50 Year Energy Plan - Unit Plan
Throughout this creative, hands-on Unit, students are challenged to scale up every Disciplinary Core Idea and Science & Engineering Practice they’ve learned - from simple electricity generation, to building their own stereo speakers and DIY electric...
Cost Effective Solar Cells Unit Plan
Through a series of solar panel and solar cell construction activities, students will learn the basic principles of energy conversion from light energy to chemical & electrical energy. Students will assemble and test pre-constructed solar panels to...
Cost Effective Solar Cells: Copper Oxide Solar Cell Construction and Testing
This lesson is designed to be completed in one 80-minute section, but can be done in two 40-minute sections. The teacher will facilitate student construction of copper oxide plates with electric burners or hot plates. Teachers will guide students in...
Cost Effective Solar Cells: Copper Oxide Cell Data Sharing
This lesson is designed to be completed in one 40-minute section. The teacher will facilitate the sharing of student solar cell data from indoor and outdoor testing through a gallery walk session. Variables such as lighting, photovoltaic effect, copper...
Cost Effective Solar Cells: Titanium Dioxide Solar Cell Construction and Testing
This lesson is designed to be completed in two 80-minute sections. The teacher will show a basic procedure and video. The teacher will facilitate the construction of Organic Dye-Sensitized solar cells on coated glass plates with Titanium Dioxide. A fume...
Cost Effective Solar Cells: Solar Cell Manufacturing Field Trip and/or Guest Speaker
This lesson is designed to be completed in two 80-minute sections. The teacher will facilitate a field trip to a nearby silicon manufacturing facility, solar panel manufacturing facility, or other semiconductor facility. These facilities often require...
Cost Effective Solar Cells: Unique Solar Cell Construction & Testing
This lesson is designed to be completed in four 80-minute sections. The teacher will facilitate the construction of unique solar cells for student projects. General chemistry equipment and fabrication equipment will be needed for student construction and...
Cost Effective Solar Cells: Unique Solar Cell Engineering Report
This lesson is designed to be completed in three 80-minute sections. The teacher will have students write their engineering reports with the following sections: Introduction (taken from Lesson #10), Design (incorporating the model from Lesson #10),...
What is Energy?
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...
Solar Mobile Design Challenge Unit Plan
This unit involves students learning about transferring solar energy to small motors, exploring the center of gravity and testing light sources (including the sun). The culminating engineering design project gives students the chance to pull...