Curated OER
How Solar Cells Work: Converting Sunlight to Electricity
Students examine how to convert sunlight to electricity. In this renewable energy sources lesson plan students explain how solar cells are used and use a voltmeter to measure the energy produced by a solar panel.
Curated OER
Parts of a Solar Panel-Part I
Learners examine electrical contacts, solar cells, and rechargeable batteries and compare and contrast the characteristics of a solar cell to a rechargeable battery in a hands-on activity. Students complete a worksheet as they...
Curated OER
Solar Energy Experiment
Students observe solar energy at work. In this science instructional activity, students watch two bottles, painted black and white, sit in the heat with balloons on the mouth of the bottles. They observe and discuss why the balloon of...
Curated OER
Potato Power
Students light a LED clock or light bulb using potatoes. They examine how a battery works in a simple circuit. They determine how chemical energy changes to electrical energy while experimenting with potato powered circuits.
Curated OER
The Power of the Plug: How Electricity Will Change Our Lives... Again
Students study electricity. In this physics lesson, students review electrical energy by discussing three ways of generating it. Students explore various energy sources used for creating electricity and examine how different states...
Curated OER
Unit Conversions-Energy, Power, Flux
In this unit conversion worksheet, students solve 4 problems given a list of conversion factors for units of energy, power and flux.
Curated OER
Online Worksheet- Switched On- Electricity
In this online electricity worksheet, students use the links to find answers to questions about solar, hydro, nuclear, fossil fuel, and geothermal energy sources. They conduct two experiments that are based at online sources.
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...
Curated OER
Solar Energy
In this solar energy worksheet, students read about the uses of solar energy, the benefits and the costs. They answer four critical thinking questions about solar energy.
Teach Engineering
Solar Power
Elementary schoolers discover how engineers use solar energy to heat buildings. They take a close look at some of the materials used: sand, salt, water, and shredded paper and evaluate the efficiency of each material. An incredible...
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
Olympic Solar Energy
Students use cardboard and aluminum foil to construct a solar oven that concentrates enough sunlight to cook a hotdog. They review the history and use of solar energy in relation to the Olympics.
Carnegie Mellon University
How Power Plants Work 1
First of three lessons, this is a great start to a unit on energy. As you demonstrate, learners discover different types of energy and how it is converted from one form to another. They then focus in on the generation of electricity by...
Carnegie Mellon University
Home Energy Audit
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...
Curated OER
Get Charged!
Learners explore the concept of electricity in this activity based unit. In this physical science lesson, students focus on electricity and electrical engineering. The teaching unit includes 5 activities to develop learners...
Disney
Renewable Energy
Bring some energy to your physical science curriculum with this engaging Bill Nye the Science Guy instructional activity. Based on his Renewable Energy video, students explore the concepts of potential and kinetic energy and learn how...
Curated OER
Sources of Electricity
In this online electricity worksheet, learners are asked 10 questions about electric current and battery energy, an online answer key provided.
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
Orienting a Photovoltaic Cell
By mounting a light bulb on a stand and a PV cell on another, physics apprentices experiment with the angle of incidence. Their goal is to determine the optimum angle for collecting solar energy. The use of a scientific calculator...
Curated OER
Tucson Children's Museum Electricity Crossword
In this Tucson Children's Museum Electricity worksheet, students review and discuss twenty key terms associated with electricity and complete a crossword puzzle with those key terms.
Curated OER
Tucson Children's Museum Electricity Word Search
In this Tucson Children's Museum Electricity worksheet, students review and discuss twenty key terms associated with electricity and circle each key term in a word search puzzle.
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
Residential Power System
Perform data analysis on energy consumption to apply algebraic expressions to the real world. Learners will write and solve equations that answer various questions from residential power use. They will collect data at home and calculate...
Curated OER
Solar Isolation Changes and the Sunspot Cycle
In this sunspot cycle and solar irradiation learning exercise, students use 2 graphs of daily total solar irradiance and sunspot activity to solve 3 problems. They find the average solar irradiance during a given time, they determine the...