Eighth graders in Ms. Barlev’s science class are learning about the human impact on the planet. Students modeled resource extraction by mining chocolate chip cookies for “coal” (represented by chocolate chips) and then made observations about how the environment is impacted as a result, watching the way removing chips affects the ground layers and foundation of the cookies. Students compared their cookie excavation to mountaintop removal practices in the nearby Appalachians to consider what were the long term results of such natural resource extraction.