Understanding Energy Through Wind Turbines

Students sitting in a circle on grey carpet with a printout, a ruler, and pencils.
Phenomena: Transformation of Energy

A phenomenon students will explore before they build their wind turbines is the transformation of energy for one form to another. For example, students can investigate how mechanical energy is transformed into electrical energy in wind turbines. They can explore the transformation of chemical energy into heat and light in a chemical reaction, transformation of electrical energy into light, sound etc. Students will learn the fundamental principle of energy in that it cannot be created or destroyed but that it can only be transformed from one form to another.
Another phenomenon students will explore in this unit is the relationship between wind speed and the amount of electricity generated by a wind turbine. When wind speed increases, the amount of electricity generated will increase. Students can understand this phenomenon by collecting and interpreting data to recognize and identify patterns and understand the importance of predicting wind behavior in order to harness energy sustainably.

Lesson 1: What is Energy?

In this single-day introductory lesson students will focus solely on the concept of what energy is through exploration, shared understanding, and collaborative development of a class KWL chart on energy.

Lesson 2: Energy and How We Harness it: Virtual Field Trip

The lesson will begin with a whole group review of energy and different types of energy. Students will be shown a virtual field trip of energy where they will have the opportunity to explore individually, in pairs, or as a class.

Lesson 3: Exploring Energy Stations

Students are put into groups to rotate through multiple stations set up with different forms of energy that students will get to explore. Stations provide examples of potential and kinetic energy and come with a card to assess comprehension. Students experiment and explore/record their phenomenon.

Lesson 4: 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.

Lesson 5: Building Wind Turbines with the Engineering Design Process

This is a hands-on lesson where students in their small groups plan the blueprints and build wind turbines.

Lesson 6: Exploring the Impacts of Wind Turbines on Tribal Lands/Sea

Students explore the impacts of renewable energy technologies on land and sea, with special attention paid to impacts on tribal lands. Students explore native lands virtually, watch videos, and read articles before discussing ways to mitigate the impacts on land and sea, discussing printouts of the articles.

6 Lessons / 10 periods of 30-45 mins

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 harness energy through the ocean. Students will then apply that knowledge to engineer a wind turbine to harness energy. Students will consider impacts to the environment and learn pros and cons to wind turbines and discuss ways/ ideas to lessen environmental/tribal impact. Extensions to this unit include multiple renewable stem activities including, energy through hydro power and engineering a solar power oven.

Overview

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