This interactive map displays the locations of all coal mines, coal power plants, and coal fields in the United States, along with detailed information about each item.
Teaching Tips
Positives
The map is simple and easy to navigate.
Students can zoom in to focus on specific regions within the United States.
Additional Prerequisites
The map includes all 50 states and Puerto Rico.
The layers list (under the interactive legend) allows you to add in all fossil fuel resources and infrastructure to the map.
Students should be familiar with fossil fuels and how they are used.
Differentiation
Because this map shows all coal resources, it could be used to teach the entire process of how coal is transformed into energy.
This could have cross-curricular connections with a health class by having students identify coal resources near them and then research the possible health impacts on their community.
Students could use this map to see if the unequal distribution of these resources has an unequal impact on the communities near these locations.
Students could use other maps from the Energy Information Administration to compare the locations of coal plants to renewable energy resources like wind and solar.
This is an interactive map that shows the coal fields in the United States. It also shows where coal is mined and where coal is burned to generate power. You can click on the location of these for more information, such as electricity generation capacity. This resource is recommended for teaching.
Standards
Science and Engineering
ESS3: Earth and Human Activity
MS-ESS3-1 Construct a scientific explanation based on evidence for how the uneven distributions of Earth’s mineral, energy, and groundwater resources are the result of past and current geoscience processes.
HS-ESS3-2 Evaluate competing design solutions for developing, managing, and utilizing energy and mineral resources based on cost-benefit ratios.
Social Studies
Geography
Geography 1 (F1): Students understand the geography of the community, Maine, the United States, and various regions of the world, and geographic influences on life in the past, present, and future by using the geographic grid and a variety of types of maps, including digital sources, to locate and access relevant geographic information that reflects multiple perspectives.
Geography 1 (D3): Students understand the geography of the United States and various regions of the world and the effect of geographic influences on decisions about the present and future by describing the major regions of the Earth and their major physical, environmental, and cultural features using a variety of geographic tools, including digital tools and resources.
