Solar Energy
The Solar Energy Module consists of four investigations that allow students to experience solar energy firsthand and to investigate the variables that affect solar-energy transfer.
Student Objectives
Student Objectives
- Become aware of the potential of solar energy, an inexhaustible source, as an alternative energy source to fossil fuels, a nonrenewable source.
- Observe differences in size and position of shadows as a result of the relative positions of Earth and the Sun.
- Gain experience using a compass to orient objects on Earth.
- Become proficient in using a thermometer to monitor temperature change in a variety of materials.
- Observe solar-energy transfer in a variety of situations.
- Relate the rate and amount of temperature change to variables involved in energy transfer.
- Design solar water heaters and passive solar space heaters.
- Apply mathematics in the context of science.
- Acquire vocabulary associated with solar energy and energy transfer.
- Use scientific thinking processes to conduct investigations and build explanations: observing, communicating, comparing, organizing, and relating.