Part 1: Engage (Anchoring Phenomenon)

You are tasked with recommending a strategy for utilizing a new mineral resource discovery. However, extracting and using this resource has complex economic, environmental, and social impacts. Review the initial scenario in the Energy & Mineral Resources Cost-Benefit Analysis simulation. What are your immediate questions regarding the tradeoffs of extraction versus conservation? Write down three “need to know” questions.

Part 2: Explore (Simulation Investigation)

Interact with the simulation and analyze at least two different competing design solutions for developing or managing the resource. For each solution, record specific data regarding:

1. Economic costs and potential benefits.
2. Environmental impacts and risks.
3. Social or geopolitical implications. Document your findings in a comparative data table.

Part 3: Explain (Sensemaking)

Using your data table, explain the relative strengths and weaknesses of each design solution. How does the need for the resource balance against the costs of extraction? Evaluate the reliability of the evidence you used. Make sure to consider constraints such as cost, safety, and environmental effects.

Part 4: Elaborate/Evaluate (Argumentation & Modeling)

Synthesize your findings. Use Engaging in Argument from Evidence and consider the Influence of Science, Engineering, and Technology on Society and the Natural World to construct a final scientific argument supporting one design solution over the other. Your argument must be based on empirical evidence, scientific ideas, and a clear evaluation of the cost-benefit ratios. Describe how future technological advances might change which solution is considered the “best.”