not assume endorsement by the federal government.
Copyright
2013 by Regents of the University of Colorado; original © 2008 Clarkson University