Lesson video

Hello there.

My name is Mr. Wilshire and in this lesson we're going to be debating the use of electric cars.

The outcome for this lesson is, I can debate the use of electric cars and their impact on the environment.

There are some key words to remember as we progress through this lesson.

The first is fuel, next emissions, then carbon dioxide, and greenhouse gas.

Finally, debate.

Don't worry if you're not too sure what some of these words mean.

The definitions will appear on the screen for you now.

Now, you can pause the video here and recap to see if you can remember what they mean.

Pause the video now.

The first part of this lesson is called electric cars.

There are many different types of cars travelling on the roads today.

Now whether they be very big or smaller cars, some of them you might have noticed have got this green line down the side of it.

Have you ever noticed that? A number plate with a green line down the side of it? Do you know what it means? Take a moment now to discuss.

Hopefully you've had a chance to discuss what that green line means.

There are lots of other things that you might spot in a number plate as well, including a country's flag, but this green line is slightly different.

These number plates show that the car is an electric car and Jun says, "Oh, what is an electric car?" And Laura says, "How is it different to other types of car?" I wonder if you know.

Have a think about what the two children have asked there.

Discuss their questions.

Do you know what an electric car is and how it's different to different types of cars? Let's find out more.

You may have noticed some different hoses at the petrol station.

Have you noticed something like this? This one is a yellow hose, but in some petrol stations there are green, there are black, and sometimes even red or brown hoses.

Now you have to pump diesel or petrol into a car.

It's pumped in through the hose into vehicles, which is then used as fuel for them to operate.

The fuel is burned inside the car.

The engines use either petrol or diesel to produce heat and pressure.

This moves the parts that drive the car forwards.

In electric cars, electricity provides the fuel instead.

That's the thing that moves the parts of the car to make it drive forwards.

Here you can see an image of an electric car being charged up.

Now the electric push comes from a central battery.

To keep electric cars moving, the battery has to be recharged.

The car is plugged into mains electricity which charges the battery, making it ready to provide more electrical push to the circuits in the vehicle.

So cars are not the only motor transport which can move using electricity from a battery.

Do you know of any other types of transport that do? Have a think now.

Well, there are lots of different types that you could choose from.

There's an electric car, an electric train, and of course an electric scooter.

You may have been on all of these or you may have seen them before.

Now petrol and diesel cars need electricity to make them run, but the battery just provides a spark to ignite the fuel into life.

What we are talking about here is a car that relies solely on electric power and nothing else.

So let's stop and think.

What types of fuel are burned in the engines of some cars to make them move? The answer here is petrol and diesel.

When an electric car is plugged into a charging station, what happens? Mains electricity recharges the car battery.

It doesn't have any new batteries, and you don't have petrol diesel at these charging stations.

So this brings us on to the very first task.

You need to match the type of car to the correct statements.

There's electric car and petrol or diesel car to choose from there, and you need to think about these different statements.

The first one there is, needs to be refilled with fuel.

Next up is, has a large battery to make the car move, then, has a tank to hold liquid.

Up at the top again, uses petrol or diesel to make the car move, needs to be recharged, and uses electricity to make the car move.

Lots of different options there.

Match these statements up to the correct type of car.

Best of luck.

How did you get on? Well, your answers could have been similar to this.

The electric car here that uses electricity to make it move.

It has got a large battery and it needs to be recharged.

The petrol diesel car on the other hand, uses petrol or diesel to make it move.

It has a tank to hold liquid and it needs to be refilled with fuel.

Well done for completing that task.

I wonder if you were able to come up with any other ways that you could define these two types of car.

Maybe one is bigger than the other or have you noticed any other similarities or differences? Well done for completing it.

The second part of this lesson is called, cars and climate change.

Did you travel anywhere last week? Did you go anywhere, maybe in a car? Maybe you took the bus or maybe you walked.

Well, Jun here says, "I walked to the shop to get milk for my breakfast." Laura says, "I went to school by car", and Sam says, "I cycled to my friend's house." Ah, they've all done some slightly different things.

One of them has walked, the other one got there by car, and the other one cycled.

Why do people choose particular types of transport to get them from one place to the other, I wonder? Have a think about that statement.

Have a think about that question.

Why do people choose particular types of transport? What did you discuss? I wonder why people choose different things.

Well, Jun says, "I walked to the shop because it's close to my house." Laura says, "I went to school by car because I live a long way away and the car is convenient for us." Sam says, "I cycled to my friend's house because I enjoy riding my bike and it keeps me fit." There's some really good ideas there.

Well done.

There are many reasons, as you can see here, why we choose particular types of transport.

Now, it might be because that's the only way that we can get around.

Like Laura there, she lives a long way away.

So the car is a lot more convenient than walking, isn't it? Sometimes if someone needs to go to school, but you live near your school, you might drive because you then need to drive somewhere else afterwards.

So it's all about planning your journey and thinking about what's coming next.

Sam says, "You shouldn't travel by car at all because it's very bad for the planet." Do you know why Sam thinks this? Take a moment to discuss.

Well, in petrol and diesel cars, fuel is burned to make the vehicle move, creating emissions.

Here you can see a petrol or a diesel car creating some emissions.

That's a little bit like the steam or the smoke that you can see coming outta the exhaust pipe.

Earth's atmosphere is a mixture of many gases.

When balanced, this is healthy for our planet.

Carbon dioxide, emitted from petrol and diesel cars is one type of greenhouse gas.

These gases are crucial to keeping our planet at a suitable temperature for life.

However, earth becomes less healthy when too many greenhouse gases are emitted into the atmosphere.

And this is why some people would agree with Sam when she says you shouldn't travel by car because it's bad for the planet.

Unfortunately, though, as we've seen on some of the previous slides, some people's only way to get around is to actually get in a car and drive.

So there need to be other ways that we can get around without damaging the planet.

Global warming is a result of the processes that cause the average temperature of the earth to rise.

As earth temperature rises, habitats are changing so that plants and animals living in them may find it harder to survive.

Here you can see an image of some polar bears on some melting ice.

Global warming causes ice to melt in polar regions.

That drastically changes the habitats that these polar animals live on, and they are finding it more difficult to survive because they can't go hunting in the same way that they could before, they're constantly having to adapt.

Using petrol and diesel cars produce emissions which contribute toward global warming, and that's why you may have seen in some cities and some towns, they will only allow certain cars in if they have one of those green lines on them or otherwise, the drivers will have to pay a fee to be able to drive there.

So true or false.

Emissions from petrol and diesel cars contributes towards global warming.

The answer here is true.

Can we justify our answer? The correct answer here is b.

Carbon dioxide emitted from petrol and diesel cars is a greenhouse gas, which contributes to global warming.

Electric cars produce no carbon dioxide emissions when driving.

There are fewer carbon dioxide emissions, which means lower volumes of greenhouse gases, and that means that it will slow down the rate of the temperature of global warming.

Due to the rise in demand for electric cars, this industry is growing and it's created many career opportunities.

Mechanical engineers, for example, use technology to create 2D and 3D models on computers to check for any problems with the designs before they're made.

Industrial designers use their creativity and engineering skills to design, create, and test electric car prototypes.

Here you can see a mechanical engineer putting some items together.

Looks like they're working on the speaker system for the car there.

Let's stop and think.

Which type of cars produce carbon dioxide when they're being driven.

The answer here is petrol and diesel cars.

Now, in many countries, people are encouraged to buy or use electric vehicles in order to lower carbon dioxide emissions.

Here you can see an example of electric bus.

Some cities such as Shenzhen in China, have all got electric public buses and taxis in order to reduce air pollution caused by petrol and diesel cars.

Instead of making the roads wider for more people to drive on, they're trying to reduce the amount of people doing that and more putting buses and taxis in place.

The more public services there are, the higher the likelihood of people choosing to use them.

In the United Kingdom, the government planned to ban the sale of petrol and diesel cars in 2035.

Although this target has already been pushed back a little bit.

Pure electric cars produced no carbon dioxide emissions when driving.

Laura says, "Well, our car is an electric car, so it's not bad for the planet." Do you agree with Laura there? What do you think? Discuss what she said.

I wonder how we could find out if she's correct.

Let's move on and find out more.

The advantages and disadvantages of electric cars can be researched using secondary sources of information, including books, the internet, and TV.

Jun here says, "Well, I watched a video online that explained the good and bad thing about electric cars." Laura says, "I watched a TV programme showing how electric cars were made." Sam says, "I found a book in the library about different types of cars." The children there, all using their own ways to research electric cars, and the advantages and disadvantages of them.

These are just some ways that we can find out if Laura's correct here.

I wonder, does driving electric car cause zero damage to the environment? Let's stop and think.

Why have some cities changed all of their public transport to electric vehicles? The correct answer here is to lower carbon dioxide emissions and reduce air pollution.

So this brings us onto Task B, research the advantages and the disadvantages of electric cars using secondary sources.

Record all your findings as two bullet pointed list, one, noting the advantages and the other, noting the disadvantages.

Best of luck with your task.

See you in a moment.

How did you get on? Well, hopefully in your research you may have found something similar to this.

The advantages of electric cars is that they don't produce carbon dioxide when driving.

They've got very low maintenance because they have fewer moving parts.

They're very quiet, so there's no noise pollution, and they are very cheap to run.

The disadvantages, however, while emissions are produced when the cars are made and to make electricity, you can't go very far without needing to be recharged all the time.

There's also not enough charging stations, so you might not find one or you might have to wait ages for one.

It's also very slow to recharge than it is to fill up a car with fuel.

They're more expensive to buy in the first place as well, and the batteries may need to be replaced after a while and they are very, very expensive.

So two different types of arguments there.

I wonder what kind of things you found in your research and whether you are able to use to produce your own kind of debate.

Let's find out some more.

The last part of this lesson is scientists debate and develop their ideas.

Now, Laura, Sam, and Jun have different opinions about electric cars.

Laura says electric cars are not bad for the planet.

Jun says, electric cars are still bad for the planet, so you should not drive them.

Sam says, people need cars.

So even though they're not perfect, we should use electric cars.

Hmm, those are all very valid points, but I wonder how scientists would think about this.

Scientists don't always agree with each other either.

They use a debate as a way to share their different ideas.

They can learn from each other in this way, and they come up with an agreed idea or solution.

Sometimes though, there's never an easy way to do it, so it can take a very long time to debate and decide things.

Can you think of anything scientists have disagreed on in the past? Have a think.

I wonder if any of you have mentioned anything like this.

In the past, scientists debated whether earth was flat or spherical.

Here you can see different ideas about the shape of the earth.

They also debated whether the sun or the earth were at the centre of the universe.

Two different types of images there, one showing the earth at the centre and the other showing the sun at the centre.

I wonder what you think, which of these is the correct one? They also debated how humans evolved.

Here you can see an image of the evolution of the skull.

And also why dinosaurs became extinct.

Hmm, I wonder.

Scientists and world leaders still debate the best way to reduce carbon dioxide emissions and slow down global warming.

Here you can see an image of a debating chamber, which is a room used for a debate.

There are a lot of different chairs there because there are people from all over the world and lots of different countries who go to debate and discuss things there.

Learning to take part in a debate is a skill.

There are certain rules that need to be followed.

Can you think of what they might be? Hmm.

Think about a debate that you might have and what rules they might need to have.

What rules did you think of? Let's find out more.

Here are the children's ideas on how to take part in a debate.

Sam says, "You should take it in turns to speak." Jun says, "You should listen politely and be open to other people's ideas." And Laura says, "You should be willing to change your opinion." Ah, there's some three different important things there to remember.

It's important to remember not to take things too personally.

Debates are there to settle arguments, thinking about the positives and the negatives of both sides of that argument.

So the children decide to have their own debate.

A debate is usually based around a single statement.

The statement that they're going to use for their debate is, using electric cars will reduce global warming.

Here's an image of an electric car.

So half the class will present ideas for, in support of that statement, and half the class will present ideas against that statement.

Each side then has got to present their own ideas.

You can see an image here of people presenting ideas at a debate.

Then they're gonna have to discuss and answer each other's questions.

Finally, the children will all vote to show whether they are for or against the statement.

They don't have to vote for the side that they represent.

They can make their own mind up.

If the speech is very good, then it might mean that you change your mind during the debate, and that's great because that's exactly the reason why people hold these types of things.

Let's stop and think.

Which of these are ways in which scientists can share their ideas, learn from each other, and solve disagreements? The correct answer here is taking part in a debate.

True or false? Everyone agrees that there are no problems with electric cars.

The answer here is false.

Can we justify this? Well, there has been public debate about the use of electric vehicles with people explaining the advantages and disadvantages.

We know that these vehicles aren't perfect, so there has also been some kind of debate.

So it's time for you to have a debate now.

You need to hold a debate about this statement, using electric cars will reduce global warming.

What do you think? You should work in two teams, one side for and one side against.

As a group, plan what you're going to say using the information that you've researched to support your arguments.

Take it in turns to present your ideas.

Allow some time to ask each other some questions, and at the end, take a vote for and against the statement.

Well, it's over to you now, so have a go debating this important statement.

Restart the video when you've done that.

How did you get on? Now, you may have had some of these experiences as part of your debate.

I was on the against side, which I found hard because I'm not really against it.

Overall, our class voted for electric cars.

And I was in the for group, but in the end I voted against the statement.

I wonder if any of you changed your minds as you were debating this important statement.

Sometimes unfortunately, there might not be a clear winner because the debate has taken too long to come around or that the arguments for and the arguments against were too good.

So in that case, you might want to think about arguing for a different type of statement and seeing if you can agree or disagree on that.

I wonder though, what did you think in the end? Are electric cars going to reduce global warming? Let's summarise our lesson.

Traditional cars use petrol and diesel to make them move, whereas electric cars move using electricity from a battery.

Carbon dioxide emitted from petrol and diesel cars is a greenhouse gas, which contributes towards global warming.

Electric cars produce no carbon dioxide emissions when driving.

Some cities have all electric public transport in order to lower carbon dioxide emissions and reduce air pollution.

There has been public debate about the use of electric vehicles with people on different sides, citing pros and cons.

So I wonder which side you are on here.

Are you more for electric vehicles or are you against them? Hopefully this has given you a good chance to think about your own stance and think about how you would run your own type of debate.

I've been Mr. Wilshire.

Thank you very much for listening.