QUESTION: Hands-on & multimedia ideas to make of Energy Sources pop for middle schoolers?

[Laura Riley]

Any ideas to help facilitate a great set of lessons to middle school students about different sources of energy?    I'd like to differentiate a project where students learn about the many types of energy sources.  I would like to have them differentiate the product as they decide how they will present the information they learned about their energy source. 

[Ryan Goble]

Laura, when it comes to science, I always like to start by thinking about using Mythbusters clips. See - VIDEO/ARTICLE: Mythbusters - The Best Science Show on Television? Here's some interesting reading that might be food for thought on this topic:

See from CNN: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zMfI5iLTIDk

See Energy MythBusters: speaking truth to power and http://dsc.discovery.com/videos/mythbusters-free-energy.html You can buy most seasons of Mythbusters at Amazon - but this ed company has packaged the TV show around common classroom topics like Energy Conservation and Sound Energy.

All this is to say you could show these as models and give each group of students a series of energy myths they have to prove or bust - they can do their presentation to the class as fake mythbusters episodes, wiki pages, podcasts, Facebook pages, info packets for the local village about energy sources etc.

A start?

[Lisa Fink]

The website ScienceNetLinks, sponsored by AAAS, has lots of great lessons, activities, and demonstrations: http://www.sciencenetlinks.com/

[Helen]

Hello Laura:

With my 7th graders, we use egfi to identify new ways that engineering is helping the world.  Energy is a topic covered in great detail.  Search for energy, and you lots to choose from - all involving new technology/new ideas/new engineering feats.  Students love this project because the information is relevant to them.  And some of it is just in testing/planning phases, but students like to see what is possible.  There are videos included with some of these articles, and students like watching them.  It inspires them to investigate more.

Our students create a self running, narrated powerpoint, and add commercial, psa, video, brochure as exceeds credit. 

We use edmodo.com that describes the project, provides the checkbrik/rubric.  Edmodo allows students to create polls about their research and ask questions of the teacher and other students.   Students work in groups to get this project completed. 

Students are expected to use multiple sources for their research, so this is just the starting point.

 

http://students.egfi-k12.org/index.php/?s=energy

 

Then check out this page for ideas to use multimedia - so many things to choose from:

using a cube to define the project:

http://2differentiate.pbworks.com/w/file/860213/EnergySourcesCube.JPG

What product to choose for delivery:

http://2differentiate.pbworks.com/w/page/860114/Paper_2_Technology

Using Museum box to create a diorama might be a good tool to use, or create a digital story or video. Differentiated ideas and examples are also listed on the right side of the contents

 

Helen

[Laura Riley]

Helen,

OMG........you lost me @ egfi....

Now I know I need to work harder and learn more.  You are a wealth of knowledge and an inspirational resource.

Thanks for posting and I will read your comments in detail and then post if/when I have questions.

Thanks again :)

LR

[Ryan Goble]

Laura, you should just know that Helen is one of my "resource heroes" - she in Elmhurst and is BEYOND rockstar.

[Kerry Piper]

You might want to check out your local power company and see if they have any resources.  My local company, Progress Energy, has an education arm which includes lesson plans and some projects.  They also have grants available for energy education.  (I don't teach energy... so I haven't checked it all out.)  Good luck and happy hunting!

[Karen Finter]

Laura-

So, I don't know if this gets completely at what you are trying to do, but we have had some successes using this resource on the Chevron site - Energyville.  Our 8th grade teachers have crafted some support lessons and guides for students to complete this "game" as a formative activity to build their understanding of different types of energy that is consumed/utilized in a fictitious city.

 

Other resources include: http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/channel/human-footprint/consu...  (This interactive walks kids through the understanding of their carbon footprint in a very eye-opening way). 

 

The tip about contacting your local energy company is a great one.  This is our local company's site: http://www.rge.com/GivingBack/intheschools/default.html Our teachers contacted our local nuclear-power plant, and 2 engineers were THRILLED to come in and share the ins and outs of nuclear power. (And they got lots of questions along the lines of...."what would happen if you...." Too many episodes of the Simpsons, I guess.

 

Hope this helps! In terms of the product, are you thinking that the kids will research a source/type of energy and then share out?  Gloster edu is a nice way for them to corral all of their multimedia findings, weblinks and videos.

 

Hope that helps!

[Virginia Platt]

Don’t know if it’s too late, but...

There are some ideas for building hydroelectric generators, solar ovens, etc. at this web site.  

http://www.re-energy.ca/hydro-generator  

I had students build one of these for an engineering option for their final assessment for electricity.  

 

Virginia