Grade Level: 3rd
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A Study of Alternative Fuels
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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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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.
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Hydrogen Cars
Students will discover some properties of Hydrogen and how a PEM (Proton Exchange Membrane) operates. They will work to create their own hydrogen kit car and experiment by measuring its gas production, power output if the fuel cell, and the power requirements for operating the vehicle for one minute.
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Creating an Hydrogen Generator
Students will discover some properties of Hydrogen. They will work to create their own hydrogen generator and experiment by measuring its gas production and amperage used for production.
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Creating an Electric Motor
Students will discover some properties of electromagnets. They will create their own electric motor and measuring its torque by picking up a weight over a given distance and time. With this motor, they will learn how an electric motor works and to troubleshoot for optimum operation.
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Creating an Electromagnetic Field
Student teams will work together to discover properties of electromagnets. They will work together to create their own electromagnets and experiment its strength to pick up paperclips using batteries of varying voltages. With this experiment, they will also learn about series and parallel circuits. Later lessons will require the use of these electromagnets to create…
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Renewable City
This Renewable City Unit aims to help students dive in and actively explore sustainability, renewable resources, and how they might personally help solve our climate change problem. As students use multiple methods for investigating, creating, and thinking about these critical issues, they will be encouraged to develop pliable minds and action-oriented skills to address climate…
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Community Project
Students decide on a community project they’d like to do to personally help with climate change or energy justice.
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Understanding Energy Through Wind Turbines
In this unit students will be building knowledge on what energy is and how it is harnessed, students will interact with a variety of energy stations to build an understanding on what energy is. From there students will learn about renewable energy and the difference between renewable and non-renewable energy. Students will learn how to…
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Offshore Wind Turbines Renewable Energy
Students are introduced to offshore wind. They learn how offshore turbines are different, the challenges and benefits of building in the ocean, and how offshore wind turbines are built.
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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.
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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.
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Solar Powered Water Pumping
Students make observations and record data about how different materials affect the speed of a solar powered water pump.
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Creating a Hydroelectric Powerplant
Students will discover a relationship between amperes and voltage to Watts as a hydro-electric powerplant produces electricity. They will work as a team to create a powerplant and measure the flow and force of electricity. The variables of air pressure will simulate different head pressures as it pertain to simple water dam design. They will…
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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.
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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.
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Energy Carousel: Collaborative Sensemaking on Energy and How We Measure It
This lesson aims to help students investigate answers to the questions: “What is Energy?” and “How can we see or measure energy?”. The lesson serves as a first step in understanding energy as a phenomenon and will help scaffold students’ abilities to comprehend renewable resources better later. Students observe and measure energy at 3 carousel…
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What is Energy?
In this lesson students will focus solely on the concept of what energy is. The very first thing will be to hand students a blank piece of paper and ask the students, “What is energy?” Give students a silent minute or two to write what they think energy is. Struggling students can draw what they…
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The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind Activity Guide
Learners will be inspired to put their own learning and imagination into action after reading the true story of, “The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind”. This is a teacher recommended lesson from Centre of Excellence for Energy.
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Energy and How We Harness it: Virtual Field Trip
In a virtual format, students will explore how energy is generated in different forms.
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Exploring Energy Stations
Students explore various forms of energy in order to distinguish between potential, kinetic, and their subcategories in order to look at the concept of transformations.
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Building Wind Turbines with the Engineering Design Process
Students will use kits to build their own model wind turbines, exploring how different variables affect the operation of the turbine and developing blueprints for designs that reflect their findings.
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Exploring Renewable Energy Resources: Water Power
Prior to undergoing their own engineering design process, students build background understanding through testing a waterwheel, observing the functionality of hydropower turbines, and developing context around regional and national hydropower resources.
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Falling Water
Students will use mathematical calculations to apply the concept of of energy transformation to a water power context. They will explore how height impacts the amount of energy generated within hydropower systems. This is a teacher recommended lesson from Teach Engineering.
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Waterwheel Work: Energy Transformations and Rotational Rates
Students will use the engineering design cycle to build their own device that transfers the energy from moving water so that it can be used for a different purpose. They will then relate this to how a hydroelectric power plant works. This is a teacher recommended lesson from Teach Engineering.
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Exploring the Impacts of Wind Turbines on Tribal Lands/Seas
Students will apply their existing knowledge of how turbines work and their environmental impact to a discussion of human impacts. This will focus specifically on Tribal lands and discussions taking place around energy development.
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Salmon and Dams
Students receive introductory information to the challenges facing salmon in the Pacific Northwest, including the unique solutions humans are developing to address the challenges. This is a teacher recommended lesson from PBS Learning Media.
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Tragedy of the Commons
In this lesson, students will engage in a simple game in order to model and understand Tragedy of the Commons. During the game, students discuss their ideas about sustainability.
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Exploring Renewable Energy Resources: Offshore Wind
Students will build wind turbines in a variety of forms to develop a deep understanding of the function of wind turbines as well as variables that affect how successful a particular design is.
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Socratic Circle and Climate Change Phenomena
Students analyze their own ideas about climate change and sustainability using a Socratic Circle discussion then investigate a phenomenon to further make sense of climate change. Students’ ideas help shape their understanding of climate challenges and give space for discussion around what an equitable, sustainable community looks like.
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Designing a Renewable City Model
Students will use their collective understandings built throughout an entire unit of sustainability topics to develop their own sustainable city. This lesson uses a variety of visual and physical hands on tools for students to make their ideas and climate solutions come to life. Students will wrap up their development by presenting their “Renewable City”…
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Career Profiles in Hydropower
This collection of introductory videos will allow students to explore real careers in the hydropower industry. While not necessarily a lesson plan, these tools fit into any unit emphasizing career-connected learning, with all careers having direct connections to scientific and/or professional expertise. This is a teacher recommended resource.
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Spark Squad Comics
These comics use a fictional set of middle school characters to engage students in hydropower and marine renewable energy topics, with activities included in each comic for students to track their learning. This is a teacher recommended resource from National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL)
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Solar Powered Calculator
Students develop an understanding of how light energy is transformed into electrical energy to power a solar calculator.
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Probes of Prior Knowledge
Students are guided through formative assessments (probes) of their prior knowledge about electricity
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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
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Solar Updraft Towers
Students will combine research, direct observations, and hands on investigation to lead them into an engineering design project involving the construction of a solar updraft tower (5 lessons).
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Learning About Solar Updraft Towers
This lesson helps students learn about solar updraft towers being planned and built around the world to help solve the energy crisis by using unlimited power from the sun. This will provide real world context to the engineering challenge they engaged in during the previous lesson. A video is shown to the class; then students…
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Let’s Build Our Wind and Solar Energy Toy
Students will combine what they learned in previous lessons using their investigations of convection-related phenomena to design a device that will convert light energy from the sun into thermal energy and utilize the resulting convection currents. Their primary objective will be to design a device that uses energy from the sun when placed on a…
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Wind Power: A Hands-on Experience
This lesson challenges students to work in teams to design successful turbine blades for the “KidWind Firefly”. The firefly has an LED light that lights up when the students have designed turbine blades that spin effectively. This lesson provides students with hands-on experience in designing turbine blades. This will scaffold them nicely into Let’s Build…
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Where Does Energy Go?
This lesson consists of six demonstration activities that show examples of ways in which water and air absorb heat to transfer energy from one place to another. These demonstration activities act as unique phenomena in which students can generate questions to lead subsequent investigations with each activity in learning centers. Through gaining content from investigations…
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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…
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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.
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Who Is An Activist?
This lesson introduces students to youth environmental activists involved in the work in creating an awareness about climate change issues. Students will begin to consider how they can use critical thinking to identify issues and their voice to address issues in their communities.
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What are Current Energy Systems and Challenges?
Students research and present different energy sources and challenges.
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How Does Human Use of Resources Impact the Environment?
Students learn about how human use of natural resources can impact the environment. Students create a fog catcher to make sense of the phenomenon. Students assess the impact of their actions on the environment through an ecological footprint/handprint activity.
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Natural Resources
This lesson introduces students to natural resources and creates a foundational understanding of how people use natural resources. Students will begin to understand the different forms of energy and how human activity and use of resources can impact the environment.