Renewables
For the next sessions, we will discuss solar and wind energy. The solar energy investigations will deal with tracking shadows, measuring temperatures in the sun and in the shade, observing the rate at which some earth materials (sand, soil, etc.) gain heat, and designing a solar water heater; here, we will check the effects of color on heat absorption and surface area. All these activities come from the Full Option Science System (FOSS); in the Teacher Resources section, I include a website with videos about these activities that can be recreated even if this kit is not available. We will end with a discussion on homes powered with solar energy and watching the video "Megastructures: Sun Engine" from the National Geographic Digital Media.
Our final focus is on wind energy since Oklahoma has increased the installation of wind turbines, making them very visible in the state's wind corridor, and wind energy production has been substantially increasing in the last ten years. There is a short video about Oklahoma wind power that I will show. I have two short books that I will read to the students about community-driven wind initiatives in the island of Samsø in Denmark ("Energy Island: how one community harnessed the wind and changed their world") and in the African country of Malawi ("The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind").
This unit finishes with designing windmills (one per study group) and later testing them to determine power output; that is, we will calculate work plus power output in watts. A video about this activity can be found in the Hila Science Videos webpage and in You Tube.
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