This interactive web application and accompanying resources allow students to explore where energy comes from and how it powers our lives by tracing the path of energy from the sun as it converts from one form to another.
Students will follow the scientific method by creating a hypothesis, running tests, collecting data, analyzing the data, and drawing conclusions from the results.
Teaching Tips
Positives
This resource allows students to explore some renewable energy sources like solar, wind, hydropower, and biomass.
Additional Prerequisites
The accompanying resources include a student exploration sheet, answer key, teacher guide, and vocabulary sheet.
To access the interactive media for more than 5 minutes a day, teachers must create a Gizmo account. The free trial period is currently 30 days.
The student activity and vocabulary sheets are available without signing up, however, the teacher guide and answer key are only available with a subscription.
Differentiation
If students do not have access to devices, teachers can use this resource as a demonstration and work through the activity as a class.
If students have access to devices, this resource can be used as an independent or small group classroom activity, or as a homework assignment.
This resource can be used in physical science, Earth science, or life science classes when learning about energy sources, energy conversion, renewable energy, and the interactions between living and non-living systems.
Scientist Notes
Renewable energy sources are visualized and this resource is suitable for students to learn how energy is created and transformed. This resource is recommended for teaching.
Standards
Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS)
ESS2: Earth's Systems
MS-ESS2-4 Develop a model to describe the cycling of water through Earth's systems driven by energy from the sun and the force of gravity.
5-ESS2-1 Develop a model using an example to describe ways the geosphere, biosphere, hydrosphere, and/or atmosphere interact.
ESS3: Earth and Human Activity
4-ESS3-1 Obtain and combine information to describe that energy and fuels are derived from natural resources and that their uses affect the environment.
LS2: Ecosystems: Interactions, Energy, and Dynamics
MS-LS2-3 Develop a model to describe the cycling of matter and flow of energy among living and nonliving parts of an ecosystem.
5-LS2-1 Develop a model to describe the movement of matter among plants, animals, decomposers, and the environment.
PS1: Matter and its Interactions
MS-PS1-4 Develop a model that predicts and describes changes in particle motion, temperature, and state of a pure substance when thermal energy is added or removed.
PS3: Energy
5-PS3-1 Use models to describe that energy in animals’ food (used for body repair, growth, motion, and to maintain body warmth) was once energy from the sun.
