Energy generation and speciation

What you'll need

• "Human actions and speciation" worksheet
• "Rating the impacts of energy projects on speciation" worksheet
• "Energy and speciation" handouts:
  • "Energy and speciation: Fossil fuels"
  • "Energy and speciation: Hydroelectric dams"
  • "Energy and speciation: Solar farms"
  • "Energy and speciation: Wind farms"

1. Organize your students into pairs and provide each group with a copy of the "Human actions and speciation" worksheet. Review the concept of speciation with your students, and ask groups to use the ranking ladder at the bottom of the worksheet to rank the sources of energy—solar, wind, hydro, and fossil fuels—according to how much they affect or contribute to speciation. 
2. Invite groups to share their decisions and thinking with the class. As groups share, use their ideas to co-develop or present the criteria for ranking the effects and contributions to speciation:

• Breadth: The energy project leads to multiple changes in an ecosystem 
• Depth: The energy project leads to changes extending beyond the immediate environment
• Duration: The effects of the energy project are prolonged, and last long enough to allow sub-populations to evolve independently

3. Briefly explain that the challenge of this activity is to determine the extent to which various forms of energy impact or contribute to speciation. 
4. Assign one energy source to each group, and provide each group with the related "Energy and speciation" handout and a copy of the "Rating the impacts of energy projects on speciation" worksheet. Prompt students to assess how much their assigned energy source changes the surrounding ecosystem. Guide them to shade in the scale for each criterion, and to note any evidence that supports their ratings. 
5. After each group has assessed the impacts of their assigned energy source, invite each group to present their ratings to the class. 
6. Guide the class in discussing the ratings for each of the energy forms, and encourage groups to note ratings and related evidence for each type of energy.  
7. Conclude the activity by inviting groups to revisit their initial ratings. Encourage groups to reflect on how their initial ranking compares to their final ranking, and to add to or revise their ranking and supporting evidence based on their new learning.