Hydropower in Africa – Bell Ringer
Summary
Hydropower in Africa Bell Ringer
This bell ringer introduces students to hydropower and the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) through a short image-based prompt and three guiding questions. Students examine a photo of the GERD on the Blue Nile River and consider how stored water behind a dam is converted into electricity, what benefits and drawbacks come with large hydroelectric infrastructure, and what environmental, economic, and social factors a country should weigh before building a major dam.
Teachers can use this bell ringer as a warm-up before showing the Hydropower in Africa video or as a discussion starter for any unit on hydropower, renewable energy, or energy systems. The prompts are designed to surface students’ prior knowledge, build curiosity about a real-world energy project, and introduce the trade-off framing that runs through the rest of the lesson. The bell ringer works for middle school and high school environmental science, AP Environmental Science, and geography classrooms.
Extend the Lesson: Use this bell ringer at the start of the full Hydropower in Africa lesson. After the warm-up, connect students to the Introduction to Hydropower lesson for foundational content, or to the Introduction to Energy Access/energy poverty lesson to explore why countries invest in large hydropower projects.
This picture shows the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD). This massive hydroelectric dam holds back water from the Blue Nile River to create electricity for millions of people in Ethiopia.
How does stored water behind a dam get turned into electricity?
What is one benefit and one drawback of building a large hydroelectric dam, and who (or what) is affected by each?
Large hydroelectric dams can generate low-carbon energy for millions of people, but they can also change ecosystems and affect the livelihoods of people living nearby or downstream.
Name one environmental factor, one economic factor, and one social factor a country should consider when deciding whether to build a large hydroelectric dam.
