Wichita Falls, TX - Educators' Workshop

Location:
Wichita Falls, TX
Grade Level:
4-12

Arconic Foundation supported STEM teacher professional development for educators in the region surrounding Arconic facilities in Wichita Falls, Texas in Spring 2016. Twenty-four teachers across 18 schools in 14 Districts participated in a professional development experience organized by their Educational Service Center (ESC) that included one day focusing on renewable energy education with Solar 4R Schools. ESC Region 9 hosted this workshop and Ward Scientific sponsored lunch and door prizes. Teachers from 4th-12th grade took home one science kit to share for every school that included... Read full project narrative >>

Wadsworth, OH - Educators' Workshop

Wadsworth OH thumbnail
Location:
Wadsworth, OH
Grade Level:
4-12

Arconic Foundation supported STEM teacher professional development for educators in the region surrounding Arconic facilities in Wadsworth, Ohio in July 2016. Partnerships were at the heart of bringing Solar 4R Schools’ education program to eight teachers across five schools in Wadsworth City Schools is expected to reach over 500 local students in the first year. Representatives at Solar 4R Schools connected with Wadsworth City Schools through the Alcoa Foundation, which is also supporting the district’s PRIME initiative (http://www.smeef.org/prime/... Read full project narrative >>

Evansville, IN - Educators' Workshop

Evansville IN solar car in sun thumbnail
Location:
Evansville, IN
Grade Level:
6-8

Arconic Foundation supported STEM teacher professional development for educators in the region surrounding Arconic facilities in Evansville, Indiana in Spring 2016. Solar 4R Schools partnered with I-STEM and the Evansville Vanderburgh School Corporation (EVSC) to bring this workshop in May of 2016 to schools lacking access to some of the curricular materials available to many schools throughout Indiana.

Thirteen middle school teachers from four EVSC schools spent the day collaborating, planning, and building solar cars to help people “survive a zombie apocalypse.” The materials... Read full project narrative >>

Chandler, AZ - Educators' Workshop

Chandler, AZ Solar Car
Location:
Chandler, AZ
Grade Level:
PK, 1-8

Arconic Foundation supported STEM teacher professional development for educators in the region surrounding Arconic facilities in Chandler, Arizona in Spring 2016. The Solar 4R Schools team had an opportunity to work intimately with the East Valley Chapter of the organization Engineering for Kids. Educators spent time designing the heating compartment for a solar oven (even overheating leftover pizza) and enjoyed tremendously the time spent designing and redesigning solar cars to work in the bright Arizona sun! East Valley Engineering for Kids expects to reach 150+ students over the course... Read full project narrative >>

Arkadelphia, AR - Educators' Workshop

Arkadelphia AR solar circuit thumbnail
Location:
Arkadelphia, AR
Grade Level:
6-12

Arconic Foundation supported STEM teacher professional development for educators in the region surrounding Arconic facilities in Gum Springs/Arkadelphia, Arkansas in Spring 2016. This workshop was hosted by the Henderson State University STEM Center. The STEM center, alongside numerous others throughout the state, acts as a resource provision entity for teachers in the Central-Southwest portion of the state.  Beginning with recruiting nearly all 6th-12th grade science teachers from the immediate Arkadelphia region area, the STEM center then branched out to enroll teachers from areas as far... Read full project narrative >>

Thomas Jefferson Middle School

play structure with electricians
Location:
Vancouver, WA
Grade Level:
5-8
Technology Type:
PV System Size:
9.75 - kilowatts

Thanks to support from Clark Public Utilities Green Lights Customers, Solar 4R Schools managed the installation of a 12 kW solar photovoltaic system on Thomas Jefferson Middle School's play structure to supply the school with clean, renewable energy and a real-world learning opportunity. Educators at the school received a customized renewable energy teacher training from Solar 4R Schools in 2016, complete with hands-on science kit materials to augment the school's existing curricula, and complete access to the resources available on the Solar4RSchools.org website. A total of 15 teachers... Read full project narrative >>

Solar Battery Charging

Lead Acid Battery
Average Rating:
0
Intended Grade Level(s):
7-12
Subject Area(s) Covered:
Physical science
physics
Earth Science
Integrated Science
Environmental Science
Chemistry
series circuit
parallel circuit
current
resistance
voltage
diodes
polarity
Estimated Activity Length:
9 hours
Learning Goal(s):

Students will build series, parallel, and parallel series circuits from a schematic diagram. Students will master the basic concept of battery charging. Students will be able to plan and build solar battery chargers for a given battery system. Intermediate students will calculate time to charge a depleted battery to its full capacity given specifications of a solar module. Students will be able to explain how a solar cell works with diagrams and words. Students will use a digital multi-meter to measure voltage, current, resistance, and diode polarity.

Relevant Common Core Standard(s):

Students will become familiar with circuits, cells, batteries, and photovoltaic cells, then plan, build, test, modify, and re-test a small solar battery charger designed to maintain batteries from a

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Variables Affecting Solar Power

Solar Circuit
Average Rating:
0
Intended Grade Level(s):
7-8
Subject Area(s) Covered:
Science
electricity
photovoltaic cell
current
voltage
Energy
Power
hypothesis
variables
investigation
Estimated Activity Length:
2 hours
Learning Goal(s):

• Students will be able to identify and explain at least three variables that effect the efficiency of photovoltaic cells • Students will conduct a scientific investigation to determine which photovoltaic cell configuration will generate the most power.

Relevant Common Core Standard(s):

Students will plan and condict an investigation into solar photovoltaic technologies to determine what variables affect the output of panels. They will calculate and compare their exploration of solar panels to their previous investigation of wind turbines in the last

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Variables Affecting Wind Turbine Power

US DOE WInd Turbines
Average Rating:
0
Intended Grade Level(s):
7-8
Subject Area(s) Covered:
Science
Energy
energy transformation
energy generation
wind turbine
voltage
current
Power
investigation
generator
variables
Estimated Activity Length:
4 hours
Learning Goal(s):

• Students will be able to identify and explain at least three variables that affect the efficiency of wind turbines • Students will conduct a scientific investigation to determine which wind turbine configuration will generate the most power

Relevant Common Core Standard(s):

Now that students are familiar with how mechanical electricity generation works, they will build a wind turbine powered by a box fan. Different teams will test different turbine variables to see how the

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Three Ways to Generate Electricity

Magnetic Field Filings
Average Rating:
0
Intended Grade Level(s):
7-8
Subject Area(s) Covered:
Science
Energy
energy generation
magnetic fields
hypothesis
energy transformations
circuit
photovoltaic cell
Estimated Activity Length:
3 hours
Learning Goal(s):

Students will be able to: • Detect the relative strength of magnetic fields at different distances from a magnet • Explain the energy transformations occurring in each part of a circuit • Identify three different methods for generating electricity

Relevant Common Core Standard(s):

This lesson gives students hands-on experiences with the attraction and repulsion of magnets including experiments with how the strength of attraction and repulsion varies with distance. Students see how

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