U.S. Government PBL

1) Driving Question: Should governments outlaw deep sea oil drilling entirely?

• Our driving question is based on Standard USG.4.9, which is “Discuss specific foreign policy issues that impact local community and state interests. (Economics; Individuals, Society and Culture).” This resource is designed to be used in a high school government class, which is typically offered for juniors and seniors. The DQ warrants an in-depth study because there are multiple opinions about deep sea oil drilling and its economic payoff and environmental friendliness. The DQ is relevant for my students because environmental issues are becoming prevalent and we are looking for alternative fuels, but oil drilling is deemed as the easiest option. Deep sea drilling is a highly hazardous operation and the stakes are dangerous but the United States sees deep sea drilling as a necessary evil to combat the oil production of other countries. Many corporations are given money from the government to drill off the coast of the Unites States. Students can argue that the availability of oil is a reason to continue drilling for oil, while some can argue that it is too dangerous and that the government should intervene and illegalize the act, making it a many-solution type of problem. Students can read multiple opposing viewpoints and studies. They can then discuss and argue their side.
• Examples of arguments:

• Pro drilling: workers, economists, politicians who think that relying on other countries for fuel is bad, car owner who needs cheap gas
• Anti drilling: environmental activist, veterinarian, economist, politician who wants to be eco-friendly, person living by the Mexican gulf and other deep sea oil drilling sites

2) Grabber:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gvuzuyEKLd8 - Against Drilling

http://myoildrilling.info/pros-and-cons-of-offshore-drilling/ - Definition of Deep Sea Oil Drilling and a list of Pros and Cons

• The grabber shows a REAL event that took place in the near past (BP oil spill). The graphic imagery of the grabber video will lead to students being interested and sympathetic to the affected ecosystem by capitalizing on high emotion situations: there are dying animals covered in oil and an oily ocean. The video will be played at the beginning of class and then students will be asked about how they feel after watching the video. Then the DQ will be posed along with handouts displaying various reasons for why we should or should not continue deep sea oil drilling (e.g environmental concerns, political necessities, economic reasons).

3) Culminating Activity: Group Work and Debate

• The activity makes it necessary for students to debate with each other citing evidence from various articles and studies that are assigned to them, providing students with the opportunity to present and defend problem solution.  Students will work in groups to create a PowerPoint presentation and defend their positions. There will two large groups, one for deep sea oil drilling and one against, and half the class will be in one group and the other half in the other. Students will first debate amongst themselves in their own groups to decide the most compelling arguments to present to the other group. Once both groups of students have decided on the important arguments, they two groups will present their Powerpoints to the class. Once both presentations have been completed, the debate will begin. The purpose of the debate is to have students teach one another about aspects of deep sea oil drilling that they wouldn’t have known otherwise and wouldn’t have been interested in learning through a lecture. Students will be graded to a rubric that I will have shared with them when first announcing the project. (Rubric below.) Students will also evaluate each other within their groups in order to ensure that every student feels motivated to help in the process. In a class of 20 students, ten will be in a group and nine will evaluate student x. One point is given for each good evaluation and a student can gain up to nine points through peer evaluations. In total, this project will be worth 69 points, with 25 coming from the PowerPoint and 35 coming from the debate.

Rubric: