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...
Teach Engineering
Racing With the Sun - Creating a Solar Car
Here's an exciting and innovative lesson that's sure to get your charges fired up! In it, they use engineering design principles to construct and test a fully solar powered car. One caveat: the kits that each group needs to make their...
Curated OER
TE Activity: Racing with the Sun - Creating a Solar Car
Students use a purchased kit to build a solar powered car. They connect a solar photovoltaic panel to a motor which runs the car forward and backward. They determine how to wire the car to move in both directions.
Curated OER
Solar Racing
Young scholars design and build solar-powered cars. In this renewable energy lesson, students view websites showing a Department of Energy contest and solar-powered car design guidelines. They work in teams to design and build prototypes...
Curated OER
Solar Car activity
Pupils study the basic concept of solar energy. They build a working solar car. Students comprehend how solar energy can be produced via a solar panel. They examine the physics that describe how a solar panel works.
Curated OER
Solar Cars
Students research the causes and effects of air pollution. Using the internet, they examine the specific effects of carbon dioxide on the environment and discover the benefits of using solar power. In groups, they build a model of a...
Curated OER
Pocket Solar System
The scale of the solar system is difficult to grasp without some sort of concrete visual; with some register tape and different-sized stickers, teach astronomers of any age just how spread out our solar system really is. Try to use...
Curated OER
Solar Energy
Students investigate solar energy. They explore ways that energy from the sun can be turned into energy that humans can use in our everyday lives. In various experiments, they explore the effect of clouds and dust on photovoltaic energy...
Curated OER
Let's Make a Solar Car
Students transform a car that they have built out of K'NEX into a solar car. Students add one or two solar cells to the car to power a DC motor then connect the motor to the car and come up with a method to drive the car. This is the...
Curated OER
Solar Powered Cars
Students build and race solar powered cars after a teacher lecture. They answer questions based on their experiences with the car they build.
Curated OER
From Sunlight to Electric Current
Students explore concept of current in electrical circuits. They examine how energy from the sun can be used to power everyday items, including vehicles.
Curated OER
TE Activity: You're in Hot Water
Students study different ways of using solar energy. They design a solar water heater and determine how much water it can heat in a set amount of time. They examine how the heaters work by solar radiation and convection.
Curated OER
Physics E3 Project Instructional Plan
Eleventh graders design and build their own solar cars. In this physics lesson, 11th graders explain the photoelectric effect. They discuss the pros and cons of using solar power as an energy source.
Curated OER
Lots of Leaf
In this science worksheet, students read and analyze information about leaves. Students will consider the 5 questions: How is a leaf like a cook? How is a leaf like a fan? How is a leaf like a pair of lungs? How does a leaf affect the...
Curated OER
Battery Charger
Students explain how battery chargers work. In this physics lesson, students discuss the two main ways that vehicles get charged. They build their own battery charger.
Curated OER
Alternative Energy
Students discover types of energy. In this physics lesson, students discuss ways to power a car a design a model car kit with an alternative form of energy.
Curated OER
Science: Let's Have a Cool Lunch
First graders develop problem-solving skills by designing methods for keeping lunch boxes cool. Once they determine the amount of sunlight and heat generated in shaded and unshaded areas, they explore ways to provide shade. Finally, 1st...
Curated OER
Light Your Way
Students investigate how a simple series circuit functions. They design and construct a working portable flashlight, develop a written plan for the flashlight, test their flashlight for functionality and reliability, and draw the series...
Curated OER
A Tall Ship and a Star to Steer Her By
Students create a water transportation device powered by wind. In this wind power instructional activity, students research transportation concepts after reading the poem "Sea Fever" by John Masefield. Students design the fastest...
Curated OER
Get Geared Up
Middle schoolers calculate gear ratio as they solve word problems. They discuss and find slopes as they relate to real life. Additionally, they hey use ratio and proportion to make predictions and solve problems.
Curated OER
Carbon Cycles
Pupils examine the carbon cycle and how carbon atoms travel through it. In this energy cycles instructional activity students describe how human activities affect the carbon cycle.
Curated OER
Environmental Problems and Solutions
In this environmental problems and solutions worksheet, students are given a list of 25 environmental problems. They match them with a given solution and paste the matching pairs to a piece of construction paper.
Curated OER
Energy Crisis and Energy Alternatives
In this energy crisis and energy alternatives worksheet, young scholars fill in the blanks of sentences when given terms related to the environment, the energy crisis, renewable resources and non-renewable resources.
Curated OER
Ozone Pollution: Smog Alert
Students examine factors the create smog. In this pollution lesson plan students complete an activity about ozone.