Nuffield STEM Futures
Cars
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Lesson 1:
Cars in our lives:
Introductory
film 7
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Activity 1.1:
The history of the motor car
Learning outcomes
You will be able to:
• Record information from video clips.
• Explain the relationship between car
ownership and oil production.
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Activity 1.1:
The history of the motor car
You are going to watch a series of video clips about the history of
cars. Make notes to help you answer questions in a quiz on this
topic. You and your partner will compete against other pairs in
the quiz. You will be able to use any notes you make during the
quiz.
Watch the first video clip without writing anything, just to see
the type of information that you need to record.
Agree with your partner the best way to make notes.
Watch each video clip in turn (including the first one). This time
make notes to use in your quiz.
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Activity 1.1:
The history of the motor car
Peak oil graph animation link:
http://www.nuffieldfoundation.org/futures-animations
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For approximately how many years
have humans been using oil in
large quantities?
A:A
10strong as an ox
B:
100
C:
1000
D:
200
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100 years) As
strong as
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What is the maximum rate of
production of oil on the graph
(millions of barrels per day)?
A:A
C:
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15strong as an ox
80
B:
30
D:
800
80 million
barrels per
day
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When is oil production expected
to peak?
A:A
C:
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2010strong as an ox
2080
B:
2025
D:
3000
2010
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When was the industrial revolution
in the UK?
A:A
C:
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1800sstrong as an ox
1600s
B:
1700s
D:
1900s
1800s
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What was the main fuel of the
industrial revolution?
A:A
C:
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wood
oil
as an ox
B:
coal tar
D:
coal
coal
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What was the coal used to make
to drive early engines?
A:A
C:
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hot waters an ox
hot oil
B:
steam
D:
coke
steam
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Where was the first modern
oil well?
A:A
C:
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England as an ox
America
B:
North Sea
D:
Asia
Asia
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When was the first modern
oil well built?
A:A
C:
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1918s an ox
1840
B:
1848
D:
1912
1848
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When were the first cars built?
A:A
C:
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1835as an ox
1904
B:
1899
D:
1882
1882
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When did Henry Ford start
line manufacturing cars?
A:A
C:
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1918 as an ox
1914
B:
1965
D:
1930
1914
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How many model T Fords had been
built by 1927?
A:A
C:
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15000000as an ox
150000
B:
15000
D:
14
15000000
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By which year was car ownership
common?
A:A
C:
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1955s an ox
1940
B:
1930
D:
1965
1965
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Which of the following will happen
after oil has peaked?
A:
plants all die
B:
cars all stop
C:
technologies
develop
D:
people grow
vegetables
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technologies
develop
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Which of the following might cars
use for energy in the future?
A:A
C:
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oil as an ox
electricity
B:
coal
D:
wood
electricity
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What do hybrid cars use for
energy?
and oil ox
B:
oil and wood
hydrogen and
water
D:
petrol and
electricity
A:A coal
C:
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petrol and
electricity
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Activity 1.2:
Film clip 8
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Activity 1.2:
Top trumps
Learning outcomes
You will be able to:
• Make a choice from someone else’s
perspective.
• Explain how some features of modern car
design are helping to bring cars into a closed
loop system.
• Use data for a purpose.
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Activity 1.2:
Top trumps
Pupil activity Part 1 of 2
a.
b.
c.
d.
e.
f.
g.
h.
Deal out all the cards (2 players or more).
Place your cards face down in a pile.
First player selects a category from their top card and reads out its
value.
The next player reads out the value for same category.
The best value wins and the winner collects the trick.
The winner chooses the category for the next round.
If the hand is drawn, the cards are placed in the middle to be
collected by the next winner.
Use the sustainable car fact files to make some new cards.
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Activity 1.2:
Top trumps
Pupil activity Part 2 of 2
i.
j.
k.
l.
i.
Play the game again with the new cards.
Select a character from the list provided.
Select a car you think your character would choose.
Now decide which new car your character would choose if:
• the cost of petrol increases by 50%
• the Government subsidises cars with low emissions
(200g per km).
think of a strap line to advertise your character’s new car.
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Plenary: Lesson 1
Discuss:
1. What are the main
benefits and
disadvantages of
cars?
2. How will cars of the
future increase the
benefits and reduce
the disadvantages of
cars?
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Lesson 2:
Investigating air
pollution:
Introductory
film 9
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Activity 2.1:
Soot from cars
Learning outcomes
You will be able to:
• Use a standard technique to collect and
compare samples along a transect.
• Assume a role in a team.
• Evaluate teamwork.
• Plan an investigation.
• Evaluate the reliability of the investigation.
• Draw conclusions from data.
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Activity 2.1:
Soot from cars
Pupil activity Part 1 of 7
In this activity you will:
Carry out an air pollution survey in your school grounds
or local park.
Choose a site where there are some trees near a road.
Collect soot samples from trees to indicate pollution
levels.
Decide whether you think the pollution levels need to be
taken into account when locating a picnic table.
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Activity 2.1:
Soot from cars
Pupil activity Part 2 of 7
Divide up the tasks between members of your team.
Decide on the different roles needed and what
equipment you should take into the field.
Your investigation should involve:
1. Measuring the distance from the road, tree height,
tree circumference.
2. Identifying and recording tree species and lichens.
3. Taking samples of soot from trees.
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Activity 2.1:
Soot from cars
Pupil activity Part 3 of 7
Equipment list to choose from
Clipboard
Hand lens (optional)
Tape measure
Trundle wheel
Sticky tape, 1 roll
Scissors, or sticky tape
dispenser
Tree identification key
Key to lichens (optional)
Noise sensor / datalogger
Map of transect area (park,
school grounds)
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Activity 2.1:
Soot from cars
Pupil activity Part 4 of 7
a. Write down your investigation question.
b. Use a magnifying glass to inspect the sootiness of
your samples.
c. Decide whether each sample is more or less sooty
than the standard sample at site 1, and more or less
sooty than the previous sample. Fill this into the
evidence table.
d. Together decide a rank order of sootiness for your
samples.
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Activity 2.1:
Soot from cars
Pupil activity
Part 5 of 7
e. Agree a standard
technique to
collect reliable
data from your
site.
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Activity 2.1:
Soot from cars
Pupil activity Part 6 of 7
f. How reliable is your data?
To answer this question, think of all the factors that you
would need to keep the same to make your investigation
completely reliable. Make a table similar to this one.
Factor
How did you
control it?
How successful
were you?
e.g. tree type
Tried to use same
species of tree
Results were from 3
different species
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Activity 2.1:
Soot from cars
Pupil activity Part 7 of 7
For discussion:
Where should you site a picnic table in the sampling
area?
What are the benefits of working together in a team?
How did you decide who was going to do which job?
What aspects of working as a team did you find difficult?
What would you do differently next time in order to work
more effectively?
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Plenary: Lesson 2
Discuss:
1. How effective was this investigation at
surveying pollution?
2. What would you need to do to improve the
investigation?
3. What should be done about the pollution in
your school grounds?
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Lesson 3:
Traffic pollution:
Introductory
film 10
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Activity 3.1:
Traffic pollution in Mumbai
Learning outcomes
You will be able to:
• Show how maths can be used to help solve a STEM
problem on sustainability.
• Explain how traffic pollution can damage health.
• Suggest strategies to reduce traffic pollution in
Mumbai.
• Use a flow chart to plan a mathematical solution (CP).
• Collaborate to write a report.
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Activity 3.1:
Traffic pollution in Mumbai
Pupil activity Part 1 of 4
The Scenario
You are a group of transport systems experts in Mumbai.
You have been commissioned by the government to
produce a report. You have to advise on whether your
city should impose a law to force all taxi drivers to go over
to Compressed Natural Gas fuel (CNG).
The proposed law would force all taxis to make the
conversion over a two-month period or have their licence
taken away.
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Activity 3.1:
Traffic pollution in Mumbai
Pupil activity Part 2 of 4
a. Write a report for the Mumbai government in three
parts:
Section 1: A summary of the health risks of air pollution
Section 2: Response to the government’s plan to convert
all the taxis in two months
Section 3: Recommendations to the government on
some other strategies to reduce car pollution.
c. Agree who in your group will be responsible for which
section.
d. Present all or part of your report to the class.
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Activity 3.1:
Report section 3: Problem-solving chart
Pupil activity Part 3 of 4
What do we need to know?
Conclusion
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Useful information
Working out
Activity 3.1:
Report section 3: Problem-solving chart
Pupil activity Part 4 of 4
What do we need to know?
How many diesel taxis are there?
How long does it take to do one taxi?
Can more than one taxi be done at the
same time?
How many taxis can be done at the same
time?
How many garages are there?
Could each garage do 3 cars a day?
Useful information
15 thousand taxis
2 or 3 hours to convert each one
Yes more than one can be done
at a time
It depends how many garages
there are
There are 16 garages
Yes each one can do 3 cars a day
Conclusion
Working it out
They cannot get it done in two
months; it would take more than a
year.
16 x 3 = 48 cars can be done
each day
so 48 x 5 = 480 ÷ 2 = 240 a week
It would not be fair to stop the taxis
doing their job. They should be
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allowed more time to change their
engines
Say about 1000 a month
So it would take 15 months to
do 15 000 taxis.
Plenary: Lesson 3
Discuss:
1. What are the main problems with heavy
urban traffic?
2. What might would the closed loop
solution be?
3. What would be the main obstacles for
implementing these solutions?
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Lessons 4 & 5:
Sustainable
transport:
Introductory
film 11
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Activity 4.1:
A sustainable school run
Learning outcomes
You will be able to:
• Establish criteria for assessing a presentation.
• Evaluate a presentation and give feedback.
• Demonstrate the need for a sustainable school
transport plan.
• Propose a set of closed loop transport solutions.
• Explain how a sustainable school transport plan
will help reduce use of buried sunshine.
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Activity 4.1:
A sustainable school run
Task description: A closed loop school run
Your challenge:
Find out about how pupils get to school.
Plan a school bus route to get everyone to school
on time.
Conduct research into other sustainable forms of
transport.
Plan a 5 minute presentation for a given audience.
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Activity 4.1:
Part A Selecting criteria
Pupil activity Part 1 of 2
You have been given a set of possible criteria for
evaluating the quality of your final presentation.
a. First sort the criteria into two columns:
i. Content
ii. Communication
b. Rank the criteria in each column according to
which you think are the most important.
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Activity 4.1:
Part A Selecting criteria
Pupil activity Part 2 of 2
c. Compare your list with another group and
agree your top three criteria for both
categories – 6 criteria in all.
d. Design an evaluation sheet that will help you
score and comment on the final presentation.
e. Make sure everyone in the groups
understands the 6 criteria they will be working
towards.
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Activity 4.1:
Part B Planning the mini project
Pupil activity Part 1 of 3
Use the planning sheet provided to help plan your
project.
In your group, you need to agree:
• What needs to be done?
• Who needs to do it?
• How long it will take?
• How will it be judged in the evaluation?
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Activity 4.1:
Part B Planning the mini project
Pupil activity Part 2 of 3
Plan the content of your research. This might include:
1. A survey: How are pupils getting to school at the
moment? Where do pupils live?
2. Investigations: What is the shortest route a bus
could take? How long should the journey take?
3. Research: By how much would a school bus reduce
pollution? How does using a school bus relate to
closed loop theory? What other strategies could the
council adopt to reduce traffic pollution?
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Activity 4.1:
Part B Planning the mini project
Pupil activity Part 3 of 3
Plan your presentation. This might include:
1. Promoting your ideas: How will you convince people
to take part in your scheme?
2. Audience: Who is your presentation for? (pupils, the
local authority, parents, local business)
3. Medium: Will you produce a leaflet, poster,
Powerpoint, radio report or newspaper article?
4. Criteria: How will you divide up the tasks to make
sure you fulfil all the criteria?
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Activity 4.1:
Part C Researching and preparing the
presentation
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Activity 4.1:
Part D Giving your feedback
Each group will evaluate one other group against the
agreed criteria. When evaluating a presentation you
should:
1. Ask questions about the content.
2. Write a constructive comment on each of the criteria.
Use your own evaluation sheet for this.
3. Suggest how the content and the way it was
presented could have been improved. Be positive.
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Lesson 4 & 5: Plenary
Discuss:
1. What are the merits of the different criteria
that each group has used?
2. How do the different solutions help reduce the
amount of fossil fuels burnt?
3. How does using less fossil fuel help promote
sustainable living?
Use your Learning Nutshell to record your
thoughts about this pod.
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