Manipulating Design Variables on Solar Heaters
Grades:
6-8
Learning Goal(s):
In this activity students demonstrate the ability to evaluate competing solutions to the problem of increasing the heat energy transferred to a vial of water.
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Measuring Voltage Using a Microcontroller
Grades:
9-12
Learning Goal(s):
Students will apply Ohm’s Law. Students will use a multimeter to measure current, voltage, and resistance. Students will use a breadboard to set up a series circuit. Students will read circuit diagrams. Students will calculate times for an RC circuit to change state. Students will prove that resistors in series have an equivalent resistance equal to their individual sums. Students will program the Basic Stamp to measure voltage levels in a voltage divider and RC circuit.
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Mini Solar Houses Unit
Grades:
4-6
Learning Goal(s):
1. Students will understand how to use an Azimuth finder to determine the direction and altitude that solar modules will face. 2. Students will learn how to describe why a solar module is pitched at a particular angle. 3. Students will understand how to measure the voltage and current for an electrical energy source. 4. Students will learn how to build a circuit that will light a light bulb with a switch and without a switch. 5. Students will understand that the electricity flows through a circuit from an energy source to a load. 6. Students will understand the difference between open and closed circuits. 7. Students will understand the similarities and differences between solar cells and batteries as an energy source. 8. Students will understand how electricity flows through a circuit (from energy sources to loads) with more than one source and more than one load. 9. Students will understand how to build series and parallel circuit and the characteristics of each. 10. Students will learn to power both a light and a fan. 11. Students will learn how to find a fault in a circuit. 12. Students will understand that the electricity flows through a circuit from an energy source to a load. 13. Students will understand the difference between open and closed circuits. 14. Students will identify the causes and solutions to various complications that arise in the construction of circuits. 15. Students will use the design process to create a roof to hold an adequate number of solar modules to power an LED and a fan. 16. Students will understand how to make a geometric net (a 2D drawing that when folded creates a 3D shape) for designing a roof.
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Non-renewable Energy/Global Warming/Pollution
Grades:
4-5
Energy Content:
Learning Goal(s):
Students will explore why there is a need for energy efficiency and renewable energy. Students will determine how non-renewable and renewable energy are a part of our lives. Students will understand how the greenhouse effect and nonrenewable energy sources relate to climate change.
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Observing and Keeping Records
Grades:
4-5
Learning Goal(s):
Students will review scientific observations methods learned earlier and the application of those methods for the solar energy unit. Students will practice observations and data recording. Students will explain the importance of selecting useful variables from which they can collect data. Students will be prepared to implement an experiment in the classroom that they can draw conclusions from.
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Our Place in Space: Cosmic Rays
Grades:
3-5
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.
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Our Place in Space: Cosmic Ray Detector
Grades:
3-5
Learning Goal(s):
• Students will discuss how energy from the sun is transmitted in a variety of forms that perform different amounts of work. • Students will identify multiple pieces of evidence that demonstrate energy being transmitted from the sun.
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Our Place in Space: Tracking the Earth's Path Around the Sun
Grades:
1-3
Learning Goal(s):
Students will be able describe how the Earth orbits the Sun and how the tilt of the planet creates the seasons by recording the ‘Sun’s path’ in our sky in the fall, winter, and spring.
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Our Sensational Sun
Grades:
3-5
Energy Content:
Learning Goal(s):
At the end of this lesson, students will have written numerous facts about the sun that they 1) already know, 2) want to know and 3) have learned.
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Passive Solar Water Heating
Grades:
6-12
Learning Goal(s):
1. Students will cover/manipulate milk jugs to achieve the most solar energy absorption. 2. Students will calculate the joules of energy absorbed by the solar heated water. 3. Students will measure and graph the temperature changes of their solar milk jugs. 4. Students will gain an understanding of the amount of energy in sunlight.
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