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In this lesson, students will learn about renewable energy, circuits, and create a solar power car to combine their learning.
The big part of this lesson is the car itself, which a kit can be purchased online. I found one on amazon but we bought our kits from Taobao in China for much, much cheaper. We bought one kit per student. If you have the time, you can make it with your laser cutter program, or possibly find a file online that is already pre-cut.
Students will understand what is renewable.
Students will understand what is sustainable.
Students will understand what is a circuit, and how to wire one.
Students will be able to use laser cut materials to build a solar power car.
This is a very fun lesson for students and teachers. Students have a lifelong lesson that teaches them that power doesn’t have to be from non-renewable energy sources, as well as doesn’t need to pollute the earth.
Whenever possible, allow the students to answer, discuss, and recall their own facts about energy. For our students, they were in the middle of a UOI about the transfer of energy, so this was a perfect time to discuss all the different sources of energy and their effects on the Earth.
Discuss/review prior knowledge about energy.
Start PPT, pausing each slide and discussing, allowing students to answer before words come up (you might need to add animations to text or photos.)
Sorry, I had more here but I accidently deleted it and there is no undo button.
Get the solar car up and running.
I suggest for this section, go through the powerpoint 1 slide at a time, give the students 1-3 minutes to do each section, and then go to the next slide. Students will be eager to move ahead, so I suggest give the instruction of “once you finish this part on your car, look around and help someone who hasn’t.” Or, you can give the suggestion of “Once you have finished this section, throw away any garbage on your table. Help our your neighbors if they ask for help.”
An additional option is to allow students to build it themselves by following the instructions in the kit. These instructions might be hard to understand for younger students, and they will need support, but some students prefer to learn alone. Ensure the students have written their name on some piece of the car, and if time allows, have the students design their car with markers.
Continue through the remaining slides, and when the students are finished, if time allows, take the cars outside to test. On a sunny day, the cars should start and not stop until they hit something (so ideally, start them on a hard floor facing a grass surface.)
This is a difficult section as it really depends on what you want. This could be a whole class discussion, a small group discussion, writing on a whiteboard and the teacher ticking students that show understanding, or a test of some sort.
Ensure the students understand the objectives. Make a simple test or discussion based on these four objectives.
Students will understand what is renewable.
Students will understand what is sustainable.
Students will understand what is a circuit, and how to wire one.
Students will be able to use laser cut materials to build a solar power car.
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