Science Explorers: Professional Development > Workshops 2008-09

Science Explorers
Workshops 2008-09

(Em)powering the Future: Kids Exploring Renewable and Alternative Energy

Wind Power:
Wind power is clean, does not produce greenhouse gases, and is an infinite resource. In this workshop, students will learn how windmills take the wind's kinetic energy and turn it into electricity. They will build a windmill, exploring the different parts of the windmill such as blades, gears, and generators. Each team will collect data on the energy output from their turbine. Students will be encouraged to explore different blade shapes and blade materials in order to create the most efficient design. Finally, the students will connect all 7 turbines to create a wind farm that will light up light bulbs, play a radio, and demonstrate the power of the parallel circuit in producing energy.

Solar Energy:
In this workshop, students will learn about the energy from the sun and the ways in which it can be converted into different kinds of energy, such as heat and electricity. Through hands-on activities, students will explore the different devices used to convert the suns rays into energy we can use to power our houses and businesses, such as solar cells, parabolic troughs, solar dishes, and solar power towers. They will build a simple PV cell and wire it to play a radio, light up an LED, and power a toy car. Continuing their investigations into the sun's energy, students will also build a greenhouse and then use thermometers and heat lamps to measure and compare the temperature inside the greenhouse and outside the greenhouse. Collecting this data gives students a tangible demonstration of the greenhouse effect and challenges them to understand the positive aspects of "trapping" the sun's rays.

Alternative Fuels and the Greenhouse Effect:
In the coming decades, transportation in the U.S. is expected to change radically, and technologies for sustainable energy are moving forward at rapid rates. In this workshop, Science Explorers students will create CO2 in a bag and measure it's mass when it becomes trapped, as it does in a greenhouse or in the earth's atmosphere. They will then weigh the bag again after the gas is released. This experiment will lead into an exploration of alternative ways of fueling vehicles, such as fuel cells and biofuels. Students will learn how hydrogen fuel cells convert energy from chemical reactions into usable electricity and how vegetable oils are converted into biodiesel. Students will build and operate their own fuel-cell cars using turbines or solar panels to power it. Using this environmentally friendly technology, students will learn chemistry and engineering while separating the most common elements, Hydrogen and Oxygen, to produce energy.

"This was an incredible day of inquiry based, hands-on learning for my students and for me. We all learned so much. Thank you, thank you! " -Science Explorers 2008 Participant

Please contact Kristi Dahl at 303-492-0771 or Kristi.dahl@colorado.edu for more information.