Renewables Are Ready
Topics: Renewable Energy (Solar, Photovoltaics, Wind and Biomass in detail)
Source:
Web Address: http://www.ucsusa.org/index.cfm (Click on Publications, then Clean Energy; Renewables Are Ready is the first guide on the page).
Grades: 7-12 (some activities for narrower range)
Learning Strategies: Investigative, multidisciplinary activities that emphasize cooperative learning. Activities utilize model-building, games, and simulations.
Frameworks Connections:
Science and Technology/Engineering
• Technology/Engineering, Grades 6-8
2. Engineering Design
• Technology/Engineering, Grades 9-10
1. Engineering Design
2. Construction Technologies
4. Energy and Power Technologies - Thermal• Earth and Space Science, Grades 6-8
Heat Transfer in the Earth System
• Earth and Space Science, Grades 9-10
1. Matter and Energy in the Earth System
2. The Earth's Sources of Energy• Physical Sciences, Grades 6-8
Heat Energy
• Physics, Grades 9-10
3. Heat and Heat Transfer
Mathematics
• Number Sense and Operations, Grades 7-10
• Data Analysis, Statistics and; Probability, Grades 7-10
History and Social Sciences
• Economics - Grades 6, 12
• Main theme - "the development of scientific reasoning, technology, and formal education over time, and their effect on people's health, standards of living, economic growth, government, religious beliefs, communal life, and the environment."
Cost: Free download, or $10 per hard copy ($5 for ten or more copies)
Description: This is a guide for teaching renewable energy in junior and senior high schools. The guide, about 90 pages long, is filled almost entirely with classroom activities; very little background information about the topics is found in the guide. The activities cover the definition of renewable energy, a few renewable energy sources in more detail, and how renewable energy relates to economics, government, and public action. Each activity has follow-up questions that prompt students to analyze what they learned from the activity.
The activities may be taught as a unit or independently. Complete, comprehensive lesson plans are provided for each activity, with objectives, appropriate grade level, time, materials, preparation, procedure, and follow-up questions. Additional activities and lessons are provided at the back. A resource guide is included that lists organizations that offer materials focusing on renewable energy.
The activities in Renewables Are Ready provide students with an excellent opportunity to investigate renewable energy from scientific, social science, and economic aspects.