Hydraulic fracturing is a controversial topic directly impacting the citizens and communities of Colorado.
This extended writing task asks students to read, analyze, and gather/cite relevant information from multiple texts and write an argumentative essay about the positive and negative impacts of hydraulic fracking and evaluating whether Colorado should continue using this method of extracting natural gas. You may also ask students to give examples from past or current events to illustrate and clarify their positions and/or acknowledge competing views by completing the additional optional demands. (Note: Writing a counterclaim is an 8th grade CCSS ELA standard.) This module addresses the following Common Core standards and Colorado Academic Standards:
• GLE 3 and RST.6-8.10: Read closely, analyze, and evaluate relevant information from multiple texts comparing and contrasting hydraulic fracturing to other energy sources.
• R1: Cite textual evidence to support analysis of science and technical texts. Citing explicitly what the text says as well as making inferences from it and citing textual evidence when speaking and writing to support conclusions drawn from the text.
• L6: Acquire and use academic language while speaking, listening, writing and thinking.
• W1: Write an evidence-based argumentative essay in which they support their claim with clear reasonsand relevant evidence.
• SL1: Initiate and engage in a variety of collaborative discussions building on the ideas of others and expressing their own ideas clearly.
SC09-GR.6-S.3-GLE.3: Earth’s natural resources provide the foundation for human society’s physical needs. Many natural resources are nonrenewable on human timescales, while others can be renewed or recycled. (This standard is one of the two-year-long science focus standards in 6th grade.)
• SC09-GR.6-S.3-GLE.3: Earth’s natural resources provide the foundation for human society’s physical needs. Many natural resources are nonrenewable on human timescales, while others can be renewed or recycled. (This standard is one of the two-year-long science focus standards in 6th grade.)
This module also supports one of the two suggested SLOs for 6th grade science:
"All students will be able to demonstrate orally and in writing how each Earth system contributes renewable and nonrenewable resources for human use and evaluate environmental impacts of those resources."
Outlined in the districts scope and sequence for 6th grade science this module is to be implemented following the completion of the first unit Rocks and Landforms following Investigation 8. See below.
Rocks and Landforms
Investigation 1: Different Types of Rock
Investigation 2: Rocks and Landforms in Your Region Investigation 3: Rocks and Weathering
Investigation 4: Rock Abrasion
Investigation 5: Erosional Landforms
Investigation 6: Deltas and Floodplains
Investigation 7: Glaciers, Erosion, and Deposition Investigation 8: Rocks, Landforms, and Human Activity
Connections to Unit 1
Remind students we learned in unit 1 that organic material in rocks are the remains of plants and animals.
Shale is an example used in the text. Take out the shale rock to show students from investigation 2.
