ProQuest Central K12
BP and the Gulf Oil Spill

On April 20, 2010, the BP Deepwater Horizon oil drilling rig exploded and subsequently began releasing millions of barrels of crude oil into the Gulf of Mexico. The resulting economic and environmental damage is estimated to be in the billions of dollars.

President Obama met with BP managers and forged an agreement that will create an escrow fund of $20B to help fund cleanup and payments to persons and businesses that have been affected by this worst environmental disaster in U.S. history.

Speaker Nancy Pelosi released the following statement on July 21 after the House passed two bills in response to the disastrous BP oil spill:

"Today, the House voted for two key measures to more effectively prevent and respond to accidents like the BP oil spill disaster in the Gulf of Mexico."

"The first bill (H.R. 2693, the Oil Pollution Research and Development Program Reauthorization) is designed to develop new methods and technologies to clean up oil spills. This effort could not be more urgent - especially considering the response to the BP spill has relied on the same methods and technologies used for the Exxon Valdez cleanup 21 years ago."

"The second piece of legislation (H.R. 5716, the Safer Oil and Natural Gas Drilling Technology Research and Development Program) will help us develop safer drilling technologies and prevent an accident such as the BP disaster from ever happening again. And it will foster aggressive research and development to develop better blowout preventers, new accident prevention practices, and improved worker safety measures."

"In the wake of the disastrous BP oil spill, it is the responsibility of this Congress to act to hold BP accountable, support the families and businesses of the Gulf, and prepare for unforeseen disasters. That's why the House has passed measures to ensure fair compensation to the families of those killed or injured in the BP spill. That's why we have worked to ensure aid to the Gulf, tough oversight for BP, and ample resources for the response to the spill. And next week, our efforts will continue with a package of legislation that strengthens safety standards, reforms the Minerals Management Service, and removes the cap on economic damages paid to residents and small businesses by oil companies after oil spills."

Students should create a report of at least 200 words, or a presentation of at least seven slides (links to models provided at end of activity) that cites at least three resources.

Students should use the pathfinder to content listed below for best results. Students should address the following essential questions for critical thinking (you can create or substitute others):

• What was the cause of the Gulf oil spill?
• Was BP's plan to deal with an oil spill effective--why or why not?
• Why was the government agency responsible for regulating BP complicit in the accident?
• What is the responsibility of BP to the Gulf residents and businesses and are they fulfilling it?
• What changes would you recommend to prevent future accidents and be better prepared if there is one?

1. Select Advanced Search option.
   
2. Type "BP Gulf Oil Spill in the Search box.
   
3. Type "BP" in delimiter box #1 > Select Citation and Document Text option.
   
4. Type "Gulf" in delimiter box #2 > Select Document Title option.
   
5. Click "Add a Row > Type "oil spill" in delimiter box #3 > Select Document Title option.

Use our custom ProQuest models for written or PowerPoint reports written and PowerPoint-style reports.

ProQuest Professional Education
Differentiating Instruction: Key to Student Achievement

A major priority in education today is differentiated instruction.

(See how our eLibrary and SIRS subscriptions offer exclusive features that make it easy to deliver differentiated instruction here.)

Ongoing scientific research on learning demonstrates that students achieve at higher levels when teachers and students have daily access to these basic elements of differentiated instruction:

• Quick and easy access to a wide variety of relevant learning resources for both historic and current topics that students can read, view, and understand (Lexile details.)
• Learning assignment formats that focus on topics/issues that are relevant to students' lives and interests.
• Tools that help student organize, analyze, and synthesize information quickly for problem solving and critical thinking.
• A variety of models, strategies, and assessments that students can use to demonstrate what they have learned to a variety of audiences.

Differentiated instruction is not new. The best example of its effective utilization in traditional education is tutoring. Unfortunately, this is not replicable in classroom teaching. Despite the difficulty, many effective classroom teachers have tried to implement the strategies of differentiated learning with their students.

This always required a combination of great deal of effort, great ingenuity, and the good fortune to have high quality resources easily available. Needless to say, differentiated instruction is not practiced by many educators or found in most schools.

Other obstacles to differentiating instruction are:

• Lack of easy access to a variety of visual media and other current resources.
• Too much focus on textbook learning with a one-size-fits-all textbook that is often out-of-date.
• An undue emphasis on grading using a single mode for assessing learning--multiple-choice testing.
• Excessive emphasis by the state and schools to cover and memorize textbook content.
• A teacher evaluation system that focused on lecture and discussion pedagogy--"The Sage on the Stage."

Department Chairs and/or the Curriculum Director can assign Educator Challenge Questions to teachers that help them learn more about differentiating learning for their students. This can be part of the overall professional development plan of the school district and therefore eligible for CEUs. This can be a pre- or post-assignment when an expert on the subject is scheduled as a speaker. Or, it can be a stand-alone assignment that is followed by curriculum and grade level workshops to discuss and distill what teachers have learned in context to their students.

• What evidence is there that differentiating instruction works?
• How can technology help me to differentiate learning for my students?
• What are some of the traditional strategies used in instruction that I could differentiate?
• What is one area of differentiation that I could implement in my classroom this month?
• What should the school board and school leaders do to help implement differentiated instruction in our school?

1. Select Advanced Search option.
   
2. Type "Differentiated Instruction" in the Search box.
   
3. Select AND and the Document Title options > Enter "Differentiate" in the Search box.
   
4. Select OR and the Document Title options > Type "teaching" in the Search box.
   
5. Click Add a Row > Select OR and the Document Title options > Type "learning in the Search box.

Teachers should address each question above with a response of at least 50 words and submit their answers to their Department Chair or other assigned leader. "Reports" will be checked off for accountability and returned.

No question is "right" or "wrong," but helps each teacher to analyze and synthesize the information source that they chose from ProQuest Professional Education. These "reports" can be utilized and shared later through follow-up workshops.