Day 1: Introduction to Coal & Identification Activity

Lesson Plan - Identifying and Comparing Types of Coal

Adapted from American Coal Foundation with additions from 2008-2009 TESSE Graduate Fellows from Penn State University (http://sites.psu.edu/drlauraguertin/)

Overview

Students identify and compare four types of coal by examining hand samples and observing burning coal samples.  The burning coal experiment can be conducted in the class or a video of the experiment can be shown to the students if the materials for that activity are not available.

Objectives

Students will:

  • Examine four unidentified types of coal and document their observations about each.  
  • Observe the burning behavior (i.e., flame color, length of burning, speed of ignition) of the four samples.  
  • Draw conclusions about the identity of each coal specimen (based on the information presented initially along with what they observed about each sample)

National Science Education Standards

(https://www.nap.edu/read/4962/chapter/1)

  • Science as Inquiry, 5-8
    • Abilities necessary to do scientific inquiry
  • Physical Science, 5-8
    • Properties of matter and changes in properties of matter
  • Science in Personal and Social Perspective, 9-12
    • Natural resources
  

Files

Introduction and Identification Files
File Name Type and Size
Identifying & Comparing Types of Coal - Lesson Plan MS Word - 1.0 MB
Coal Identification - Worksheet PDF File - 760 KB
Introduction to Coal Presentation MS PowerPoint - 1.7 MB
Coal Properties Plots MS PowerPoint - 875 KB
Video demonstrating the time to ignition and burning of four coal samples MOV File - 157 MB
Video (for iPod) demonstrating the time to ignition and burning of four coal samples M4V File - 62 MB
Video (for iPhone) demonstrating the time to ignition and burning of four coal samples M4V File - 36 MB

List of Resources