Curated OER
Solar Energy in New York
Middle schoolers examine a variety of information for New York State including insolation data, and economic or political data, thus incorporating both science and social studies. Encouraging learners to become concerned citizens as they...
Curated OER
Understanding Power using Kirchhoff’s Rules
Twelfth graders cite real life applications of Kirchhoff's rules. In this physics instructional activity, 12th graders calculate current, power and voltage using Kirchhoff and Ohm's laws. They explain the different components and uses of...
Curated OER
Sources of Electricity
In this online electricity worksheet, students are asked 10 questions about electric current and battery energy, an online answer key provided.
Curated OER
No Lights Tonight
Students explore use of batteries and electrical power on farms in the 1930s.
Curated OER
Solar Kit Lesson #14 - Solar Cells as Control Devices
Given four suggested concepts, emerging electrical engineers research, design, and constuct a working device that willrespond to changes in the intesnisty or the direction of sunlight. This is a challenge for learners to rise to, as the...
Carnegie Mellon University
Renewables Workshop
Youngsters examine resource maps to find out which states are using solar and wind power and discuss as a class various other renewable energy sources. They use a provided data table to record pros and cons to each technology, build and...
Curated OER
Design Project: Intercom System
In this electrical worksheet students design an intercom circuit and answer 2 open-ended questions about the volume control and microphone of the intercom. This worksheet can be printed and the answers to the questions are available...
Curated OER
Exploring Energy with GIS
Learners examine GIS technology as it is used to locate energy sources. In this GIS activity, student access an assigned website to locate a series of lessons using the GIS software. They use the maps that are located on the primary...
Curated OER
Electricity Generation
Students study the history of electricity and the different ways we generate electricity. In this electricity lesson students complete several experiments on generating power.
Curated OER
Electrical Appliances
Students explore electricity in daily life by examining everyday appliances. In this electrical current instructional activity, students identify the differences between watts, volts and amps and how they relate to the devices we depend...
Curated OER
Wind Power
Fourth graders develop an understanding of how engineers use wind to generate electricity. They will build a model anemometer to better understand and measure wind speed. They discover that engineers design wind turbines that generate...
Curated OER
Solar Electricity
In this solar electricity and satellites learning exercise, students calculate the perimeter of a satellite, they find the area of the surface of the satellite and they determine if there is sufficient space for enough solar panels to...
Curated OER
The Solar System: Go Green with the Sun!
Third graders learn how to use solar power. In this sun, technology and energy instructional activity, 3rd graders learn how the solar power from the sun can give off energy, learn about solar panels, discuss their uses and benefits,...
Curated OER
Read an Electric Meter
Third graders explore electricity. In this science lesson, 3rd graders discuss how electricity is transmitted and complete a worksheet in which they practice reading an electric meter.
Teach Engineering
Ice, Ice, PV!
Knowing the temperature coefficient allows for the calculation of voltage output at any temperature. Groups conduct an experiment to determine the effects of temperature on the power output of a solar panel. The teams alter the...
Teach Engineering
Concentrated Solar Power
The seventh segment in an eight-part unit promotes the idea of concentrating the sun to increase the power of a photovoltaic panel. Pupils learn about devices used such as reflectors or lenses.
Teach Engineering
The Temperature Effect
How temperature affects the efficiency of a solar panel is the focus of the third in a series of eight resources that presents how engineers are able to control the temperatures of photovoltaic panels. Class members find out how the...
Curated OER
Allocating Energy from a Photovoltaic System
Students analyze the power ratings of appliances they use on a daily basis and for the amount of time used each day. After examining their electric energy usage, students develop examples of compromises that could be made in order to...
Curated OER
Nuclear Power Gets A Boost
Young scholars examine nuclear plants and how they use fission reactions to generate electricity, compare fusion reactions to fission, and read about technology that may soon allow fusion to become practical for producing nuclear power...
Teach Engineering
Solar Angles and Tracking Systems
The sun will continue to rise in the east and set in the west, no matter what. The first lesson in a series of eight introduces the class to solar angles. It makes connections between a person's latitude and the angle of position of the...
Bonneville
Macro-Scale Solar
There's no substitute for the power of the sun. The second of four installments of the Solar Resources Assessment unit looks at macro-scale photovoltaic (PV) technology. Future scientists first learn about PV modules with a PowerPoint...
Curated OER
WiTricity Explained
Students explain how electricity is transferred from source to load without actual wires connecting the two. In this physics instructional activity, students explore how wireless electricity was discovered. They cite practical...
Curated OER
Maximum Power Point
Students investigate energy using a photovoltaic cell. In this electricity instructional activity, students collect data from current-voltage and power-voltage curves to determine if photovoltaic systems have an advantage over...
Colorado State University
How Can You Demonstrate the Different Efficiencies of Different Light Bulbs?
Need a bright idea for an engaging lab? Watch your class light up as they explore the difference in efficiency between incandescent and LED bulbs! The resource makes use of simple materials and encourages learners to infer what's...