The Price of Oil learning module is about the wide effects of the drop in the price of oil. The students learn about oil production and how the price of oil is set. They further investigate the effects of the low oil prices from various perspectives – the national perspective, the view from Alberta, the problems of oil companies and the future of youth. Armed with this information, the students use their critical thinking skills to say how they would address this issue from their chosen perspective.

Overview

The activity is divided into two phases – Research and Writing.

Research
The Research phase is broken into two components:
-General Information about the price of oil
-Information specific to a perspective

Writing

The Writing is done from the students chosen perspective and is directed by two questions:

What are the effects of the drop in the price of oil from your perspective?

What can be done to cope with the price of oil from your perspective?

 

Steps in the Price of Oil module

1. Start

From the main page the student clicks on "Continue".

The graph that appears shows the price of West Texas crude oil over the past 5 years. The drop in the spring of 2015 was dramatic and the price has remained low. This graph gives the student important information. The price of oil shown on this page is the current price.

2. Research
There are 5 research activity for the students:

Each one opens in a new browser tab and content a manageable amount of information for the students.

Quiz
Each activity ends with a single Quick Check quiz question. These questions are quick knowledge checks. They should engage the students a bit more that simply reading the content. The student is allowed multiple attempts until they get answer correctly. Once the correct answer is selected a close button appears.

Once the student has explored all 5 areas through these links they click on "Continue".

3. Take a Perspective
The students now dig deeper in the issue of low oil prices. The issue looks differently from different perspecitves. Each perspective has 4 related activities and quick check quizzes.

Once the student has fully investigate the various aspects of the issue they pick which perspective they wish to take by clicking on the image for that perspective.

4. Student Assignment

The student assignment can be completed as either an online assignment in a virtual classroom or as an offline assignment in a classroom.

Online Assignment

The Price of Oil module can be delivered as an online activity. Students write their responses from their perspective as a blog posting.

The student assignment can be completed by logging into the online classroom or be done in as a regular offline assignment.

Then the students can enter into a dialogue by posting comments to the various blog postings. Students can ask each other questions, contribute addition information, point to online information, agree and disagree with others. Teachers can use the blog comments in their assessment of the student learning.

Offline Assignment

The Price of Oil assignment can be completed by the student offline. After they have completed the research on the site, they can write their response to the two question.

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Registering for a Teacher Account

Click on Login/Register at the top of the page. To create a new teacher account click on "register first".

 

 

 

 

Don't forget to click that you have read the Terms of Service.

You may pick the Green Learning (Toronto) school if you do not wish to select your school or you are not associated with a school

Next you will create a classroom.

Name: anything

Class Web Address: anything - no spaces or special characters

Subject: pick from list

Security - Private is recommended

Description: anything or leave blank

Student Registration- Teacher Managed is recommended

Features- Leave all for now. You can change this later. Writing is mandatory for the Price of Oil activity.

Now click on Create Classroom.

Final Step

Click on Continue to Virtual Classroom

To create your student accounts select Settings - Add Students

Several options for how the student accounts are created.

You can now give your students their accounts and passwords to complete the assignment.