Clean Energy Topic: Electrical Energy

  • A Study of Alternative Fuels

    A Study of Alternative Fuels

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  • The Cycle Analyst

    The Cycle Analyst

    Students will use a Cycle Analyst to collect data from an electric go-kart and measure the efficiency of the system. The Cycle Analyst can be used on other small electric vehicles such as electric bicycles, scooters and golf carts.

  • When and Why Do We Build Dams?

    When and Why Do We Build Dams?

    Students will demonstrate basic understanding of electricity generation and basic components of a hydroelectric dam. They will research, design and test turbines for hydroelectric generation. Students will research and defend(opinion stance) various people groups and social justice factors(tribal rights, salmon protection & energy access) connected with water storage, flood/irrigation support and electricity production/distribution.

  • Understanding Science and Engineering Through Solar Power

    Understanding Science and Engineering Through Solar Power

    Students learn about electricity from solar power through building simple circuits, exploring how solar calculators get their electricity, and from designing and testing a solar water pump.

  • Designing A Faster Water Pump

    Designing A Faster Water Pump

    Students use available tools to design and test a solar water pump and apply the engineering design process to refine, test and evaluate their design.

  • Solar Powered Water Pumping

    Solar Powered Water Pumping

    Students make observations and record data about how different materials affect the speed of a solar powered water pump.

  • Making Observations and Recording Data for Solar Powered Water Pumping

    Making Observations and Recording Data for Solar Powered Water Pumping

    Students observe a solar water pump and follow sensemaking prompts to develop an understanding of the system. Students then make observations and record data about how quickly a solar module will drive a pump to move water.

  • A Simple Circuit

    A Simple Circuit

    Students observe a simple circuit and follow sensemaking prompts to develop an understanding of the circuit as a class. Students then draw and label the parts of a simple circuit as well as the direction/path that current is flowing.

  • Solar Boats

    Solar Boats

    Students are led through a comprehensive unit leading them from the basics of energy through to a culminating solar boat engineering design project (9 lessons).

  • Analyze Data and Develop Conclusions

    Analyze Data and Develop Conclusions

    Students have performed the investigation. They will now analyze their data, refer to their initial predictions, and develop their conclusions. Students will have the opportunity to discuss the usefulness of both quantitative and qualitative data forms, determining where each is most useful in drawing specific types of conclusions. This discussion will be used as a…

  • Introduction to Water Power

    Introduction to Water Power

    After discovering ways to harness the power of wind, learning how water can also generate electricity is a logical next step. This lesson allows students to understand why water is a renewable resource and how it can do work to create energy. Before creating their own hydropower model, students also observe, make predictions and test…

  • The Basics of Energy, Electricity, and Water

    The Basics of Energy, Electricity, and Water

    Students develop foundational knowledge around the functionality of hydropower generation, providing presentations on their assigned subject matter.

  • How Variables Impact Hydroelectric Output

    How Variables Impact Hydroelectric Output

    Students will interact with a hydroelectric model, testing how different variables connected to real-world design features affect the power output of the generation source.

  • Turbine Blade Design Engineering

    Turbine Blade Design Engineering

    Students test the effects of manipulating variables in wind turbine design on the overall power output and effectiveness of the turbine design.

  • How Do Solar Panels Work?

    How Do Solar Panels Work?

    Students will learn the basics of how a solar cell generates electricity and observe the effects on a small electrical load attached to a solar module under a variety of conditions. They will build upon knowledge gained in previous lessons dealing with energy transformations in order to build an understanding of how the sun’s energy…

  • Solar Powered Calculator

    Solar Powered Calculator

    Students develop an understanding of how light energy is transformed into electrical energy to power a solar calculator.

  • Probes of Prior Knowledge

    Probes of Prior Knowledge

    Students are guided through formative assessments (probes) of their prior knowledge about electricity

  • Setting Expectations for Science and Engineering Projects

    Setting Expectations for Science and Engineering Projects

    Students explore the ground rules for science discourse and how they will share their thinking about science concepts

  • Adrift in a Sea of Plastic

    Adrift in a Sea of Plastic

    Students will explore the phenomenon of plastic garbage islands and develop engineering solutions to address the problem. Students will use 3-D modeling and 3-d pens and printers to create their model solutions, and conduct research on the problem and present on the problem and their solution (4 lessons).

  • Design and Engineer Solutions

    Design and Engineer Solutions

    This lesson is designed to span 9 days with 50-minute sessions. The students will use a Design and Engineering Journal to guide them in the design and engineering process. In small groups they will use the research from lesson 2 to formulate solutions to the problem of plastic trash islands. The students will build models…

  • Informative Writing: Where Does Energy Come From?

    Informative Writing: Where Does Energy Come From?

    This lesson is a non-fiction research and writing project, which includes a differentiated choice menu and list of ideas for publishing the completed project. Each student will choose one of ten energy sources to research, including coal, natural gas, petroleum, propane, uranium, biomass, wind, geothermal, hydropower and solar. They will write a report on the…

  • Collect Data and Compare Performances of Different Boat Designs

    Collect Data and Compare Performances of Different Boat Designs

    Students will race the solar speedboats, airboats, and surface submarines and then compare the performance results and of the various types of solar boats made by the class. Students will compare and contrast forces acting on the system by examining the results of the airboat, speedboat and surface submarine races.

  • Solar Boat Science Investigation & Building Solar Boats

    Solar Boat Science Investigation & Building Solar Boats

    Design a science investigation to test a solar speedboat, airboat, and surface submarine. Students will use the “Planning an Investigation Template” in order to determine their motivations for designing a solar boat, make predictions about the outcomes with this design, plan the construction by determining materials to be used in the design, diagram their plans,…

  • How to Measure Output of Solar Modules?

    How to Measure Output of Solar Modules?

    Students will measure output from a solar module before a load is attached and relate it to real world output. They will make these measurements using a multimeter and be able to determine the optimal angle at which their module generates a current flow. This process is meant to reveal to students some of the…

  • What is Energy Transfer?

    What is Energy Transfer?

    Students will continue to build an understanding of the fundamentals of energy through observing and describing a variety of energy transformations and build on their foundational vocabulary for identifying and discussing energy concepts. In this stage of the lesson, students will engage more with examples of electrical energy, both stored and kinetic in order to…

  • What is Energy?

    What is Energy?

    Students will gain an understanding of the fundamentals of energy through observing a variety of energy transformations and develop a foundational vocabulary for identifying and discussing energy concepts. Students will make observations about how energy is converted between stored and kinetic forms through interacting with these changes in a station-based format. Students have the opportunity…

  • Wave Attenuator

    Wave Attenuator

    Students will experiment with the basic concepts of motion to electrical energy transformation. Students start by building a series of models that demonstrate the interactions between magnetic and electric fields. Students then apply this background knowledge to design and optimize a solution for wave energy conversion using a wave attenuator (3 lessons).

  • Building a Tidal Wave Attenuator

    Building a Tidal Wave Attenuator

    This lesson is designed to build upon investigations of electromagnetic energy by applying these phenomena to transfer the kinetic energy moving in waves to electricity by building a wave attenuator.

  • Introduction to Electromagnetism

    Introduction to Electromagnetism

    Through a series of goal-oriented activities and research, students will build physical models that demonstrate the interactions between magnetism and magnetic fields as well as interactions between magnetism and electric fields. Students will be challenged to engineer devices that: change a magnetic field using electricity, creating a magnet using electricity, and inducing a changing magnetic…

  • Home Energy Consumption

    Home Energy Consumption

    Students will calculate the energy consumption of a set of common household devices based on their operating power rating and then investigate the power consumption of other devices in their homes.

  • Exploring Circuits and Optimum Power

    Exploring Circuits and Optimum Power

    This lesson is an exploratory learning cycle that will give the instructor input as to where students are in their understanding of circuits and also scaffolds student learning. This lesson starts by engaging students by using an Energy Stick. Then, students start by working with small lamps and LEDs to build simple series and parallel…

  • Solar Sphero SPRK+

    Solar Sphero SPRK+

    This unit incorporates basic programming knowledge and solar energy into an engineering design challenge using Sphero SPRK+ robots. The theme for this challenge centers on the idea of Mars rovers, and the challenges faced in space exploration, specifically remote control of exploration tools and the energy generation needed to power these devices (6 lessons).

  • Final Challenge and Presentation

    Final Challenge and Presentation

    In this lesson, students will navigate through a maze using their SPRK+ in order to reach the solar charging station. Students will redesign their chariot in order to meet the needs of this new maze in order to carry their solar panels to the charging station, providing energy for their rover to continue working. Following…

  • Chariot Engineering Design

    Chariot Engineering Design

    Students will work through the engineering design process to build a chariot for their SPRK+ that will carry their solar panels through a maze to a charging station. Students will draft prototypes, test their designs, and make changes to their design based on the initial success of the chariot.

  • Electricity Fundamentals and Photovoltaics

    Electricity Fundamentals and Photovoltaics

    Students work through a number of solar circuit explorations that culminate in a challenge to charge the Sphero SPRK+ devices with solar panels. In this exploration, students will investigate the requirements of various loads, working toward the voltage and amperage requirements presented specifically by the SPRK+ charging station.

  • Chemical Differences in Emergency Energy Sources

    Chemical Differences in Emergency Energy Sources

    In the context of preparing a disaster supply kit, students develop atomic and molecular models of energy resources, analyze combustion of various fuels and build circuits. They then research and evaluate the impacts of converting natural resources into PV cells. Finally, students engineer a hand warmer that uses an exothermic chemical reaction (5 lessons).

  • Solar Battery Charging

    Solar Battery Charging

    Students will become familiar with circuits, cells, batteries, and photovoltaic cells, then plan, build, test, modify, and re-test a small solar battery charger designed to maintain batteries from a particular device.

  • DC to AC to DC Efficiency

    DC to AC to DC Efficiency

    This lesson will continue to deal with efficiency of USB charging devices, but this time we will be using an inverter in order to create AC voltage from a battery pack, and then use a standard AC charger (what you would plug into the wall) to charge a USB device. Students will continue to use…

  • Biolite – Fire to Phone Charging

    Biolite – Fire to Phone Charging

    This lesson continues to look at the efficiency of USB charging devices, but this time we will be using a commercially available camping stove that uses heat to create electricity in order to charge a phone. This is the Biolite stove that exploits the Peltier Junction in order to generate an electrical current. Students can…

  • Activities and Assessment of Vocab and Units

    Activities and Assessment of Vocab and Units

    This foundational and important lesson helps prepare students to efficiently collect energy data independently in the remaining sections of this unit as well as increase the longevity of the equipment used throughout. Additionally, students build their energy literacy aroud Circuitry, Electrical Energy, Energy Efficiency, Energy Fundamentals and associated units and formulas.

  • Electrical Energy and Solar Module Efficiency

    Electrical Energy and Solar Module Efficiency

    Students will check the effiency of solar modules using tools to obtain values that are commonly used evaluate energy efficiency of solar modules. Students will conduct their own research to derive the terms they will need to calculate a power/area ratio, and check that calculation with a pyranometer (if available). Calculations and practices that students…

  • Phone Charger Efficiency

    Phone Charger Efficiency

    In this lesson students will explore the concept of efficiency, and how to take data in order to calculate the efficiency of various cell phone or USB charging circuits.

  • Exploring Buck and Boost Converters

    Exploring Buck and Boost Converters

    This lab uses a variety of voltage conversion devices to output 5 Volts, the requirements for a USB charger such as for a cell phone. Students will take data on these devices and calculate, graph and compare efficiencies of different devices. Devices used in this lab are buck converters, which lower the input voltage and…

  • Designing a Solar Phone Charger

    Designing a Solar Phone Charger

    This is the culminating activity for the unit “Off the Grid.” Students will be given some restricted parameters around which to design a solar powered battery operated phone (or other USB device) charger. Included at the end of this lesson is a written assessment for the entire unit.

  • Off the Grid: Energy Transformations and Efficiency

    Off the Grid: Energy Transformations and Efficiency

    Students are led through the basics of complex circuit building, including the use of buck and boost converters, converting AC to DC and back, with the ultimate goal of designing and building a solar cell phone charger. Involves learning circuit diagramming and calculating efficiencies of various circuits and comparing based upon measurements (7 lessons).

  • Illuminate Me: Merging Conductive Sewing, Technology, and Solar Power

    Illuminate Me: Merging Conductive Sewing, Technology, and Solar Power

    Students will design and build a wearable circuit using a microcontroller and incorporating solar power into a wearable garment project by recharging NiMH batteries for a renewable energy battery pack. This lesson is great for a culminating project since it integrates three major components: sewing circuits with conductive thread, programmable hardware, and energy transformations using…

  • Engineering with Renewable Energy: Solar Water Pumping Activity

    Engineering with Renewable Energy: Solar Water Pumping Activity

    Students will learn that energy from the sun can be converted to electrical energy to do work by engineering a solar water pump system and collect and graph data in their investigations.

  • Understanding E-Waste Through Battery Design

    Understanding E-Waste Through Battery Design

    In this unit of multi-day lessons, students will further their understanding of energy, electricity, and basic circuits by focusing on batteries and e-waste. Students will build on their existing knowledge of energy, exploring how it is stored and used in everyday life, as well as the role of batteries in energy systems. Hands-on experiments with…

  • Exploring Eco-Friendly Battery Design

    Exploring Eco-Friendly Battery Design

    Students will design multiple batteries using potatoes, lemons, pennies, and cola. They will use qualitative analysis to understand the voltage of each battery type. Based on their hands on experience students will understand methods to increase voltage and what makes a good battery design.

  • Engineering Clean Energy For Our Community

    Engineering Clean Energy For Our Community

    Students will explore how different clean energy methods can power a motor. Using the engineering design process students will evaluate each energy source and relate it to e-waste concepts from previous lessons. They will learn about wind turbines and design a wind turbine. They will learn about solar power and design a solar boat. They…

  • How Might We Design A Battery That Reduces E-Waste

    How Might We Design A Battery That Reduces E-Waste

    Students explore the guiding phenomenon to understand e-waste and connect it to battery design. Students will research to ask questions, define problems and communicate information about e-waste to prepare for further exploration into electronics and battery design for the next lesson portion.

  • Solar vs Wind Energy Unit

    Solar vs Wind Energy Unit

    Students learn the fundamentals of energy transformation and vocabulary, electrical circuits, explore energy usage in their homes. Students then explore energy generation, including the use of magnetism and renewable energy sources.

  • Variables Affecting Solar Power

    Variables Affecting Solar Power

    Students will be learn to identify and explain at least three variables that effect the efficiency of photovoltaic cells and students will conduct a scientific investigation to determine which photovoltaic cell configuration will generate the most power.

  • Variables Affecting Wind Turbine Power

    Variables Affecting Wind Turbine Power

    Students will be learn to identify and explain at least three variables that affect the efficiency of wind turbines and students will conduct a scientific investigation to determine which wind turbine configuration will generate the most power.

  • Three Ways to Generate Electricity

    Three Ways to Generate Electricity

    Students will be learn to: 1. Detect the relative strength of magnetic fields at different distances from a magnet, 2. Explain the energy transformations occurring in each part of a circuit and 3. Identify three different methods for generating electricity

  • How much Energy do YOU use?

    How much Energy do YOU use?

    Students will be learn to: 1. Explain the difference between power and energy 2. Proficiently use a “Kill-A-Watt” meter to determine the power and total energy usage of everyday devices 3. Compare the total energy used by common household devices 4. Brainstorm different ways we can conserve electrical energy

  • Introduction to Circuits

    Introduction to Circuits

    In this lesson students will learn how to: 1. Create a simple circuit on their own when given the appropriate materials. 2. Diagram the flow of electrons within a circuit. 3. Differentiate between series and parallel circuits.

  • Introduction to Energy

    Introduction to Energy

    Students will be able to name and describe at least 5 kinds of energy, and students will be able to identify and explain simple energy transformations