Resource Type: Lessons
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Understanding Energy
In this lesson, developed by Coeur d’Alene tribal educators, students explore different types of energy, using the book “Coyote Snares the Wind” as an anchoring story, an interactive game, and hands-on activities.
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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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Creating the Most Effective Solar Heater
In this activity students demonstrate the ability to evaluate competing solutions to the problem of increasing the heat energy transferred to a vial of water.
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Manipulating Design Variables on Solar Heaters
In this activity students demonstrate the ability to evaluate competing solutions to the problem of increasing the heat energy transferred to a vial of water.
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Making the Standard Solar Heater
In this activity students will learn that sunlight energy can be transformed into other forms of energy and that the amount of sunlight energy captured by an object can be quantified and measured.
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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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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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Battleship Windfarms
Wind power is a renewable resource that provides humans with an alternative to fossil fuels. However, wind farms cannot be built everywhere and when they are in the path of migratory birds, they can kill or injure these birds.
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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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How Can a Dam Affect a River?
This pair of activities explore aquatic food pyramids in the river and reservoir. Inviting students to explore the impact a reservoir makes on a river ecosystem, how that can be studied, and what causes the differences in species observed. This is a teacher recommended lesson by Foundation for Water & Energy Education (FWEE).
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How Does Energy Affect Wildlife?
In this lesson, students learn that different electricity generation sources have very different effects on wildlife. This is a teacher recommended lesson by KidWind.
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Careers in Renewable Energy
Students create a trading card about a career in renewable energy that interests them. Students can also explore different careers in Hydropower through a “Hydropower Careers Guess Who” game.
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Exploring Different Forms of Water Power
Students will build a model of a Marine Wave Generator (Kidwind Offshore Floating Wind Buoy, NEED’s Model Wav Generator Buoy, or Air Buoy) and test it to collect data and observe how water power is converted into electricity.
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Where is the Clean Water Around Me?
This lesson has students use hydropower, wave power, and wind power mapping tools to map the renewable resources around them on a large classroom map of their region, state, or North America.
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Social, Emotional, and Equity Discussions in Clean Water Power
This lesson has students jigsaw a bank of readings on the social, environmental, and equity issues with clean water power in order to make sense of how water power impacts the environment and people. Additionally, students will explore energy sovereignty and tribal energy independence in the Pacific Northwest to learn about how hydropower has impacted…
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How Do Variables Affect Power Generation in a Hydroelectric Dam?
This lesson has students make a claim on which configuration will generate the most power in an in-class water power demonstration: Height of water in a bucket (reserve), Length of Penstock, or Height difference between penstock and inline generator. Students then test the variables and collect data. Finally, students compare results with classmates’ and develop…
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What Does it Take to Make a Functioning Circuit
This lesson takes students through different hands-on and virtual circuit-building activities in order to make sense of the essential question: What does it take to make a functioning circuit?
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Electromagnetic Induction
This lesson builds on students’ prior knowledge about how electricity works. Students build a simple motor and test the voltage produced.
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Moving Water Into Moving Electrons
Students explore the power of water phenomena through videos of moving water then create a driving question board around how the power of moving water can be used to generate electricity. Students are introduced to the concept of hydroelectric power through content exploration and discussion.
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Does this Dam Pass or Fail?
Students conduct Internet research to investigate the purpose and current functioning status of some of the largest dams throughout the world. They investigate the success or failure of eight dams and complete a worksheet. While researching the dams, they also gain an understanding of the scale of these structures by recording and comparing their reservoir…
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Who Makes Decisions About Dams? Stakeholder Role Play
This lesson empowers students to explore the roles of the stakeholders who are at play. Through role-playing, students will learn about the varied opinions regarding the dam removal and will ultimately have to reach a compromise as a class after a mock public forum.
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Evaluating River Restoration Projects
This lesson will introduce the role of the Snake River dams and the impacts they have on the Chinook population. Students will examine the pros and cons of various scenarios that have been presented by research scientists.
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Ecological Interactions Between PNW Keystone Species
Students will examine the decline in chinook salmon and how the loss of this keystone species is impacting the South resident killer whale populations.
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Environmental Challenges to PNW Keystone Species
Students learn about the dwindling orca population, and the contributing factors. One of which is the decline of chinook salmon and how the loss of this keystone species is impacting the SRKW populations.
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Hydrogen Through Electolysis
Students learn about Hydrogen production and how it could potentially fit in the future energy landscape. This lesson includes an experiment with electrolysis using easily found supplies. This is a teacher recommended lesson from Energy Information Administration.
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Optimal and Sustainable: Renewable Energy Revamp
In this lesson, students will be challenged with an optimization problem. The fictitious town of Solutionville has decided to replace coal, their current source for electricity, with more sustainable energy sources. In designing Solutionville’s sustainable energy future, students must consider not only the geographic constraints of various renewable energy options–wind energy, hydroelectric power, geothermal energy,…
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The PowerWheel
The PowerWheel is a micro hydro generator—an amazing tool for teaching lessons about energy, hydro-power, and other renewable sources of energy. Students from kindergarten through college can use this tool to charge cell phones, power laptops and more… all from the power of a water faucet! This is a teacher recommended lesson from Educational Innovations.
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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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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…
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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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Exploring Electromagnets
Students build and test an electromagnet that will build foundational understandings into the generation of electricity and basis of our energy system.
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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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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…
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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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The Basics of Energy, Electricity, and Water
Students develop foundational knowledge around the functionality of hydropower generation, providing presentations on their assigned subject matter.
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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.
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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.
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How Can a Dam Change the Land Around It?
Students investigate the environmental and social impacts of dams on communities around them, and consider options for addressing these conditions.
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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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Hydropower Dams: Learning Through Stakeholder Research
Students will take on the perspective of different stakeholders that are involved in hydropower development. They will use their scientific understanding and the needs of that stakeholder to communicate varying positions on the development of new dams.
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History of Hydroelectric Power/What Does a Dam Do?
Students will engage with history of dams using a famous case study.
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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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Future Water Power Technologies
Students will explore new technologies being designed to generate electricity as our grid continues to modernize.
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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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Idea Game Generator
Students will select a combination of geogrpahies and technologies to be tasked with developing “land art.” In this process, they will creatively plan the integration of these technologies into the land in a way that allows for environmental and societal benefits. This planning activity can be launched into a larger unit of engineering design or…
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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…
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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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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…
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Engineering 101
This lesson is designed for three 50-minute sessions. The students will engage in multiple mini-engineering challenges to develop their understanding of structures and how to build models. The students will also learn to use the 3D pens to create a 3D object.
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The Problem of Plastic Trash Islands
This lesson is designed for 3 days, 50-minute sessions. The students will watch videos and take 2 column notes to guide independent research. The students will examine different solutions that are already being tried and experimental solutions that have not yet been implemented. The students will research the problem and then develop a Google Slide…
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TinkerCAD: Introduction to 3D Printing
This lesson is designed to span 5 days with 50-minute sections. After the introduction day, each day the students work toward mastery on the TinkerCAD tutorial online to learn how to create printable 3D models. At the end of the 4 days the students will have created a small 3D model to specifications to print…
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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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Integrating Solar Power
In this lesson, students will integrate a photovoltaic module into an ongoing robotic sunflower that will track the sun with 2 degrees of freedom.
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Dual Axis Light Tracking
In this lesson, students will take a light tracker with two degrees of freedom. The axis of rotation will be about the horizontal and vertical.
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Creating a Light-Tracking Servo
In this lesson, students will synthesize their Basic Stamp controlled Servo (see previous lesson in unit) for light metering and Servo control. This lesson walks students through the process of designing a Servo controlled by two photoresistors that track a light source.
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Controlling a Servo
In this lesson students will learn how to control a servo using the Basic Stamp. Then students will combine the photoresistor from the previous lesson with the servo to create a light controlled servo. It is recommended this lesson is used in sequence.
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Measuring Voltage Using A Microcontroller
In this lesson students will be introduced to series circuits, resistors, a photoresistor and a microcontroller. There’s a lot here, but it boils down to making a voltage divider circuit and measuring the voltage at different points. A second circuit includes an RC component. Teachers can edit this down to just a photoresistor if time…
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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.
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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,…
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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…
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What is Force?
Students will build a barge out of tin foil and describe the forces acting it. The barge itself is designed only with the constraints that passengers within the barge will not get wet, allowing for students to experiment with different shapes and densities as they construct their boats. This simple design challenge has a competition…
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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…
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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…
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Testing a Tidal Wave Attenuator
Students will test the efficiency of the tidal wave attenuator models that they previously built. They will determine variables on their models they can manipulate, such as wire gauge and magnet strength, and measure the effects of manipulating this variable on the success of their design. They will report their findings in a presentation to…
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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.
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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…
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Solar Mobile Design Challenge – Construction
This is the culminating hands-on project for the Solar Mobile Design Challenge Lessons, with construction aligned to an engineering design process. Students start by Restating the Design Problem that was introduced to them in the beginning of the Unit. Next, they Brainstorm ideas and Plan out the construction of the mobile. Students research an aircraft…
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Light Source Efficiency: Exploring Irradiance
This lesson explores the concept of irradiance by having students use a Vernier Pyranometer. Using the “Light Source Efficiency” worksheet to guide their work, students measure irradiance as compared to the Sun’s irradiance to see what would be the best light source for powering their solar mobile indoors. This can be done as a demonstration…
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Exploring Center of Gravity
Since the concept Center of Gravity (mass) is a key factor in a mobile, students will participate in some activities to help them experience and understand this principle so it can be applied to their final Solar Mobile design. This lesson starts with a teacher demonstration of the discrepant event of a bird that can…
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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…
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Introducing the Solar Mobile Design Challenge
This lesson is aimed to engage students and build excitement for their future engineering design challenge of building the fastest Solar Powered Mobile. Through multimedia resources, Students will encounter real life solar aircrafts and a room-sized Solar Mobile. Students will then be given the scenario of designing a solar mobile for a Children’s Technology Museum…
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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…
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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.
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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.
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Mars Exploration Debate
Students will research and then debate about the value of Mars exploration through robotic and/or human missions using a debate structure.
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Sphero Edu Coding
After working on a few Scratch drag and drop programs, participants will transition to Sphero Edu, a comparable drag and drop program for Lesson 2 to prepare to program a Sphero SPRK+ ball to navigate through a maze.
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Introduction to Drag and Drop Coding Using Scratch
Students go through a series of exercises and projects/challenges to gain familiarity with coding, specifically with drag-and-drop coding. Students will look at Scratch, a free introductory computer programming language, which focuses on creative computing. After working on a few Scratch drag and drop programs, participants will transition to Sphero Edu (formerly Lightning Lab), a comparable…
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Engineering a Hot Pack
Through a series of inquiry activities, students will discover the properties of the chemical reaction of dissolving CaCl2 in water, the effect of stirring, and of adding baking soda and sodium polyacrylate crystals. Once initial data is collected, students will share preliminary data through the collaborative inquiry gallery walk protocol practiced in Lesson 2, test…
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Research and Evaluate the Impact on the Environment and Society of Converting Natural Resources into PV Cells
Students will engage in guided research to explore resource acquisition, material processing, and electricity generation associated with photovoltaic cells. Opportunity for differentiation exists in the level of assistance in guiding the research, the language and reading level of the texts, the depth of research, and the product expected. The lesson plan is developed for assessing…
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Fuels and PV Cells
Students will return to the phenomena of energy resources to support safety, health, and comfort in an emergency situation. They will distinguish between how common materials provide energy and develop an understanding of how the atomic and molecular structure of the resource differs and leads to different optimal applications of the resource in an emergency…
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Developing a Model of Thermal Energy, Atoms, and Molecules
Through a series of exploration and inquiry activities, students will explain kinetic molecular theory, atomic, and molecular structures. Students will be challenged to gradually increase the precision of their explanation of molecular-level structures and motion. This lesson facilitates the students’ development of an evidence-based argument through collaboration.
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When the Grid Goes Down and Stays Down
Through an examination of media published in the five months following Hurricane Maria in 2017, students will develop an understanding of the electrical grid, the vulnerabilities of a grid system, and the immediate and long-term challenges of living without an electrical grid. This lesson will lay the foundation for the rest of the unit, establishing…
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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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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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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…
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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…
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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.
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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…
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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.
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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…
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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.
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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.
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Bioreactor Water Circulation System
Together we explore the feasibility of using heated water in a bioreactor to circulate water through a trough or pipe system to outdoor water sources from freezing in the winter. This will be done by utilizing a solar water pump and a compost bioreactor. Additionally, students will explore whether such a system could be used…
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Compost Bioreactor Design
Students will research the science and proper maintenance of composting to create their own bioreactors. Using their research they will adjust their compost for maximum heat production used to heat water.
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Passive Solar Water Heating
Students will utilize milk jugs to understand the how to optimize the sun’s ability to heat the water contained within. By recording their observations and calculating the joules of energy absorbed students will gain understanding of the energy of the sun.
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Modeling a Wave Energy Converter
This teacher-designed hands-on engineering activity for grades 7-8 walks you through building a wave energy converter to explore how waves can be used for energy.
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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.
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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.
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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…
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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
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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
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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.
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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
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Reflections with an Engineer
Students analyze their data from previous lessons and reflect about how solar technology and their structures kept the ground (earth’s surface) cooler.
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Add Solar Panel Redesign, Rebuild, Retest
Adding solar panels, motors, and fans to existing student built structures; students will observe temperature changes on the ground below their structure.
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Structure Test
Utilizing thermo infrared thermometers and student built structures from Keeping it Cool with Solar Build Time, students analyze how structures change the suns affect the Earth’s surface.
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Build Time
Building the structures designed during Keeping it Cool with Solar: Design Time. Students use the phenomena of Engineers build with triangles to inspire their structures to create shade.
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Design Time
Students will learn the phenomena of how engineers use triangles to build. They will design their own structures to create shade.
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Making Shade
Students will observe the phenomena of how trees make different types of shade and use different types of paper to create different levels of shade.
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Hot Spot/Cool Spot
Students will investigate the phenomena of melting ice and solar heat on the playground