Teach Engineering
Win that Bid! Selling Your Power Solution
Power up! Class members research a type of power production using a great resource featuring a real-world problem. Groups select a type of power generation and pretend that they represent an engineering firm for their chosen power type....
It's About Time
Energy from Coal
If plastic is derived from fossil fuels and fossil fuels come from dead dinosaurs, does that mean that plastic dinosaurs are made from real dinosaurs? This lesson goes into depth about coal and other fossil fuels. First the instructor...
Smarter Balanced
Renewable Energy
Renewable and non-renewable energy sources are the focus of a series of activities that prepare learners for a performance task assessment on energy. Groups identify the various sources of energy and classify these sources as either...
University of Waikato
Māui and the Sun
Using a Maori legend, How Maui Tamed the Sun, youngsters are introduced to the importance of sunlight to civilization. Teach them about nuclear fusion that occurs to produce the solar energy we later receive on Earth as electromagnetic...
Curated OER
Solar History
Using the sun's light as a source of energy is not a new concept. Give your environmental studies, engineering, or physical science class this list of how humans have used solar energy throughout history. Assign groups a certain time...
Curated OER
Solar Car Races: Build and retrofit for speed
If you have solar car kits for your junior high schoolers, they can experiment with photovoltaic cell angle, light intensity, and aerodynamic design to discover what makes their car move more quickly. This is a classic activity to use...
Curated OER
Using Photovoltaic Cells and Systems
This interesting document suggests nine different activities for shedding light on photovoltaic cells. A bit of background information is furnished for you, as well as many, many resource links. Listed for each activity are a learning...
Curated OER
Solar Cell Simulation
Students study photovoltaic technology. In this photovoltaic technology lesson, students simulate a photovoltaic system. Students discuss how to simulate a cloudy day.
Curated OER
What's Cooking?
Students investigate solar energy by making sun tea. In this ecology and solar energy lesson, students prepare traditional tea and "sun" tea, then record and graph data comparing color, clarity, smell and taste.
Curated OER
Renewable Energy Sentences
Students construct sentences using nouns and verbs from a "renewable energy" word bank. In this cross curriculum ecology and sentence structure grammar and mechanics instructional activity, students listen to the book Our Earth: Clean...
Curated OER
Seasons and Cloud Cover, Are They Related?
Students use NASA satellite data to see cloud cover over Africa. In this seasons lesson students access data and import it into Excel.
Curated OER
Cloudy vs. Clear
Students analyze line plots. In this weather lesson using real NASA data, students discuss how weather affects the way the Earth is heated by comparing different line plots.
Curated OER
How Photocells Work
Give small groups of physical scientists tokens that represent electrons in a photovoltaic cell. They play a dice game in which they move the tokens around, representing the flow of electrons through the p-n junction of a semiconductor...
Curated OER
Temperature and the Tomato
You will need a photovoltaic system and monitor at your school in order to obtain all of the data required to thoroughly implement this instructional activity. Your class monitors daily temperature and insolation amounts over a two week...
Curated OER
Light Can Heat Too!
Third graders explore absorption and reflection of light energy. In this solar energy lesson, 3rd graders explore how light energy transfers to heat energy through the construction of a solar water heater. Students will discuss and...
Curated OER
Allocating Energy from a Photovoltaic System
How much electricity do you use in a day? Physics fanatics calculate their energy use by consulting a chart of the watts required to run typical household appliances. They compare power to amounts of electric energy used or generated....
Curated OER
To Go Solar or Not to Go Solar!
Middle schoolers imagine that they are on a panel to consider if a solar energy system would be advantageous to a new school as it is being built. They read the included handout and then each play a role as a participant in a community...
Curated OER
Solar Hot Box
Young scholars investigate how different colors and materials create various temperatures and apply this it the concept of solar energy.
Curated OER
Passive Solar Design
Students study what passive solar design is for buildings and structures. In this solar design instructional activity students identify passive solar design techniques.
Curated OER
Our Amazing, Powerful Sun
Learners examine where energy comes from and how it can be used. In this solar energy lesson students explore different aspects of the sun.
Curated OER
Heat Transfer
Students examine heat transfer using energy efficient houses. In this heat transfer lesson students calculate the heat that is transferred between a system and its surroundings.
Curated OER
Using Heat
The 6 slides give a few examples of ways that we use heat and heating systems. There is a diagram of circulation in a stove and forced air system as well as other examples of heat movers. Great for an introduction.
Curated OER
Attributes of Renewable Energy: From Nanopossibilities to Solar Power
High schoolers explore solar energy, why we use it and how we use it. In this renewable energy lesson students compare active and solar techniques.
Curated OER
Solar Effects on Global Warming
Students explore the greenhouse effect and how it affects our climate. In this global warming instructional activity students draw the sun and label features and describe the effects of the sun's energy on the world.