Hydropower in Africa – Hydroelectric Dam Research Project – Student
Summary
Hydroelectric Dam Research Project
The Hydroelectric Dam Research Project is the centerpiece of the Hydropower in Africa lesson, asking students to investigate a real-world dam and evaluate its trade-offs across economic, environmental, and social impact categories. Students choose from a curated list of operational dams worldwide, including the Grand Coulee Dam, Three Gorges Dam, Itaipu Dam, Aswan High Dam, Kariba Dam, and others, then conduct independent research using credible sources to gather data on installed capacity, annual energy output, primary purpose, and key impacts.
The project is structured in four parts. In Part 1, students select their dam and document basic technical information. In Part 2, they collect quantitative and qualitative data using credible sources such as the International Hydropower Association, the World Bank, and USGS, identifying both benefits and drawbacks in each impact category. In Part 3, they synthesize their findings into a cost-benefit analysis, weighing trade-offs by considering scale of impact, time scale, equity, severity, and reversibility. In Part 4, they develop an evidence-based claim about the best course of action for their dam, choosing between continuing as is, modifying, expanding, or decommissioning, and they defend their position with evidence and a counterargument response.
This research project develops skills in source evaluation, data collection, claim-evidence-reasoning (CER) argumentation, stakeholder analysis, and systems thinking. It supports HS-ESS3-2 on evaluating cost-benefit ratios of energy resources, HS-ETS1-3 on weighing trade-offs in solutions, and AP Environmental Science Topic 6.9 on hydroelectric power. Teachers can have students present their final argument as a written essay, slide deck, video, oral presentation, or formal debate, making this project flexible for a range of classroom formats. The project works well in middle school, high school, and AP Environmental Science classrooms, and it pairs naturally with units on renewable energy, energy systems, water resources, or global development.
Extend the Lesson: Use this research project as part of the full Hydropower in Africa lesson, after the video, vocabulary, and data set. For broader hydropower context, connect students to the Introduction to Hydropower lesson, or pair the project with the Introduction to Energy Access / Energy Poverty lesson to deepen their analysis of how energy infrastructure shapes development.