PACE

Lesson Plan

Biogas (Double Lesson)

Summary: Understand how Biogas is produced and used for energy production in Tanzania and the UK. Biogas is a fuel used as an energy source for light, heat or movement. It is a mixture of methane and carbon dioxide. Methane can be burnt for cooking or lighting the house. It can also be used to power a combustion engine to drive a motor or generate electricity. Biogas is made by fermenting organic waste in a biogas digester. The size of a digester can vary from a small household system to large commercial plants of several thousand cubic metres. Biogas can also be captured from landfill sites where organic waste has been rotting under the ground. For more on the environmental impacts of biogas, see Biogas and Climate Change.pdf Additional opportunities: Work with the geography department to create a more detailed case study of the Shinyanga region of Tanzania; Build a biogas digester in the school lab. Arrange a visit to a landfill site to find out what it does with the methane produced and whether it produces energy from biogas. Lesson Objectives: All students will... Understand the concept of energy in the context of fuels as convenient and therefore valuable resources. Most students will Some students will... Activities: Starter Show the Biogas Presentation.ppt (slide 1) Which is the best fuel? Class discussion: Why have you chosen that order? Ask students to come up with at least one statement that they think may describe one of the lesson objectives. Watch the PACE Film Biogas. Depending on context you may wish to add more context (e.g. if using this resource in conjunction with geography or as an extended project, Biogas Introduction Slides.ppt and Shinyanga Background.pdf may be useful) During film ask students to write down one new fact they have learned and one fact they found interesting. Understand how a biogas digester works and consider the implications of biogas for the local and global environment. Use secondary sources of information as the basis for creative thought about biological waste as a resource.

KS: 3&4

Main

PACE
Main (cont.) Feedback student facts from the film. Introduce Activity 1 on Biogas Presentation slide 3: Would you install.Use table provided in Biogas Would you Activity.pdf or ask students to copy table to their notebooks. Students may ask about the cost of the biogas system: Tanzanian Shillings: 500,000 TZS is about 215 pounds at 2007 exchange rates (280 pounds at the exchange rates when the film was made). For 500,000 shillings, a household could buy about 6 years worth of kerosene, based on average rate of use for lighting a household. Introduce Activity 2 on Biogas powerpoint slide 4. Students could copy the diagram, use the handout Biogas Spider.pdf or make their own notes in spider diagram format. Opportunity to differentiate by offering students access to either or both the Reuters article (Biogas Article.pdf) or the presentation (Biogas Student Presentation.ppt). Alternatively, show presentation slide 5 to 10 to the whole class (click spacebar to show answers on each slide) and/or allow independent research using the Internet.

Lesson Plan

ICT Alternative: Allow independent research and/or individual access to powerpoint presentation.

Plenary

Homework

Possible continuation lessons

See Biogas Extension Activities.pdf for more activities for use in class if required. Hand out information on Holsworthy Case Study.pdf. Give students the handout and ask them to scan the article for the keywords on the slide. When each is found, ask students to construct a sentence comparing the Katakwas farm plant in Tanzania with the Holsworthy Biogas Plant in Devon using one or more keywords. Suggestions in Biogas Extension Activities.pdf with or without access to handouts Energy Use in Tanzania.pdf, Electricity in the UK and Tanzania.pdf, Biogas and Climate Change.pdf - 1. Compare energy use in the UK and Tanzania - 2. Compare electricity generation in UK and Tanzania - 3. Investigate why biogas is better than fossil fuels in terms of global warming impacts - 4. Compare electricity use in UK and Tanzania - Building a biogas digester in a classroom (Takes approx 6 weeks) See Build Your Own Biogas Digester.pdf - Use Biogas Student Presentation.pdf to test students recall - If your school has an international partnership project, students could investigate and exchange biogas case studies from partnership countries. - Campaign: Write to the company that supplies your school with energy to ask about where your electricity comes from and what they are doing to reduce the environmental impact of electricity generation