Source:
Legacy Power
Published:
2021
Last Updated:
2021
Intended Grade Level:
PreK-2,
3-5,
MS,
HS,
OST
Description:

This Legacy Power web resource is filled with background content to help facilitate solar cooking activities. Linking the sicence of solar cooking to hands-on activities and even recipes for using solar cookers, this is a particularly useful tool for giving educators ideas and starting points for their own engineering design challenges around this topic.

Location:
Source:
US Department of Energy
Published:
2017
Last Updated:
2021
Intended Grade Level:
PreK-2,
3-5,
MS,
HS,
OST,
Post Secondary
Description:

Energy Literacy: Essential Principles and Fundamental Concepts for Energy Education is an interdisciplinary approach to teaching and learning about energy. The framework identifies seven Essential Principles and a set of Fundamental Concepts to support each principle. The guide does not seek to identify all areas of energy understanding, but rather to focus on those that are essential for all citizens K-Gray. It presents energy concepts that, if understood and applied, will help individuals and communities make informed energy decisions.

Location:
Source:
Allegheny Intermediate Unit
Published:
2020
Last Updated:
2020
Intended Grade Level:
PreK-2,
3-5
Description:

These STEM Packs for grades PreK-5 use picture books to engage students in a series of 40 minute pre-designed STEM lessons with associated materials. Many kits are reusable or easily refurbishable with basic materials. The topics are derived explicitly from NGSS and are aligned with the standards across multiple Disciplinary Core Ideas. CE and AIU co-developed two energy-focused Storytime STEM Packs, including "Boy Who Harnessed the Wind" investigation and engineering design and "My Papi has a Motorcycle" energy use exploration.

Location:
Source:
Murdock Charitable Trust
Published:
2020
Last Updated:
2020
Intended Grade Level:
HS,
Post Secondary
Description:

This unique program pairs high school science teachers with a mentor doing cutting-edge research in an academic lab or a lab associated with another nonprofit institution. The Murdock Trust awards approximately 25 Partners in Science grants each year to fund these teacher-mentor research opportunities in the Pacific Northwest. Our goal is to help teachers bring knowledge from the research lab directly into the classroom to promote hands-on science education. 

Other Subjects Covered:
Source:
University of Colorado Boulder
Published:
2020
Last Updated:
2020
Intended Grade Level:
3-5,
MS,
HS
Description:

A series of over 150 digitial interacitves that allow students to explore a wide variety of science concepts, from simple energy transformations and motion, as well as beahvior of electricity in multiple contexts (static electricity, circuity, batteries, electromagnetism, fields, and more). Many include data collection and applied exploraion of science concepts in physics, chemistry, math, and more. Most are meant for secondary grades, but there are some good foundational energy interactives for upper elementary.

Location:
Source:
The Wonder of Science
Published:
2020
Last Updated:
2020
Intended Grade Level:
PreK-2,
3-5,
MS,
HS,
OST
Description:

The Wonder of Science was created to support the next generation of science teachers. The website aggregates resources developed by Paul Andersen and other science teachers implementing the Next Generation Science Standards* (NGSS). Resources include phenomena resources by standard, graphic organizers, inquiry cards, NGSS posters, and other tools for building three-dimensionality in the classroom.

Location:
Hot Pack

Unit Plan - Chemical Differences in Emergency Energy Sources

Grades:
7-8
Description:

Students develop atomic and molecular models of energy resources, analyze combustion of various fuels and build circuits with Photovolatic (PV) modules to evaluate and suggest revisions to a disaster preparedness supply list. They then research and...

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Learning Goal(s):
To build empathy for people in emergency situations and an understanding of how access to energy resources can increase one’s safety, health, and comfort. To understand the nature of a variety of energy needs and how different applications have different optimal solutions. To develop models to explain the molecular and extended structures of energy resources, including how the resources change when energy is generated (Electron movement in PV cells, combustion reactions in fuel). To understand that the properties of substances depends upon the atomic / molecular structure, which changes with chemical reactions. To build a circuit that includes a solar module and measure the voltage and current. To gather and evaluate information to describe the impact on society of converting natural resources into PV cells. To design, build and test a device that uses a chemical reaction to generate or absorb thermal energy. Evaluate and revise a plan for the energy resources one should store to prepare for a natural disaster. 
Author:
Melody Childers
Estimated Activity Length:
0 sec
Solar Updraft Tower

Solar Updraft Towers Unit Overview

Grades:
3-8
Description:

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. During this process, students will make references to specific phenomena...

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Learning Goal(s):
Students will understand ten renewable and non-renewable energy sources on the earth.Students will learn the locations of different energy sources on the earth.Students will learn the history of energy sources and how humans have used them.Students will learn about innovations and inventions used to find, recover, store, and release energy for human consumption.Students will understand that hot air risesStudents will understand why hot water and hot air rise and cold air and cold water sink.Students will learn that wind is produced by warm air rising and cold air sinking.Students will learn that the energy of moving hot air can be converted into other forms of energy.Students will understand that energy from the sun can be converted into heat.Students will discuss the effects of the chimney stack phenomenon.Students will understand that wind energy can be converted into other forms of energy.Students will determine different methods to increase the effectiveness of a wind turbine blade by harnessing and converting the mechanical energy of the wind.Students will determine that thermal energy resulting from the sun’s radiation can create an updraft that will power a turbine to spin.                                       Students will identify characteristics of turbine design that improve the success of their device.Students will utilize content from previous phenomena they investigated, such as the chimney stack effect and Norwegian candle toys, to determine how to best harness the energy transformed by their device from the sun.Students will be able to define and explain what a solar updraft tower is.Students will make connections between their previous engineering challenge and a real world solution to the world’s growing energy demands.
Author:
Lisa Morgan
Estimated Activity Length:
10 hours
Sun in Space

Our Place in Space: Cosmic Rays

Grades:
3-5
Lesson Number:
1
Description:

NOTE: SUN PHOTOMETER SUMULATOR AT CAS.HAMPTONU.EDU SEEMS TO BE NO LONGER AVAILABLE.

Using a map of school buildings, students will pick four areas to monitor over the year using wireless weather stations and the Solar Power Meter. In a following...

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Learning Goal(s):
Students will learn how the sun affects their school by measuring the temperature at different locations around the building in the fall, winter, and spring. They will learn how to measure solar energy and look for trends in temperature and solar power over the year. These trends will then be used to investigate how energy reaches Earth from the Sun.
Author:
Jamie Repasky
Estimated Activity Length:
3 hours
Energy Transformations

What is Energy?

Grades:
4-6
Unit:
Lesson Number:
1
Description:

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...

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Learning Goal(s):
Students will obtain the foundational knowledge of energy sources and forms of energy. In addition, students will learn that energy can transfer from one form to another. Students will build the understanding that there are different types of energy and many can not be directly observed.
NGSS Science and Engineering Practices:
Author:
Carol Patrick
Relevant NGSS PE:
Estimated Activity Length:
1 hour

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