Clean Energy Topic: Renewable Gas
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The Farmer’s Dilemma
Over the course of the previous six labs, the students are exposed to alternative power systems focusing on hydrogen and electricity. This last structure combines all the knowledge students armed themselves with into a comprehensive presentation regarding the future of farming in our area… specifically that of fuels the farm tractor will use to harvest…
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Waste to Power
This unit guides students through exploring how humans harness the natural environment to create clean power from anaerobic digestion and its role in clean energy production. Additionally, they will explore solutions that benefit the environment, their communities, and all humanity.
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What Can We Do To Fix This?
Students experiment with creating hydrogen through electrolysis. Starting with the phenomena of the renewable hydrogen infographic students discuss renewable hydrogen’s place in our energy system, careers in renewable hydrogen, and climate change.
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What Are The Costs Of Our Current Use of Power And Waste?
Students use their existing knowledge to share their understanding of the costs of our current systems of power and waste. Using digestion bottles made in Introduction to Waste to Power and Digestion Lab 1. Students learn about renewable methane and how it can be incorporated into the power and waste systems.
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What Is The Greenhouse Effect?
After conducting an experiment to witness greenhouse gas creation. Students learn more about how greenhouse gasses are created naturally and through human activity. Students will discuss how greenhouse gasses help and harm.
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Are We Changing Our Air/Atmosphere?
Using an air scale built by the class, students observe some properties of CO2 and how it affects the air we breathe. Reintroduce the concepts of anaerobic digestion. Students expand their thoughts and knowledge of global warming.
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How Does Carbon Dioxide Affect Our Water?
Using the phenomena of wastewater treatment. Students are challenged to think about how water must be “just right” before it can be used. Through experimentation students are introduced to pH. Students are asked how carbon dioxide affects water both in a sample and in the world.
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How Is Our Wastewater Cleaned?
Utilizing the phenomena of a wastewater treatment facility runway students explore how water is made safe for drinking. Students experiment to understand density using salt and baby carrots. Students put it all together discussing barriers to access to clean water.
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What is Carbon?
Students observe a display of charcoal, wood, and food scraps as they discuss the different types of carbon. Students learn about the carbon element and discuss how human interactions and carbon dioxide levels.
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How Are We Part of the Carbon Cycle?
How does the carbon cycle give us life? Starting with the phenomena photo students explore how carbon breaks down as a part of the carbon cycle. Students reflect on the carbon cycle and carbon sinks.
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Molecular Digestion: From Elephant’s Toothpaste to a Plastic Cow
Exploring the essential questions: “What is a digester? and “How are molecules broken down during digestion?” Students will learn about anaerobic respiration, utilizing the elephant toothpaste experiment, and how our water is cleaned through a virtual tour and optional experiments.
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Introduction to Waste to Power and Digestion Lab 1
Students begin to build their understanding of how waste becomes power with the exploration of waste utilizing the phenomena infographic. Students learn about anaerobic digestion and hydrolysis. The class will perform part 1 of an experiment which will be finished in Lesson 9: What are the costs of our current use of power and waste?
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Methane to Music
Students explore the phenomena of a Ruben’s Tube powered by renewable gas to understand how humans impact the flow of carbon in earth’s atmosphere. The lessons include topics of decomposers in a food web, compost, municipal waste, the and the carbon cycle.
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Humans and a Low Carbon Future
Students summarize the knowledge gained throughout the unit to analyze the carbon responsibility of a stakeholder. They bring everything back to the phenomena of the Ruben’s Tube through completing a cartoon.
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Energy Justice and Renewable Fuels
Students will consider all the types of residences in their community. They are challenged to address these questions: “Can all people in this community, regardless of their home type access renewable energy if they want to?” “What are some of the barriers?” Utilizing MuddWatt kits as a power cell students will continue to explore access…
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Carbon Cycling and Human Impact
Students create a visual model of the carbon cycle with notation of carbon sinks and movement. They use this model to predict changes in carbon movement based on human activities.
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Local Policies on Waste Management
The provided framework will support students to think critically about what happens to waste with an emphasis on local waste management policies. This lesson utilizes the aid of a guest speaker or can be performed by student investigation with a pre-organized list of websites.
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What Happens to Waste?
Students will explore the trash pathways and connect this information to their local community. Students will create flowcharts of what happens to waste and how that process could be altered. Students will write a letter to to a waste handler. Students will explore biofuel careers and create jobs trading cards.
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Dissecting a Compost Bin
Students dissect a compost pile to understand the food web of invertebrates and microbes. Students will understand the phases of a compost pile as well as the contributing ecosystem that powers it’s changes.
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Exploring a Ruben’s Tube Through Sensemaking
Students explore topics that surround the phenomena of a Ruben’s Tube. They will explore how science and music intersect before diving into how renewable gas can be a product of soil microbes.
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Designing a Sustainable City of the Future
The concept for this unit is to teach students about natural resources and renewable energy in the context of how these things impact people, communities, and the environment. They will study the actions of current and past environmental activists, learn to look critically at current energy systems, and possible solutions. The final outcome of the…
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Designing a City That Addresses Energy Needs
Students work collaboratively to design a sustainable city of the future with attention to water, energy, carbon footprint, waste, and city layout needs.
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What Are Some Possible Solutions To Current Energy Challenges?
Students explore possible solutions to current energy challenges, focusing on methane collection.