In this unit, students will practice identifying where natural energy resources occur (e.g., coal, crude oil, ores) on a global map. They will also practice describing other forms of energy and differentiating between nonrenewable and renewable forms of energy. Students may struggle with vocabulary related to this subject matter. Students may also tend to misunderstand radioactivity and think that all radiation is bad.

Text analysis is also an important skill for students to build upon in this unit. When reading texts about topics in this unit, students can practice identifying the claims as well as describing the perspectives and assumptions of the author.

On the AP Exam, students must be able to explain concepts related to renewable and nonrenewable energy sources. Students will benefit from in-class opportunities (if permitted) to practice comparing and contrasting different sources of fuel and how they are used, with an emphasis on the impacts of usage on the environment. Students often struggle with applying appropriate mathematical relationships to determine the amount of energy produced or used based on the given information. To combat this, will be provided multiple opportunities to manipulate formulae and use the data provided to solve a problem, especially problems that use dimensional analysis and multiple steps. They should provide a numerical answer and unit, if required.

Students will also need to explain environmental problems related to the use of different energy resources and propose solutions. To that end, students may benefit from multiple opportunities to propose realistic solutions to environmental problems related to the use of different energy sources.