National curriculum, QCA Schemes of Work links
KS3, Sc4, Unit 7I - Energy resources.

Main learning objectives
Pupils learn:
about the need for fuel conservation;
that fossil fuels are non-renewable;
to use their knowledge in addressing the moral and social issue of sustainable development;
to relate the use of fossil fuels to effects on the environment.

Oil extraction game

Putting the use of finite resources into perspective

RESOURCES REQUIRED

1. Bowls, large enough to hold 2 Kilograms of unshelled peanuts. 1 bowl for up to 20 pupils, 2 bowls for up to 30 and 3 bowls for more than 30.
2. 2 Kg unshelled peanuts per bowl (if any of your class members has a peanut allergy, pistachios can be substituted.
3. Tablespoons or dessertspoons – one for each pupil.
4. Cups – one for each pupil.
5. Timer, or timepiece with second hand.
6. 1 Oil extraction data WORKSHEET per pupil.
   

TIME REQUIRED

Class time
1 hour.

OVERVIEW

In this oil extraction simulation, pupils experience the increasing difficulty of extracting a finite resource over three generations, using peanuts to represent oil resources. Students also discuss the extraction and use of other non-renewable energy resources.

TEACHING ACTIVITIES

Introduction

• Review or introduce the concept of non-renewable – remember to draw on pupils’ previous understanding and knowedge. “Non-renewable energy resources will run out if we keep using them. They are finite, which means that there is only a certain amount of them on the planet.”
• Explain the activity. “Today we are going to “drill” for crude oil, the non-renewable resource that petrol and diesel are made from. You will be modelling the extraction of oil reserves over three generations of human population growth.”
  

Extraction activity

1. The pupils form groups, representing three generations of North Sea oil drillers. If your class has less than twenty pupils, they will represent generations working in one oil company with up to seven students per generation. Classes with between twenty-one and thirty pupils break into two oil companies. Have each oil company choose a name. The following companies, Chevron Texaco, Exxon Mobil (known as Esso in the UK), BP and Shell, all operate drilling platforms in the North Sea. Divide the pupils within each company into three equal groups to represent the generations of oil workers.
2. Give each pupil a cup and a copy of the Oil extraction data WORKSHEET.
3. For each oil company, have the pupils representing the first generation gather around a large bowl (or bowls) filled with unshelled peanuts.
4. Give this generation 60 seconds to “extract” the oil by shelling the peanuts over the bowl, putting the shelled nut in their cup and returning any stray shells to the bowl.
5. When the sixty seconds are up, have the first generation stop, return to their seats, count the peanuts in their cups, and record their mining extraction on their worksheets. Each whole peanut represents one barrel of oil, a half peanut representing half a barrel.
   6. Now it’s time for the second generation of oil drillers to gather around the same bowl(s) to carry out their sixty second extraction followed by extraction data recording.
6. Finally the third generation have a go.
7. Ask each generation to report their total number of barrels, so that everyone can fill in their extraction data tables fully.
   

Discussion
Use the following questions to prompt a class discussion:

• Did the second generation of oil drillers get as many barrels of oil as the first? Did the third get as many as the second? Why/why not? (Underline the analogy of the increasing difficulty of finding fewer and fewer peanuts in amongst deeper and deeper cover.)
• What would happen if we kept adding generations to the simulation.
• How did it feel to be in the different generations? How did you feel towards members of the other generations?
• Are there any resources that are less available now than they were for your grandparents? Name some of them. How does this affect you and the people around you? Do you ever think about your potential children and grandchildren when you use non-renewable energy resources?
• In what ways is this activity similar to the extraction of real non-renewable oil reserves?
• What are some other non-renewable energy resources? Why are these called fossil fuels? (Uranium is also non-renewable, but is less relevant to this lesson and is unlikely to be offered as an example by pupils) How do we use them?
• Apart from the fact that they will run out, are there any problems with burning these fossil fuels?
• How many things can you think of that you could do to help reduce the consumption of non-renewable energy resources in your area?
  

Review

Pupils review their learning by working through the “Oil extraction data WORKSHEET”.