7 & 8 I
Science World
The Real Cost of Batteries STUDENT HANDBOOK, PAGE 22
Objectives: Students will evaluate the hazards involved in mining cobalt for lithium-ion batteries; students will also practice summarizing the main ideas of the text. 1 Warm-up: Start a discussion with students about what they know about electronic devices and batteries. • What makes electronic devices, such as smartphones, laptops, and electronic cars, function? • Where do you think the materials for this equipment come from? 2 Read: “The Real Cost of Batteries” First read: Read the article aloud; you may also wish to ask volunteers to read aloud. At the end of the article, ask students to describe the gist of the article. (The article describes the hazards involved in mining cobalt for lithium-ion batteries.) Second read: Ask students to read with partners or independently. (You can always read aloud if that works best with your students.) Instruct students: As you read, take notes on the main ideas that you’d include in a summary. When students finish reading, ask for volunteers to summarize the article. (Miners in the Democratic Republic of Congo work in dangerous conditions to collect cobalt, an essential ingredient in the rechargeable batteries that power electronic devices. The mining process is unhealthy for workers, people living around the mines, and the environment. The workers, many of whom are children, do not have proper safety equipment and risk their health to extract and collect the cobalt. Some companies have pledged to make sure the cobalt is mined safely.) (Summarize) 3 After Reading: Use these questions to check students’ understanding. You may wish to ask them to go back to the article to highlight where they found the answers. 1. Look at the photographs in the article. What do they tell you about the process of mining and processing cobalt? (People working in mines and gathering cobalt face health risks and work in dangerous and unsafe environments.) 2. Why is cobalt mined? (It is an essential ingredient in the rechargeable batteries that power electronic devices.) 3. Why is cobalt mining so dangerous? (The mines used to extract cobalt from the ground were built without proper support, and they are in danger of collapsing.)
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