magnifier
Teach PA History
magbottom
 
Explore PA History
Related Stories
Oil and Its Everyday Uses
Procedures

Preparation


Download and copy the combined worksheets for this lesson.



Day One (Introduction)


1. Introduce the lesson by explaining that we are going to investigate the properties of a mystery substance. Explain that the word "properties" means "quality or power of belonging especially to something." For example soap has the property of removing dirt. Then put students into groups of four. Give each group a small Dixie cup with four ounces of oil inside, a paper plate, and a piece of paper. Don't tell the students what you are handing out. Make sure you emphasize that they should not taste the mystery liquid. Allow the students about ten minutes to list all the properties of this substance and to write a hypothesis about it. After ten minutes, as a group, list on the chalkboard all the properties the students found. Discuss the hypothesis each group wrote. Finally as a class draw conclusions about the mystery substance.


2. Ask if anyone knows where the first oil well was discovered in Pennsylvania? Use a large map to show students where Titusville and Venango County are located. Tell the students that for the next few days they will be researching oil history in Pennsylvania and looking at oil in terms of how they use it in their everyday lives.


3. Pass out Source 1: K/W/L Chart and go over what students might already know, and what they might want to know about oil. If available, show the "Video: Oil! The Power of Pennsylvania Petroleum," PHMC, 1998 (eighteen minutes) or share some of the background information with students. Also you could go to www.oil.com to get the kids excited about the study of oil.


4. Conclude today's lesson with a quick review of the properties of oil, add to the Worksheet 1: K/W/L Chart any information from the video or oil sources you used with the students in today's lesson.


Days Two and Three (Science Investigation)


1. Make sure you have all the materials ready for the experiment. Begin with a quick review of Worksheet 1: K/W/L Chart. Inquire if anyone knows what viscosity means? Discuss and then explain that viscosity is the thickness or slipperiness of a liquid. Tell the students that today they are going to look at the properties of oil more closely and its viscosity.


2. Pass out Worksheet 2: Science Investigation. Put students into cooperative groups of no more than four. Tell them the problem they are going to investigate is, "Which oil will pour the fastest?"


3. Using balance scales have the students weigh an empty Dixie cup and then weigh the cup with four ounces of the first type of oil. Mark data on the data chart. Repeat the process with the other type of oil. Make sure students mark the cups with masking tape to identify the oil in each Dixie cup. Then within each group assign students jobs like materials collector, data collector, pourer, and timer. Make sure they change jobs each time halfway through class or after five trials of one type of oil.


4. Students will start with one of the types of oil. The pourer will pour the oil through the funnel into the bowl, as the timer runs the stopwatch. When the oil is finished pouring, the stopwatch is stopped, and the data recorded in seconds or minutes on the data chart. They should repeat this experiment five times with each type of oil. Students should average their data, and then make a graph of their results. Finally, they should draw conclusions as a group and write a summary of their findings using the detailed questions on Worksheet 2: Science Investigation.


5. This lesson will probably take two days depending on how accustomed your students are to working in cooperative groups and doing hands-on experimentation. When students have completed the investigation, go over what the students found out and add to Worksheet 1: K/W/L Chart.


Day Four


1. Ask if anyone can give an example of how life today is different from life one hundred years ago? Take a few minutes to discuss how life has changed. Explain to the students that today they are going to focus on specific changes between the 1800s and 1900s. They are going to be involved in analyzing some pictures and making some conclusions based upon some classroom demonstrations on lighting. Begin by using the theme of how oil has changed the light we use in our homes. Turn the classroom lights off and make the room as dark as possible. Light a beeswax or paraffin candle. Ask the students to read from a page in a textbook they have in their desks. Turn the lights back on and discuss how much light the candle gave off. What would be good or bad about only having candlelight to use at night? How did candlelight limit people lives? How did it help them? Explain that from ancient times into the 1860s people used candles and burning oils and fire to see at night. They will be investigating a Mystery Artifact from one of these times past. Have students look at Source 2: Mystery Artifact. Handout Worksheet 4: Mystery Artifact. Have the class read the directions aloud and answer any questions they may have. More likely the students will be guessing some of these answers. Assure the class that this is acceptable. Have them make their best guess by investigating the artifact as much as they can. Alternative methods for this assignment may include answering in an outline format, or drawing directions for using the object. After the students have completed their worksheet have them share some of their responses. Then, share with them the answers given in Worksheet 4: Mystery Artifact–Teacher's Key.



2. Next, use a bowl of vegetable oil and a cotton wick. Light and then turn off lights in room again. Have students read a few sentences again. Turn on lights and discuss. What was it like to read by this type of light source? How does this compare to candlelight? Would this be easier to use then candlelight? Is it safer? Cheaper? Show Source 4: Lamps. You also could use Crisco in this demonstration to simulate whale blubber. Instead of liquid vegetable oil, heat and use the Crisco lard. Then light it and simulate a whale blubber lamp.


3. Thirdly, you could demonstrate that once kerosene and oil was readily available people used oil lamps. Bring in an oil lamp and light it. Follow the above procedure with turning the lights on and off. Compare how lamps that used whale oil to oil lamps were different. Ask students which gave a better light? Explain how much cheaper, easier, and accessible lamp oil was for people to use. Use Source 5: Kerosene. Students can compare visual differences between whale oil lamps and kerosene lamps by analyzing the pictures.


4. Finally, ask students the question, "How did oil make a difference?" Assign student research teams. Tell them they are going to work to find out as much about the usefulness of oil that they can. Each group will be responsible to tell at least two things they found out about in their research about oil uses. Use related web site list. For homework have student bring in an object made from or with oil.


Day Five


1. Students can continue to research. They should also make sure they fill in any remaining in formation on their K/W/L chart. Do a review of the charts and collect them. Take a few minutes and have the students that brought in items that contain oil present them to the class or at least make a display or pass them around to the different teams. Ask if anyone has figured out anything that does not contain oil. Have students, as a group, list areas in our lives in which oil has made a difference. If they are having difficulty coming up with categories, help them out. Areas might include: heating, lighting, clothing, transportation, and consumer products (plastics, cosmetics, and medicine). After these categories are listed, allow time for students to search magazines or the Internet and find pictures of artifacts representing these categories before the discovery of oil in 1859 and after. Below is a small table of answers you may expect. Have students make a "Before and After Oil" poster with their pictures.





































Categories of Change Before Discovery of Oil (1859) After Discovery of Oil
Transportation Picture of horse-drawn carriages, barges, etc. Picture of automobiles, trains, and planes
Heating Picture of fireplace Picture of oil tank or home potentially heated by oil
Lighting Candle, whale fat Oil and kerosene lamps
Clothing Wool, cotton Nylon
Consumer product packaging Glass bottles Plastics



Day Six


1. Take a few minutes and talk about yesterday's discussion. Tell students that there is a drop of oil in your life everyday. Have them begin their writing assignment on what would life be like without oil. Students should write their rough copies. Have a peer help with editing and revising and then hand it in to you.


Day Seven


1. Have student's present research findings and possibly have some students read their essays on "Life without oil." Summarize focusing on how the discovery of oil has truly changed everyone's lives in the last one hundred years.

Back to Top