Students will create a solar oven from a pizza box. They will learn that the sun is hot enough to bake food through warming up the ingredients for smores.
In this series of inquiry-based activities, students research and investigate energy sources and the ways we use energy.
Students will explain how hydrogen can be extracted from water and how energy flows through the electrolysis system.
Students examine the sources of energy that are used to generate electricity. Students use maps to identify the locations of energy resources. Then, they consider how energy resources are converted into electricity and how that electricity is transmitted and delivered to people at various locations.
Students consider how the availability of water as a resource has impacted development
in the United States or elsewhere, drawing on geography and history.
Students consider the core economic concept of needs and wants. Students categorize common possessions as those they need and those they want. Then, they assess the “embedded energy of those items.
Students organize information about the energy released by nuclear reactions and the historical development of nuclear power. They use this information to help them debate the merits of the different methods that can be used to store nuclear waste from the production of nuclear energy.
Students consider the different places where food comes from and how the food they eat is transported to them from a source location.
This series of videos highlights each of the 7 Essential Principles of Energy.
This guide provides a framework for student literacy analysis of the Essential Principles of Energy--the Energy Literacy video series and the 7 Energy Literacy Principles.
This three-part teacher guide encourages a multi-disciplinary approach to many issues and topics related to geothermal power development, including the scientific fundamentals as well as the social, economic, environmental and political aspects.
This activity allows students the opportunity to explore different methods for collecting solar energy and using that energy for heating, creating electricity and applying that energy to an industrial process. Experimenting with different types of materials will also allow them to understand how the properties of different materials can drastically affect the outcome of their experiment.
This illustrated timeline shows the history of wind energy and how it has been used throughout time.
In this lesson, students will learn that sunlight is the underlying component of energy use. Students will examine atoms as the basic building blocks of matter, including electrons, protons, and neutrons, and explore how these building blocks are used with the element silicon (Si) to produce energy. Students will perform two interactive activities to further their understanding of this concept. Finally, students will investigate careers in solar energy and report on the growing solar industry.
In this lesson, students will investigate the development and use of solar power. They will examine the role of the sun as a source of energy and explore how humanity has relied on the sun to provide energy for our lives. Solar techniques ranging from using sunlight to warm houses to the latest technologies like advances in photovoltaic solar power will be discussed. Students will explore pre-Industrial Revolution uses of solar energy and technological advances using a Solar Decathlon house as an example. This lesson will also cover the potential energy inherent in the sun’s daily output and include activities to enhance student understanding of our daily connection to the sun.
Students will model the single displacement/redox reaction of separating silicon from silicon dioxide.
Student participate in class activities which investigate energy and how it is produced, transmitted, conserved, and managed at local, national, and global levels. They will also analyze energy resources and examine ways to minimize human impacts on the environment, evaluate their personal use of energy and develop a plan for conservation, and explore modifications to improve energy efficiency by reducing energy transfer to the environment. Students will use research and reasoning to empower their communities (home, school, and local) to adopt energy and money-saving practices.
In this series of inquiry-based activities, students investigate photosynthesis and optimal conditions for growth.
Students see the difference in the speed and smoothness of the wind at different altitudes above the earth. They will also investigate what causes wind turbulence and shear and how to avoid putting turbines near these conditions.
This lesson plan will guide students toward answers by exploring the many factors that influence how solar panels are manufactured. Students will identify the raw materials needed for and the costs associated with manufacturing a solar panel. They will then compare and contrast solar and traditional energy using economic and environmental variables.