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Junior Solar Sprint Series: Electrical Power
Through scientific inquiry, middle schoolers discover how to arrange solar cells in order to produce electricity. This activity is intended to prepare learners to be able to design and construct solar cars. As with other resources...
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How Do Car Engines Work?
Students perform an experiment which simulates what happens inside an internal combustion engine. They explain how the chemical reaction they witnessed is similar to what happens inside the car engine.
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Solar Car Series: Angle/Energy Amount
Does the angle of a solar panel change the output? Emerging engineers find out! Demonstrate for your class how they can angle a straw to match the angle of light rays coming from a source. Then turn them loose to experiment with the...
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Solar Car Series: during What Part of the Day Can the Most Sun Power Be Collected?
In preparation for solar car races, middle schoolers attempt to discover what time of day the most solar energy can be collected. Begin by demonstrating the use of a voltmeter for measuring solar cell output. Take them outdoors to take...
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Building an Electric Motor
Students study different motors and how they convert electrical energy to mechanical energy. In this motor lesson students make a model of an electric motor and examine how it can be used to do work.
Bonneville
Background Research on Alternative Transportation Vehicles
There's no alternative to a great research project. The second of five lessons in the Solar Transportation unit has scholars research different types of alternative vehicles. They determine the price, range, battery size, and cost to...
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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.
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Energy Adventure Scavenger Hunt
Learners complete a scavenger hunt. In this energy lesson, students use various Internet websites to explore forms of energy, non-renewable sources, renewable sources, electricity, uses of energy and energy efficiency.
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Electricity: Will It Conduct?
Young scholars build conductivity testers and investigate which solids and solutions conduct electricity. Working in groups, they predict which items will conduct electricity and record their answers on worksheets.
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Car Engines
Students create piston systems and explore the conversion of linear to rotary motion that propels a car. In this motion lesson, students build and test a model piston/crankshift system and discover why there is a maximum limit to how...
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Methods of Power- Hybrids
Students list the reasons why people chose hybrid cars over traditional cars. In this technology lesson, students create a poster describing how hybrid cars work. They discuss ways to save fuel and improve a car's efficiency.
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MagLev Train System Activity
High schoolers are able to analyze practices that affect the use, availabiltiy, and management of natural resources. They are able to show that the forces of friction retards motion. Students investigate electricity and magnetism as...
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From Sunlight to Electric Current
Learners explore concept of current in electrical circuits. They examine how energy from the sun can be used to power everyday items, including vehicles.
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TE Activity: Racing with the Sun - Creating a Solar Car
Young scholars 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.
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Two-Cell Battery
Students build their own two-cell battery and determine which electrolyte solution is best suited for making a battery. They discuss background information for their experiment, construct and test their battery, and using the chart on...
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One Path
Students discover that charge movement through a circuit depends on the resistance and arrangement of the circuit components. In a hands-on activity, students build and investigate the characteristics of series circuits. In another...
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The Greenhouse Effect
Why does it get so hot inside of our cars in the summertime? The greenhouse effect! Lab groups experiment to see what happens to an ice cube enclosed in a jar and placed in sunlight as compared to an ice cube outside of the jar. They...
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Solar Car activity
Young scholars 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.
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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...
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Electrical Energy
Students compare and contrast a cell and a battery. In this physical science lesson plan, students explain how they create energy. They conduct an experiment to apply what they have learned in this lesson plan.
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Junior Solar Sprint Series: Gears and Drive Belts
Activate middle schoolers' minds with this physical science activity. Learners vary the diameter of gears and the number of teeth on them to find how energy output is affected. This writeup features well-developed background information...
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Bulbs & Batteries Side by Side
Students build parallel circuits, exploring how they function and looking at their unique features. They describe how current changes when batteries are added in parallel or removed from a parallel arrangement, demonstrate the process of...
It's About Time
Exploring Energy Resource Concepts
Please turn off the lights to conserve energy. Or not, after all energy is always conserved. This first lesson in an eight-part series includes three parts. Part A contains one hands-on activity and two inquiry-based experiments on heat...
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