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Carbon-Capture Investment Panel

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Grades 9-1290-120 minSource: Creative Dad Company

Teens act as an investment panel evaluating real carbon-capture technologies, scrutinizing the evidence behind each company's claims about scale, energy cost, and actual climate impact. It's sharp, numbers-first climate literacy.

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Every level teaches the same core idea — pick the one that fits your time, budget, and energy today.

Prep: 10 minActivity: 30 min1 session~$2/groupOne table for the Carbon-Capture Investment Panel evidence and prototypeBeginner-friendly

Setup

Print or handwrite the four Carbon-Capture Investment Panel challenge steps and place common paper supplies on one table. Prepare one small sample, dataset, scenario, or recycled-material model drawn directly from the project description; no device, paid tool, room decoration, or purchased kit is required.

Activity

  1. Read the Carbon-Capture Investment Panel challenge aloud, then read a real-world carbon-capture technology brief and predict whether its claimed scale is realistic given the energy it needs.
  2. Use paper, index cards, recycled objects, or facilitator-provided sample data to calculate the actual carbon captured per unit of energy spent, using the numbers provided in the brief.
  3. Run one tabletop trial and compare that number to the company's marketing claim and discover a gap, then figure out what assumption explains the difference.
  4. Finish by vote as a panel on whether to invest, and present the evidence-based reasoning behind the decision; record the evidence that supports the decision.

Done when: The group completes a defensible Carbon-Capture Investment Panel solution, records at least one test result or comparison, changes one claim or design in response, and supports its final decision with that evidence.

Materials

printed technology briefs, calculator, poster board, index cards

Shown for the Quick Start version — switch tabs above to see what changes.

Disclosure: Materials links below go to Amazon. As an Amazon Associate, Creative Dad Company earns from qualifying purchases at no extra cost to you.

Steps

  1. Read a real-world carbon-capture technology brief and predict whether its claimed scale is realistic given the energy it needs.
  2. Calculate the actual carbon captured per unit of energy spent, using the numbers provided in the brief.
  3. Compare that number to the company's marketing claim and discover a gap, then figure out what assumption explains the difference.
  4. Vote as a panel on whether to invest, and present the evidence-based reasoning behind the decision.

Standards it satisfies

  • NGSS · HS-ESS3-4

    Evaluate or refine a technological solution that reduces impacts of human activities on natural systems.