Educator-Vetted and Customized Curricular Resources on Hydropower and Marine Renewable Energy
Introduction
To address talent development opportunities and access, the U.S. Department of Energy Water Power Technologies Office (WPTO), the National Renewable Energy Laboratory and the Hydropower Foundation (HF) kicked off a three-year partnership in Spring 2021 with Bonneville Environmental Foundation (BEF) to facilitate regional collaboration and best practices in talent development and stakeholder engagement, using water power as the test case. The intent that a replicable model emerges from this work that can be implemented in multiple regions and across all clean energy technologies.
The expertise of CE’s Clean Energy Fellows played a critical role in the facilitation of this talent ecosystem project, using their place-based knowledge and partnership networks to catalyze collaboration between stakeholders and amplify best practices. A key outcome of this work was the development of a Water Power Implementation Toolkit by CE’s Water Power Cohort of Clean Energy Fellows. This mini library of resources features tools that are a mixture of existing, modified existing, and newly developed classroom curricular resources. Lessons are presented to allow for teachers to mix and modify their preferred sequence of activities for their unique grade level. By engaging with a combination of these resources, students will build understanding of foundational scientific content and use real science and engineering practices to address a critical question: How can humans creatively harness all types of water power and marine renewable energy sources to create a sustainable, zero-emission future?
Development Process
The Clean Energy Fellows: Water Power cohort was comprised of educators from across the Pacific Northwest that shared the common passion of developing high-quality STEM tools for their students to explore career-connected topics in next generation hydropower and marine renewable energy technologies. Over the course of a year, these teacher experts collaborated across grade bands to design a cohesive storyline of essential questions spanning K-12, identifying and developing the most effective tools to engage students with this storyline as they progressed along their STEM learning journey. Through a process of gap analysis, content selection, implementation, and refinement, Clean Energy Fellows produced a set of tools that will continue to grow and evolve with the landscape of technology and career pathways around it.
These educators, in collaboration with the CE team and industry partners, addressed a number of challenges throughout the curriculum development cycle. Educators identified a number of existing gaps that were emphasized in their work to customize new tools. These focus areas included Tribal history and storylines, advanced hydropower and fish passage technologies, energy access, and marine renewable energy discussion that reflected rapid advancements in technology. The Uncommon Dialogue, with its emphasis on the “Three R’s” (Rehabilitation, Retrofit, and Removal) of next generation hydropower management, was a central guiding framework in how educators approached providing their students with real-world challenges and accurate depictions of the complex systems-oriented solutions involved in energy development.
While most of these tools are custom projects built by these educator leaders, the Toolkit features curriculum developed by CE’s partners and the broader network of STEM education experts. Many of these resources were modified to reflect the place-based contexts for students of these Clean Energy Fellows or to more effectively fit within a broader unit. Partners with curriculum featured include NEED, Kidwind, the Center of Excellence for Clean Energy, the Foundation for Water and Energy Education (FWEE), and Teach Engineering. CE’s projects, and the broader movement for accessible clean energy education as a whole, would not be successful without the immense and growing number of curricular tools built by passionate experts like these.
Storyline and Essential Questions
CE and its Clean Energy Fellows used an NGSS Storyline framework to organize this set of curriculum, aligning a bundle of individual lesson plans and activities with grade-band-specific essential questions that address a big-picture challenge. Storylines ensure that students can identify why they are engaged in particular science activities, pointing to a distinct question that will involve developing proficiency in content and practices from multiple angles. The Water Power Implementation Toolkit Storyline uses one overarching K-12 question, with elementary, middle, and high school grades using a series of smaller age-appropriate questions to build toward this high-level theme.
K-12 Essential Question: How can humans creatively harness all types of water power and marine renewable energy sources to create a sustainable, zero-emission future?
Elementary School
Middle School
High School
- What is energy?
- How can renewable energy resources work to create energy?
- How does water carry energy?
- What are the impacts of water power on the environment?
- How can humans combine water power and other renewable energy resources to meet the needs of a community?
- How is the power of water converted into electricity?
- What role does water power play in meeting the needs of a community?
- What are the environmental and community impacts of water?
- What role do the 3 R’s (Rehabilitation, Retrofit, and Removal) have in evaluating water power in a community?
- How is energy converted from water power to usable energy in the power grid?
- How can we measure and mitigate water’s impacts for healthy communities?
- How can humans creatively harness water power on land and sea to create a reliable renewables-powered electric grid in the future?
Elementary School Curriculum
Elementary Essential Question #1: What is energy?
Phenomenon: Turning Gravity Into Light (YouTube video)
The Gravity Light converts potential energy that is stored in a weight into light. The principles involved in this design are very similar to the principles in a cuckoo clock, with the potential energy of the weight being converted to solar energy rather than kinetic energy. Gravity Lights can replace kerosene lights in the developing world with a safe alternative. The phenomenon can be used to illustrate the conversion of potential gravitational energy into other forms of energy. More importantly, it conveys the message of sustainability and social responsibility. Source: Wonder of Science
Elementary Essential Question #2: How can renewable energy resources work to create energy?
Phenomenon: Who has seen the wind? Poem by Christina Rossetti (YouTube video)
This poem is used to anchor discussion around students’ prior knowledge of wind, what they can observe, and what they wonder about wind.
Phenomenon: Wind Turbine Installation Video (YouTube video)
This video can be used with a Noticings and Wonderings chart to guide student observation of a real-life windmill. Points to discuss with students include size, function, construction, location, and purpose.
Elementary Essential Question #3: How does water carry energy?
Phenomenon: Underwater Cable
This image of a cross-section of an underwater cable should be shown to students before they explore marine renewable energy. Students can share their wonderings around what/how energy is transferred, how it is being created, and why the structure of the cable looks this way.
Phenomenon: Watermill: How it Worked (YouTube video)
Explore how a watermill captured the power of water to grind grain into flour as a jumping-off point for a discussion around how the power of water can be used to generate electricity.
Elementary Essential Question #4: What are the impacts of water power on the environment?
Phenomenon: What happens to all the mud that gets stuck behind the dam? (YouTube video)
This video on river geomorphology shows the impact of a dam on flow rates and material build-up. It would make an excellent introduction to a conversation around what students know about dams, how dams impact rivers, and how humans mitigate impact.
Phenomenon: Salmon Cannon (YouTube video)
This Department of Energy video shows how a cannon can give fish a boost over dams. Students can share their noticings and wonderings about the cannon and the impact that dams, cannons, and fish ladders have on fish populations.
Elementary Essential Question #5: How can humans combine water power and other renewable energy resources to meet the needs of a community?
Phenomenon: Google Earth Timelapse shows how the planet has changed in the past 37 years (YouTube video)
This timelapse can be used as an introduction to climate change and to spark a classroom conversation around the causes, effects, and future of our climate and energy resources.
Phenomenon: The World’s Smallest Hydropower Plant (YouTube video)
This video allows students to share their noticings and wonderings around the type and scale of renewable energy resources that can be combined to meet the needs of their communities and communities around the world.
Middle School Curriculum
Middle School Essential Question #1: How is the power of water converted into electricity?
Phenomenon: The World’s Smallest Hydropower Plant (YouTube video)
This video allows students to share their noticings and wonderings around the type and scale of renewable energy resources that can be combined to meet the needs of their communities and communities around the world.
Phenomenon: Watermill: How it Worked (YouTube video)
Explore how a watermill captured the power of water to grind grain into flour as a jumping-off point for a discussion around how the power of water can be used to generate electricity.
Middle School Essential Question #2: What role does water power play in meeting the energy needs of my community?
Phenomenon: Hydroelectricity Generation By State (Map)
Students can explore this map from the Energy Information Authority which shows the total hydroelectric energy generated by each state in 2022 and begin understanding how and why hydropower is used to produce energy.
Phenomenon: Global Hydropower Generation (Map)
This map shows the annual hydropower generation in terawatt-hours across the globe between 1965 and 2022. Students can explore which countries use hydropower in all its forms and begin understanding how and why hydropower is used to produce energy.
Middle School Essential Question #3: What are the environmental and community impacts of water power?
Phenomenon: Case Study: Keystone Species and Dams (YouTube video)
This news story centers a discussion around orcas, salmon, food chains, and the overall health of ecosystems in the Pacific Northwest as students begin to investigate the impact of dams on fish populations.
Phenomenon: Rising From the Ashes (YouTube video)
This short video from filmmaker Shane Anderson documents the return of summer steelhead to the Elwha and the research into the return of salmon and steelhead. It can be used to spark noticings about species restoration and wonderings about what Elwha’s recovery can tell us about large-scale river restoration projects in other places.
Middle School Essential Question #4: What role to the 3 R’s (Rehabilitation, Retrofit, and Removal) have in evaluating water power in a community?
Phenomenon: A River Reborn StoryMap
These high-quality maps and images tell the visual story of the Elwha River Before/After Dam Removal and can be used for students to explore, and make arguments for and against the 3 R’s in a community.
Phenomenon: Map of Water Power Site Tours and Map of Virtual Site Tours
This map shows locations of hydropower power generation and research sites that offer museums, educational facilities, and/or site tours. This could either be a great jumping-off point, or weaved in later to answer the question – where does OUR power come from?
High School Curriculum
High School Essential Question #1: How is energy converted from water power into usable energy in the power grid?
Phenomenon: The Power of Moving Water Video Bank (YouTube videos):
Ask students:
- What do you know about the power of moving water?
- Can the force of water destroy things? What are some examples?
- Can the force of water be used in beneficial ways?
Students explore a video bank of the power of moving water
Transition to the Driving Question Board
- The question is, “How can the power of moving water be used to generate electricity?”
Phenomenon: What Even is a Watermill? Watermill: How it Worked (YouTube video)
Explore the concept of a watermill and how watermills have been used to capture the power of water to grind grain into flour as a jumping off point for a discussion around how the power of water can be used and converted.
High School Essential Question #2: How can we measure and mitigate water power’s impacts for healthy communities?
Phenomenon: Time Lapse Dam “Removal” (YouTube video) and Elwha River Transformation article/recording from Oregon Public Radio
This video can center a discussion around the impact of dams and how ecosystems are transformed by the building and removal of dams.
This video from the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management shows an animation to help visualize the scale of a humpback and calf navigating through a hypothetical floating wind farm. It could be the beginning of a discussion around how the safety of ocean creatures is mitigated when planning marine renewable energy projects.
High School Essential Question #3: How can humans creatively harness water power on land and sea to create a reliable renewables-powered electric grid in the future?
Phenomenon: Renewable Energy Discovery (REDi) Island
Explore the Renewable Energy Discovery (REDi) Island with the U.S. Department of Energy Water Power Technologies Office and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory. Fly through our interactive, educational 3D animation of a virtual renewable energy-powered island that—with help from the next generation of water power scientists—could soon become a reality. Get inspired by diverse marine, hydropower, and river-based energy technologies, which could energize whole communities, power microgrids, and offshore work, and turn salt water into fresh drinking water, all with clean, reliable, renewable energy from moving waters.
Phenomenon: Underwater Cable
This image of a cross-section of an underwater cable should be shown to students before they explore marine renewable energy. Students can share their wonderings around what/how energy is transferred from offshore marine generators.