Iowa produces most of its electrical power from the burning of coal, nuclear energy, and running water. The following lists give the name and location of power plants in Iowa that use nuclear energy and hydroelectric power. The list includes some towns and cities that have coal-burning plants.
Activity:
Use a road map of Iowa to find the towns and cities where these electric generating plants are located. Then mark these locations on the Iowa county map on the next page. Use a color code or symbol for each type of power plant.
Nuclear Generating Plant
Duane Arnold Energy Center..............Palo
Hydroelectric Plants
Five-In-One Dam........Cedar Rapids
Iowa Falls Mill............Iowa Falls
Keokuk Dam...............Keokuk
Anamosa Dam............Anamosa
Waverly Mill..............Waverly
Amana Dam................Amana
Ottumwa Dam............Ottumwa
Maquoketa Dam.........Maquoketa
Coal-burning Plants
Cedar Falls
Council Bluffs
Dubuque
Lansing
Sioux City
Montpelier
Marshalltown
Waterloo
Cedar Rapids
Chillicothe
Spencer
Bettendorf
Mt. Pleasant
Click here to get the
map of Iowa's Electric Generating Plants
Teachers's Notes
Objectives:
Students will become familiar with the locations and number of nuclear, hydroelectric, and coal-burning power plants in Iowa.
Materials:
One Iowa road map for each group of students
List of power plants for each student
Iowa county map for each student
One large map showing Iowa counties for the whole class
Thumbtacks or other items for marking locations on large map
Transparency map for teacher (optional)
Teaching Suggestions:
Review coordinates and map-reading skills prior to this activity.
If you plan to locate all of the power plants on the map, you may wish to make small groups responsible for only a portion of the list.
This activity will work well as an extension of an Iowa history, map-reading, or geography lesson.
The large county map can be used for plotting of power plants for the entire class on a bulletin board or the wall.
This activity can be done in conjunction with the language arts letter-writing activity. The color of the markers could be changed on the map when you write to a power plant and again when a response is received.
Symbols could designate the three types of power plants.
Extended Activities:
Visit a power plant in your area or invite a representative from a plant to speak in your classroom.
Map locations of raw materials and direct energy purchased from other states for use in Iowa.
Define the difference between municipal and privately-owned power plants and distinguish between the two on the large map.
Research Ideas:
What are some reasons why Iowa purchases power from outside the state?
There are power plants in Iowa using natural gas and petroleum products for their fuel. Contact a utility company to get a list of these facilities. Locate each one on the map.
Use the map of U.S. Coal Reserves and table of 1991 U.S. Coal Production to answer the following questions.
Questions:
1. The attached map shows the continental United States divided into four areas. Look at the key. What do the shaded parts of the map represent?
2. List the four types of coal in order from least to most available in the U.S.
3. Which area of the U.S., western or eastern, has the most bituminous coal? the most sub-bituminous coal?
4. Name the states which have lignite coal.
5. Which states have anthracite coal?
6. On the map, fill in the two letter postal abbreviations of the ten states that produced the most coal in 1991.
7. What area of the United States produces the most coal? What area produces the least amount of coal?
8. Can you tell from this map how many tons of coal we have in the United States? Why or why not?
9. What region of the country does not have coal reserves?
10. What might be some reasons why states like Iowa, Missouri, Kansas, and Oklahoma are not among the top coal-producing states, although they have large coal reserves?
Use Your Math:
The state of Iowa has about seven billion tons of coal deposits. About 2.7 billion tons could be mined easily. If Iowa utilities continue to use about 400,000 tons of coal annually, how long would the 2.7 billion tons last?
1991 U.S. Coal Production, by State
(In Thousand Tons Units)
State : Total
Wyoming : 194,015
West Virginia : 166,600
Kentucky : 156,563
Pennsylvania : 65,825
Illinois : 59,009
Texas : 54,575
Virginia : 44,153
Montana : 37,879
Indiana : 31,284
Ohio : 30,206
North Dakota : 29,288
Alabama : 27,712
New Mexico : 22,436
Utah : 21,249
Colorado : 17,348
Arizona : 12,614
Washington : 4,916
Tennessee : 4,627
Maryland : 3,744
Louisiana : 3,116
Missouri : 2,243
Oklahoma : 1,869
Alaska : 1,457
Kansas : 458
Iowa : 350
California : 51
Arkansas : 49
TOTAL U.S. : 993,635
U.S. Coal Reserves
Click here to get the Map of
U.S. Coal Reserves
Teacher's Notes
Objectives:
1. Identify the locations where coal is found in the United States.
2. Compare areas of coal distribution with coal production in the United States.
3. Describe the characteristics of four types of coal.
Background:
The formation of the fossil fuels we use today began hundreds of millions of years ago. Coal formed largely from plants, while oil and natural gas formed largely from marine life. These fuels are nonrenewable for human use because it takes so much time for nature to produce these fuels.
Materials:
Coal resource books
Butcher paper and magic markers
Resource books which include postal abbreviations
Student Sheets of Coal Reserve Map and 1991 U.S. Coal Production, by State
Teaching Suggestions:
1. Divide your class into four cooperative groups (or multiples of four if you have large class sizes). Assign each group one type of coal (anthracite, bituminous, sub-bituminous, and lignite) to research characteristics and uses. (Students may wish to write and display the information on large paper.) A Coal Facts sheet has been included for your use.
2. Have instructional discussion in which each group shares information with the class. Butcher paper can be displayed in the classroom for future reference.
3. Distribute student sheets (one with distribution map and production table, the other with questions). Point out to students that the map shows where coal is found in the U.S., while the table lists coal production for individual states.
4. Have students complete questions in pairs or small groups. Discuss answers as a whole class.
Extended Activities:
Have students prepare presentations comparing and contrasting the life and working conditions of coal miners today with those of the late 1800s. In groups, let students choose their presentation formats; for example plays, raps, TV programs, murals, dioramas, etc.
Answers to Student Questions:
1. Areas where coal is found.
2. anthracite, lignite, sub-bituminous, bituminous
3. bituminous -- eastern; sub-bituminous -- western
4. California, Montana, Kansas, Texas, Mississippi, Virginia, Alabama, Arkansas, and Louisiana.
5. Pennsylvania, Virginia
6. The states from Wyoming to Ohio from the table should be labeled.
7. most -- Northeast; least -- Southwest
8. No. You can tell where the coal is found, but not the number of tons in each area.
9. The New England states
10. The coal is found deeper in the earth
Use Your Math:
This might be best figured as an estimation problem. If students set it up like this:
400,000 / 2,700,000,000
they can use estimation to see that the answer would be close to 7000 years.
(A Teacher-led Activity)
Objective:
The student will understand where the energy they use comes from.
Materials:
Chart paper
Teaching Suggestions:
Day One
1. Tell students that they are going to participate in an activity to discover where and how they get the energy they use.
2. Ask students to list all the ways they use energy in their daily lives. You can either do this as a class, in small groups, or with each student writing out his or her own list. Make the lists as comprehensive as possible. You should probably restrict the list to students' direct use of energy (e.g., to power their televisions, school buses, etc.), rather than including such indirect uses as providing energy for the factory that manufactures the jeans they wear.
3. Group the lists by energy source used (e.g., wood for wood stoves, sunlight for calculators, natural gas for home heating, oil/gasoline for cars, etc.). For those energy uses that run on electricity, place them in a category "electricity."
4. Ask the students if they can trace any of the other materials used for energy back to their original sources. Write the answers on a chart. For example, if students have wood stoves, how do they get the wood and where does it come from? Where do they get the gasoline for their cars? They should trace the energy as far back to its origin as they can: Where does the gas station get its gasoline? Where does the school get its electricity?
5. When students are unable to trace a particular energy use back to its source, place a question mark on the chart. So, if they do not know where the gas station gets its gasoline, your chart would look as follows:
Car -> gas -> gas station -> ?
6. Then assign individual students or groups of students to find answers to replace the question marks. Tell them that their job is to trace the energy back to its source and that they will be asked to report back to the full class. A group of students can go to local gas stations to see if they can find out where the gasoline is shipped from, where it is refined, and so on. Several students should work together on the subject of electricity. They should find out what energy sources your local utility company uses to generate its electricity, where the power plants are located, and how much electricity comes from each energy source.
Day Two
1. After students have had time to complete their homework assignments, have them report back to the class.
2. As the students present their information, add to the chart that traces back the various energy uses to their sources.
3. After all the students have presented their reports, look over the chart and identify any ways in which students use renewable energy sources.
Extended Activities:
1. Invite a representative of the utility company to visit the class to discuss how the company obtains its raw materials and produces electricity.
2. Invite a representative of the local natural gas company to visit the class to discuss the transmission of natural gas by pipeline.
3. Visit an electricity-generating plant.
4. Electric appliances have a label or plate attached that lists how much power they require (usually in watts or amps). Have students go through their houses and record all electric appliance power requirements. Then help the students rank their uses of power from their largest use of energy to their smallest (e.g., refrigerators use more electricity than televisions, etc.). How much power would they then need to run all the appliances in their houses simultaneously for an hour? How much would it cost to do this?
| Table of Contents | Previous Section | Next Section |