The cost of twelve Solar Power Education Kits, hand magnifiers, clamp lamps, and color paddles from Frey Scientific, Inc. is $1046, including shipping and <a target="new" href="http://www.donorschoose.org/html/fulfillment.htm" onclick="g_openWindow('http://www.donorschoose.org/html/fulfillment.htm', 300, 800, 'fulfillwindow');return false;">fulfillment</a>.
As the cost of crude oil continues to rise, alternative energy sources become more and more pertinent for today's high-school students. I am situated in a public high school in Indiana, and most of my approximately 150 students will be graduating in one or two years, ready to take on the world. I feel a great responsibility to prepare them for "real world" science, which includes an extensive unit, based on the National Energy Education Development Project (NEED Project), exposing my students to many different sources of energy as well as conservation principles.
I am very excited about this new project, not only for my professional development in implementing this students-teaching-students unit, but more importantly because of the way my students' perspectives can be expanded. I want my kids to leave my classroom with a sense of empowerment, rather than discouragement, as we phase out of being reliant on petroleum and other fossil fuels and into an economy based on renewable resources.
One of the most available, and least costly, energy sources is the sun. We already rely on it indirectly for our entire food supply; now it is time to explore its usefulness as a direct energy source. The mini-unit I plan to implement provides multiple inquiry activities for my students to explore how the sun's radiant energy is converted to electricity, and determine the constraints on such a system.
The materials I need are a classroom set (12) of solar power kits, reflector lamps, magnifying lenses, and colored filters. My school already owns a good set of multi-meters that are readily available, and light bulbs and batteries can be easily obtained locally.
These materials will allow my students to experience first-hand how efficient and effective solar power can be, and to think about how they, as adults, might be able to implement this clean, renewable energy source.
More than half of students from low‑income households
Data about students' economic need comes from the National Center for Education Statistics, via our partners at MDR Education. Learn more
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