| Order |
Minutes |
Type |
Notes |
| 1 |
10 |
Warm-up |
In class notebook/folder, students respond to the following questions on the board at beginning of period, writing down what they know. Later in the period, after the PPT, students get time to work together to revise their answers. |
| 2 |
30 |
Powerpoint Presentation |
Solar Power as a Renewable Resource |
| 3 |
6 |
Quiz Game |
Students independently take practice quiz embedded at end of PPT. Teacher randomly selects students to obtain correct answers and gives out extra credit points for correct responses (EC is optional). |
| 4 |
6 |
Debrief Warm-up Questions |
Students next share/discuss their answers with learning partners and teacher helps answer remaining questions, or better, has other students answer remaining questions for EC points. |
| 5 |
4 |
Explain Tonight's HW |
Present HW assignment (see above) due day after tomorrow. If possible navigate to the online video, and show students how to start video from their home computer. Pass out or email (if possible) students the Q&A Worksheet that they must fill out while watching the video at home. The worksheet has the URL web address on it. If one or several students do not have a computer, explain that they can view it at the library with headphones, or if possible after school using the classroom computer. |
| Order |
Minutes |
Type |
Notes |
| 1 |
8 |
Warm-up |
In class notebook/folder, students respond to the following question on the board at beginning of period. 1. If you were to build a vehicle that runs on solar panel, what environmental and mechanical factors would be important to optimize vehicle performance? |
| 2 |
10 |
Read and Discuss |
First, randomly divide the class into groups of 4 or 5 students, depending on how many cars you have/want to make. Each group will make one car. Distribute one copy of the car instructions to each group as well as a blank quarter sheet of paper for each group to copy the following rubric from the board: - Names of Group Members:
- Date:
- Period:
- Name of Solar Car:
- Teamwork, Participation and Effort:
- Design and Creativity:
- Function and Speed:
- TOTAL POINTS:
|
|
|
|
Meanwhile, one student from each group comes to the front of the room to retrieve car building materials. Next, with the entire class, review the different parts and pieces of the car kit, while referring to a completed solar car model (if available). Keep the completed model on display during the solar car activity for students to refer to. All group members should write their initials on the underside of the car in pen along with the car name. This can be done on masking tape, which can be adhered to the bottom of the car. Before starting, review the grading rubric explaining that each group will be graded on (1) Design and Creativity, (2) Function and Speed (note: explain speed and driving straight are critical components). Recommend to students dividing tasks (e.g., two assemblers, two designers, one leader who reads the directions and assigns tasks). Lastly, encourage originality and modifications with materials brought in from home (ex: some students place aluminum foil around the solar panel to concentrate light or make). However, state that only one solar panel can be used per group. See solar car fleet created by 5 classes (150 students) below. Optional: Offer extra credit points to the cars that outperform the teacher’s model, the fastest car, and/or the best creative design. |
| 3 |
30 |
Building |
Student groups work in teams to assemble their cars. After 25 minutes, remind students they should have their initials and car name on their cars. Have students put all their pieces and parts in their individual Ziplocs or reusable bags, and store them in the cabinet until the next day. |
| 4 |
5 |
Debrief |
Now that students have been working on their cars, ask them to rethink their original response from earlier in the class. Call on a few individuals to share/discuss their answer. |
| 5 |
3 |
Homework |
Tell students to continue working on HW from Day 1 – Q&A Worksheet: Saved by the Sun. Remind students to bring any extra design materials for their cars (e.g., sequins, aluminum foil, stickers, etc.). Collect Kelvin Solar Car Instructions Sheet and all group rubrics. |
| Order |
Minutes |
Type |
Notes |
| 1 |
10 |
Explain HW |
Q&A Worksheet: Saved by the Sun. Stamp in completed HW, return it to students, and correct it as a group. Alternatively, students can swap papers and grade their neighbor’s assignment as the teacher and/or students review correct responses. |
| 2 |
1 |
Explain Tonight's HW |
Pass out Pembina Institute Solar Car Q&A Worksheet, and call attention to the website links (Build Your Own Solar Car and Teacher's Domain: Solar car) on the worksheet wherein students can gain helpful information to answer the HW questions (also below). Read question 1 from the HW worksheet, and tell students that after racing is finished today, they'll need to collect data outside to answer question 1 of the HW.
- Working under a bright light bulb or in direct sunlight, experiment with the angle of light hitting the solar panels. What angle gives you the fastest rotation of the wheels?
- How would you modify this car to make the wheels turn faster?
- How would you modify this design to make a car that could carry or pull a heavier load?
- How could you modify this design so that your car could run for short periods in complete darkness or low light situations?
- Sketch a plan for a solar car large enough to carry a human. What technical problems would you have to overcome to build it?
|
| 3 |
42 |
Finish Building |
Redistribute Kelvin Solar Car Instructions Sheets, one per group. After about 20 mins, collect the instruction and rubric sheets from all student teams. Line up all the cars on a table in the middle of the room. Allow the class to orally participate in selecting the most creative car design. Make notes/comments on the rubrics as needed (optional: give extra credit to the most creative car model). Pin the rubrics to a clip board, and take the class outside to a sunny area with flat and smooth ground. Tennis courts are ideal. Mark the start and finish lines using chalk or simply use the lines on the tennis court. Students are not allowed to push their cars off from the start line; rather, each team captain holds one finger on the car and simply releases his or her finger on the word, "go." You can establish the fastest cars through a series of heats, wherein one car gets eliminated per heat after one trial run. If the cars are raced sideline-to-sideline, a member from each team should catch the car once it crosses the finish line (to avoid damage to the car). One way to help assess students in the "Function and Speed" category is to rank the cars from fastest to slowest and whether or not they drive straight. Additional methods if time permits: - Time each car individually using a stopwatch to determine the fastest car.
- Do both a short distance/sprint race and a long distance/endurance race.
|
| 4 |
1 |
Data |
Collect Data for Question 1 of the HW. Students do this with their teams. |
| Order |
Minutes |
Type |
Notes |
| 1 |
5 |
Review HW |
Pembina Institute Solar Car Q&A. Stamp in completed HW, return it to students, and correct it as a group. Alternatively, students can swap papers and grade their neighbor's assignment as the teacher and/or students review correct responses |
| 2 |
10 |
Listen and take notes |
National Public Radio Solar firm Ausra has just opened a factory near Las Vegas where it is mass-producing 50-foot-long mirrors to cover 4 square miles of desert each year. The solar thermal system will power 500,000 homes. Other solar companies have the same idea. Teacher shows students how to navigate to the NPR news website and listen to a podcast. Students take notes in their folders as a continuation of their notes from Day 1's PPT. |
| 3 |
1 |
Tonight's HW |
Podcast Assignment: The Potential of Solar Power (Listening time = 47mins) (see word doc graphic organizer) NPR: The Potential of Solar Power Just as they did for CW, students navigate to URL, listen and take notes, but this time organize their notes into one of three sections: - Benefits of and progress toward adopting solar power in the USA,
- Challenges to adopting solar power in the USA, and
- the History of solar power and interesting facts.
As with the solar car activity, randomly divide the class into teams of 4-5 students. Send one individual to the front to obtain materials, while the other start filling out their names on the grading rubric, again a quarter sheet of scrap paper with the following information:
- Names of Group Members:
- Date:
- Period:
- Teamwork, Participation, and Effort:(example: grade / 25 possible pts)
- Neatness and Following Directions:
- Function:
- TOTAL POINTS:
|
| 4 |
40 |
Solar Oven |
Students should also write their names in pen on the underside of the pizza box. Outer decoration with marker is optional if time permits. If there are more student groups than there are supplies, resources will need to be shared. The available construction materials do not allow for huge variation in design. However, Demo 1 below is a video on how to make a pizza box solar oven, one that varies from the direction sheet herein, but may inspire students to experiment and deviate from the main design. Successful groups will maintain as much as possible an air-tight seal between the cooking chamber and the outside air as well as find the optimum angle for the reflective oven flap. Students need to finish Steps 1-5 by the end of the period and be ready to cook on Day 5. |
| Order |
Minutes |
Type |
Notes |
| 1 |
6 |
Review Homework |
Podcast Assignment: The Potential of Solar Power. Stamp in completed HW, return it to students, and correct it as a group. Alternatively, students can swap papers and grade their neighbor’s assignment as the teacher and/or students review correct responses. Ask students their opinions on whether they think solar power, including solar thermal harvesting devices, represents a feasible replacement for fossil fuel burning on a large/national scale. |
| 2 |
50 |
Use solar oven |
REVIEW SAFTY – a. use sunglasses and avoid looking into the solar oven chamber as the light is intense. b. use precaution when removing cooked food, as the chamber and food will be hot. c. use a clean, mercury-free thermometers to insert into solar cooker. Collect the student group rubrics from Day 4, and pin them to a clipboard. Next, pass out a copy of the Q&A Worksheet to each student (optional: or one copy per group), collect cooking materials, and go outside to an open sunny area on campus. Make a S'more sandwich (optional: wrap sandwich in aluminum foil) and put it in solar oven. Cooking time may vary based on time of day and weather. For morning classes, you may need to have students test or return to their ovens at lunchtime. Outside, student groups should tilt their ovens toward the sun using a rock or sweatshirt as a prop. Once the food is inside, students should insert their thermometers, but emphasize an air-tight seal at the point of entry. Students should immediately start recording temperature data for question 1 on the Q&A worksheet, plotting the temperature every 3 min for 30-45 mins. One student per group should be responsible for keeping track of the time intervals using a watch timer and one student responsible for observing the temperature. Students can answer the other questions on the worksheet between observations, and turn them in at the end of the period. As the students work, grade the students’ ovens using the rubric sheets on the clipboard. Before the period ends, inform students that solar cookers are being used around the world especially in underserved communities. In Darfur, for example, there are refugee camps that use solar ovens on a daily basis. In the camp of Iridimi, women’s lives are being saved, since solar cooking circumvents the dangers in traveling away from home to find firewood - Wikia:Iridimi Refugee Camp. |
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