User tools
Student Activity - Misconceptions about fossil fuels
This activity is designed to help identify what students already know about fossil fuels. Unless pre-existing ideas are identified and properly addressed, new knowledge may not be incorporated correctly.
Three common misconceptions are identified that can be used to form the basis of a classroom discussion. Alternatively a short multi-choice survey can be used to determine the underlying knowledge students have.
Classroom discussion
Where can we find oil?
Misconception: Oil forms in large empty spaces underground.
Many text book diagrams show oil below the surface of the Earth in a large cavern. This has lead many students to the assumption that oil forms big black pools in caves. It is important that students are aware that, although oil occasionally does fill in large cracks and reservoirs, the majority of the oil is found in porous rocks (such as sandstone) and small narrow cracks between small particles such as sand.
What is oil made from?
Misconception: Oil comes from dead dinosaurs.
While many students understand that hydrocarbons are the result of decaying organisms, they often lack the understanding of the actual material of origin. For oil, predominantly it is the result of decaying marine organisms that were buried beneath ocean sediment. Coal is the result of decaying swamp vegetation. The idea of dinosaurs may be linked to the use of them in cartoons to illustrate the formation of fossil fuels. There is a further problem with some students thinking fossil fuels have always been present in the Earth. This idea may stem from the idea that oil and coal take a long time to form. Alternatively, students may think oil and coal are made in much shorter time periods (hundreds, instead of millions of years).
Where can oil be found?
Misconception: Oil won’t be found under the ocean/desert/forest.
This idea originates from two sources. The first is a lack of understanding regarding the origin of oil and coal (that it is from fossilised marine or swamp matter). The second is the belief that the Earth surface is static – that it looks the same now as it did millions of years ago. Without the understanding of continental drift and climate change, it is difficult to imagine that what is now a desert could have once been an ocean.
Misconception survey
This survey is adapted from Elementary Students’ Ideas Concerning Fossil Fuel Energy by Audrey Rule.
What do you already know about fossil fuels?
-
What are petroleum products used for? (Circle all that apply.)
a) Lubricating motor vehicles
b) Cooking oil
c) Making plastics
d) Fuel for the car
e) I don’t know -
Where does petroleum come from?
a) Dead dinosaurs
b) Ancient plankton and sea life
c) It’s always been part of the Earth
d) People make it
e) I don’t know -
Underground the oil (petroleum) looks like...
a) A large cave filled with oil
b) A river of black oil flowing through a tunnel
c) A solid black layer of carbon
d) Liquid metal moving slowly
e) Drops of oil mixed with sand or filling small cracks
f) I don’t know -
Where is oil not found? (Circle all that apply.)
a) Under the ocean
b) Under the desert
c) Under very cold landscapes
d) Under forests
e) None of the above
f) I don’t know -
How long does oil take to form?
a) It has always been part of the Earth
b) Millions of years
c) Thousands of years
d) Hundreds of years
e) Less than 100 years
f) People can make it from other products
g) I don’t know -
What role does oil play in global problems? (Circle all that apply.)
a) Contaminating the environment from oil spills
b) Wars between different countries
c) Air pollution
d) Global warming
e) No significant role
f) I don’t know
