Oil Spill Lesson Plans

Although we don’t often consider it, oil is a part of everyone’s daily life. It is used in the gasoline we need to fuel our cars, airplanes, and boats, and its derivatives make the plastic in food containers, picnic ware, pop bottles, toys, and many other items.  Our society is truly dependent on oil and its products.

However, while we all take for granted being able to drive our cars and drink beverages from plastic bottles, the environment sometimes pays a price for these luxuries. In 1989, the oil tanker Exxon Valdez ran aground off the coast of Alaska, spilling 11 million gallons of oil - the equivalent of 125 Olympic-size swimming pools - into the ocean. On April 20, 2010, an explosion took place on the drilling rig Deepwater Horizon that has caused 210,000 gallons of oil to spill into the Gulf of Mexico each day since. Tens of thousands of fish, reptiles, birds, and mammals on and off the coasts have been affected by these accidents, and many have not survived. Scientists speculate that some species may never fully recover.

When accidents such as these occur, volunteers mobilize in order to help coastal animals.  However, this can prove more difficult than it at first sounds. In order to give your students some idea of the challenge this entails, provide them with the following materials:  bird feathers (available from many hobby shops or craft stores), motor oil, hand soap, dish soap, laundry detergent, water (warm and cold), cotton balls, paper towels, and sponges.  Then conduct the following activity:

1. Dip several feathers in a container of motor oil.  Predict which of the materials will clean the feathers best.
2. Develop a plan for testing the various materials to see how well they clean the feathers. 
3. Follow your plan and keep track of the results.  Rate each material on a scale of 1-10, with 1 as no effect and 10 as completely clean.
4. Describe what you learned from your tests.  Discuss your results with the rest of the class.

This activity will likely provoke some valuable discussion, and it may prompt further research into the damage caused by oil spills, and a discussion of other environmental issues.  For more ways to teach students about oil spills try the following lesson plans.

Oil Spill Lessons:

Harvesting Oil from the Earth

Students learn about oil in this lesson, and find out how scientists and engineers search for it. Students use data on oil consumption and production to create graphs and charts.

 A Closer look at Oil and Energy Consumption

In this lesson students find out about the consumption, exportation, and importation of the world's oil supply. They make graphs to show the data they have collected and discuss what conclusions can be drawn about the use of oil worldwide.

Effect Of Technology on the Environment

This lesson has students create an oil spill and evaluate how these types of accidents affect the environment. They discuss how technology can have both positive and negative effects.