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Activity
Teach Engineering

Consult for the Conductive Circuit Card Company

For Teachers 6th - 8th Standards
Light up someone's day with conductive greeting cards. Scholars design and create greeting cards that include LED lights. Rather than use copper tape, they apply conductive paint or copper paint to create the necessary electric circuits.
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Lesson Plan
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Bonneville

Copper Oxide Solar Cell Construction and Testing

For Teachers 9th - 12th Standards
Who knew some pieces of copper and some saltwater would be enough to generate electricity? The fifth of 14 lessons in the Cost Effective Solar Cells unit challenges scholars to create a solar cell. They take two copper sheets, use a hot...
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Lesson Plan
Carnegie Mellon University

How Power Plants Work 2

For Teachers 7th - 12th
In this second of three lessons on power plants, future engineers find out how we generate electricity and how coal-powered plants operate. They work in small groups to make electromagnet generators to light LED bulbs. A set of...
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Lesson Plan
Carnegie Mellon University

How Power Plants Work 3

For Teachers 7th - 12th Standards
Double, double toil and trouble, fire burn and cauldron bubble! Find out what drives a turbine to generate electricity and whether or not it has an impact on the environment. A discussion and lecture is divided by a hands-on activity in...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Eric Clapton Crossroads Guitar Festival Chicago - Chicago Blues

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Watching Great Performances’ Eric Clapton Crossroads Guitar Festival Chicago launches an investigation into and discussion of how the electric guitar and guitarists have changed the sound of the blues over time. An engaging way to...
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Lesson Plan
National Wildlife Federation

Understanding and Measuring School Electronics

For Teachers 6th - 12th Standards
Feel the power in turning off electronics. Using energy-monitoring devices, pupils find the amount of energy it takes to power a simple electronic when it is on and when it is off. They then calculate the cost for the entire year for the...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

How Photocells Work

For Teachers 7th - 10th
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...
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Lesson Plan
Carnegie Mellon University

Battery Workshop

For Teachers 6th - 12th Standards
Introduce your class to the workings and parts of a battery-operated circuit. Pairs of pupils use lemons to make batteries and measure voltage and current with a multimeter. An accompanying worksheet is used for recording values and...
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Lesson Plan
Rochester Institute of Technology

Solar Energy

For Teachers 6th - 12th Standards
Warm up to the idea of solar energy. A lesson includes three activities that challenge scholars to apply knowledge in new ways. First, they learn to run an alarm clock without a battery by using solar energy. Next, they complete an...
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Lesson Plan
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Bonneville

How Much Energy Do YOU Use?

For Teachers 7th - 8th Standards
Determine the power hog in the house. Pupils learn the difference between power and energy before participating in a hands-on activity. Using a power meter, pairs measure the actual power used for several household devices, estimate the...
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Unit Plan
Curated OER

Materials for Teaching Modern Physics

For Teachers 11th - 12th
A must-see for any physics teacher! You will find 217 pages of physics activities and worksheets that cover motion, electricity and magnetism, light, modern and quantum physics, and astronomy. Each activity comes with an answer key for...
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Lesson Plan
US National Library of Medicine

Frankenstein: Penetrating the Secrets of Nature

For Teachers 6th - 12th Standards
Just because you can, should you? Reflections on the ethics and limits of medical research are prompted by a reading of excerpts of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, viewing of clips from the 1931 film, and examining sections of the online...
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Lesson Plan
Consumers Energy

Conductors and Insulators

For Teachers 6th - 12th Standards
Why did the orchestra director use a copper baton? She heard it makes a great conductor. Scholars select six items to test in a circuit to determine if each is a conductor or an insulator. Clear instructions for using electricity allow...
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Lesson Plan
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California Academy of Science

Building Better Buses: Transportation Design Challenges

For Teachers 6th - 10th Standards
Scholars learn about a series of three challenges when they design a bus system for a small town. They determine the bus routes and then figure out the best type of fuel to use before considering the cost of going electric. Learners...
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Lesson Plan
Carnegie Mellon University

Home Energy Audit

For Teachers 6th - 12th
Youngsters make a mental assessment of electricity-consuming appliances in their homes and then evaluate them for the amount of energy consumed. They learn how to use power meters and measure the electrical consumption of several...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

The Shocking Truth About Fruit

For Teachers 6th
Looking for a great instructional activity on circuits and conductors of electricity? Take a look at this one! In it, 6th graders create circuits out of pennies, washers, alligator clips, fruit, and LED’s. Learners use voltmeters to...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Solar Kit Lesson #1 - Solar Cell Inquiry

For Teachers 3rd - 8th
Give youngsters the components of a solar-powered electric circuit and turn them loose to figure out how to connect them in order for a light to shine or motor to turn. They compare energy output of a solar panel to that of a battery. On...
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Lesson Plan
DiscoverE

Kinetic Sculpture

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Let your creativity run wild. Scholars build a sculpture out of basic materials. These sculptures must be able to move in the wind (from an electric fan). However, they must also withstand the wind enough to not fall over—it's quite the...
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Lesson Plan
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Benjamin Franklin Tercentenary

Franklin, Master Diplomat

For Teachers 9th - 12th Standards
While many often associate Ben Franklin with his kite electricity experiments, budding historians find out he contributed much more. They discover Franklin's political savvy by examining primary sources in the informative installment of...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Solar Kit Lesson #6: Solar-Powered Battery Charger

For Teachers 5th - 9th
In a previous lesson plan, learners build an ammeter. That ammeter, or a pre-made one, is required in order to carry out this lesson plan. The objective is for lab groups to design a way to connect solar cells that can recharge a...
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Activity
Teach Engineering

Energy Systems

For Teachers 6th - 8th Standards
Is electricity created in the outlet? Using posters of several energy systems, collaborative groups identify and describe the parts of their systems. The groups also look at the environmental impacts of the systems and present their...
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Activity
Texas State Energy Conservation Office

Creating an Advertisement

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Advertising for the purpose of influencing public policy regarding the use of alternative fuels is the focus of an innovative and engaging lesson. Learners are split up into six team in order to create an advertising campaign that...
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Activity
Practical Action

Moja Island

For Teachers 6th - 9th Standards
Did you know that 1.3 billion people live without any form of electricity? Discover an array of possible renewable energy options by taking a trip to Moja Island, an online learning resource that will equip you and your learners with an...
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Lesson Plan
DiscoverE

Wind Farm

For Teachers 6th - 8th
A wind turbine is essentially just a giant pinwheel, right? Individuals first create pinwheels from paper, pins, and pencils. In groups, they model a wind farm along a coast and then test out their designs using an electric fan.

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