Xcel Energy and NTC invite you to use these e-learning resources to teach your students about the importance of energy efficiency and conservation. The digital materials below are designed to get your students excited about understanding this important subject.
Want to know the best way to use the related e-book, videos, games and other lessons to educate your class? Watch this short video and learn how to add Electrification Nation to your curriculum!
We know your class time is extremely valuable. That’s why we ensure that all of our digital e-learning materials are aligned with state and national educational standards. It’s important that the Electrification Nation digital program adds to your existing curriculum and keeps students on track with their ongoing learning.
See below for details about how each digital activity aligns with educational standards and corresponds with your state’s curricula.
Electrification Nation is performed by two professional actors who lead your students through an action-packed adventure, all while teaching about energy efficiency.
In this 25-minute play, Evie Wander is super excited to be a contestant on the adventure racing show Electrification Nation. The contestants on the show have to travel around the country solving energy related riddles before they can advance to the next region. Will Evie and her student helpers learned enough to defeat Ed Start and win the game show? Find out in Electrification Nation!
The show focus on the following educational points:
Your students will experience important lessons about energy efficiency.
Your students can enhance what they learn from the program with these fun, hands-on lessons and experiments. These lessons can be done in the classroom or easily adapted for students to do at home with their families.
They’re a fun and educational way for students to learn with family members. The materials needed for these lessons are basic supplies that most people have at home. Follow up with your students to make sure they enjoyed and learned from these activities.
Lesson 1:
Objective
Students will identify photovoltaic solar power as a source of energy. Students will explain what happens when a photovoltaic cell is shaded. Students will understand why we can’t rely solely on this resource for energy.
Purpose of Activity
Read or Listen, Identify Details, Apply Skills
21st Century Skills
Critical Thinking
Cognitive Level
Critical Thinking, Collaboration
Class Time
4 class periods of 45 – 60 mins
Materials
Materials listed are enough for one group of 3-4 students.
Procedure
Divide the students into groups of three or four. Allow students to design their houses based on the templates. Make sure you have stiff paper that will be able to hold the weight of the solar panel. The students will also need a square of poster board to place their house on as a base.
Day one: Introduction and Research
Have students discuss their knowledge of solar panels – where they have seen them and how they work. After the discussion, let the students come up with some questions they may need to know before they create a house that will hold a solar panel. Have them write down their questions. As a class, look at the questions the groups came up with.
Research: On the student worksheet, there are links that the students can click on and watch to learn how solar panels work and how they create energy. Students will need to take notes. Have the students work quietly on their own notes and designs.
Bring the students together in their groups. Ask them if there is something they would add or change to their model. As a group, determine which house design will provide the best solar solution. Where should the solar panels go?
Have the groups use their research to create a model that will meet the criteria and constraints. Make sure they realize that they only have a limited time to build their prototype. The students will also need to have a look at what supplies are available for use. Groups must make a list of supplies. They will also need to have a detailed model with notes of the height of the house, the angle of the roof, where they are putting the solar panel and their prediction on how many watts of energy they will get.
Note: Some students may want to place their solar panel on the ground. If so, make sure they indicate at what angle the panel will be set.
Day two: Building your Prototype
Students build their prototypes.
Day three: Testing, Analyzing and Redesign
Teacher prep: Set up an area outside where the students can test their prototypes. Make sure that each group has access to the voltmeters. The students will need ten minutes to test their prototypes at least three times throughout the day. Suggested times would be first thing in the morning, around lunchtime and at the end of the day. The students will need time to redesign their prototypes and retest them.
Video on how to read a voltmeter: The Best Multimeter Tutorial (4:35 minutes)
Student groups can test their prototype, writing down the amount of energy they have created using solar energy. They will record the volts on the voltmeter. They will also need to record any observations they may see (example: angle is off, roof is too steep, roof is too weak, etc.).
Once the group has tested their prototype, the students need to answer the analysis questions. Students will then get an opportunity to redesign and update their prototype. Explain that this is not a time to start over from the beginning. This is the time to look at the problems and use different ideas to come up with a solution. Allow time for the students to make the changes to their prototype and test again. Record their data and observations on data table.
Day four: Testing Redesign and Analyzing Data
Allow students to test their redesigns and analyze the data.
Critical Thinking Questions
What are some constraints to homeowners that wish to use solar energy?
Why is solar energy attractive to homeowners?
Lesson 2:
Objective
Students will witness a simple phenomenon where the classroom lights are out and all electronic devices/equipment are off. They will ask questions about how this would affect their lives and how it is affecting them right now. Students will build a simple circuit with a battery and light.
Purpose of Activity
Read or Listen, Apply Skills
21st Century Skills
Critical Thinking
Cognitive Level
Strategic Thinking, Extended Thinking, Skills and Concepts
Class Time
50 minutes
Materials
Procedure
Critical Thinking Questions
What must happen to make the circuit work to turn on the lightbulb?
What are ways we can save energy?
Follow-up, formative assessments for you to gauge the learning of your students are especially important with e-learning. Below are some suggestions for how you can assess your students’ performance quickly and effectively.
These assessments are easy for you and your students to complete and help ensure your class is getting the maximum educational value, retention and engagement from the related digital activities.
| Elementary Educational Assessments | Theatrical performance | Hands-on lessons | Digital games | E-book | Graphic novel | Interactive activities | PDFs & Print materials |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ask students to reflect on the topic and draw their thoughts on paper | X | X | X | ||||
| Write one or two sentences identifying the main point | X | X | X | X | |||
| Think-pair-share | X | X | X | ||||
| One-question quiz | X | X | |||||
| Journal reflection | X | X | X | ||||
| Have students discuss three things they learned, two things they still want to learn, and one question they still have | X | X | X | ||||
| Hand in completed activity | X | X | |||||
| Submit screenshot of completed activity | X | X |
The Electrification Nation student activities page features games, e-books, videos, educational lessons, downloadable PDFs, a smart speaker app and more. Access in the classroom or at home to learn more about energy efficiency and have fun exploring Electrification Nation!
This downloadable PDF features colorful artwork, entertaining games and activities, and expanded information to complete your understanding of electrical safety. Read on your own, with your class or with friends and family and get to know the characters of Electrification Nation.
Flip through this colorful, illustrated e-book with your class or friends and family. This illustrated e-book offers expanded lessons about energy and conservation with entertaining characters and additional activities. Students can read to themselves or with others, and younger students can use the read-along option.
Flip through this colorful graphic novel for a new and engaging story. With fun artwork, entertaining characters and expanded information, the Electrana graphic novel offers a page-turning experience.
We take your feedback and suggestions very seriously. Hearing from educators with firsthand experience with our programs ensures that we continue to improve our digital resources, making them as beneficial as possible for you and your students.
Please complete this brief, two-minute evaluation to let us know what you thought. Enter the code you received on the Teacher Instruction Card or call us for your access code.
Thank you for your time and valuable input.
You’ve covered the basics of energy and conservation. If you really want to dig deep with your class, explore the expanded information and additional resources below.
These materials provide even more insight into the history, science, usage and importance of energy. There are also helpful links and tips for saving energy in your community.
Expanded Information 1:
Read the passage to your students, have them play the Build a Power Plant game, and ask them the critical thinking questions that follow.
We use electricity every day to power our TVs, computers, video games, lamps and about a million other things. But where does electricity come from, and how does it get into those funny looking holes in the wall?
Let’s go backwards. The outlets in your wall are connected to a series of wires that lead to utility poles outside of your house or apartment building. These wires then lead to transformers or substations, which, in turn, lead to a power plant. It’s in the power plant that the electricity is created.
In the 1800s, scientists discovered that when a magnet is dragged across a series of copper wires, it creates a field of electricity. The problem is, in order to keep your lightbulb lit, there has to be a constant current of electricity flowing through it, which means the magnet has to be continually moving. To solve this problem, the magnets in the power plant are surrounded by wires on all sides. So if the magnets spin in a circle, they create a nonstop current.
But how do we keep that magnet spinning? One way is to attach it to a turbine. A turbine is like a giant fan. Imagine a child’s pinwheel. If the magnet were attached to that pinwheel, then it would spin any time the child blew on it. In the power plant, the pinwheel-like turbine isn’t spun by a child with amazing lung capacity, but instead with steam. By focusing steam through smaller and smaller pipes, it becomes so powerful it can spin the turbine with great ease.
All that steam comes from boiling large amounts of water. The more water we boil, the more steam we produce, which takes us to resources. All of that water has to boil somehow, and we make that happen by burning resources like coal, oil and natural gas. The more electricity we make, the more resources it takes to make it. And because there’s only so much coal, oil and natural gas in the world, it’s more important than ever that we conserve, or save, electricity wherever possible.
Use the objects below to build a power plant. Click on the play button to start.
What is another way we can spin the turbine?
What happens when we run out of resources like coal or natural gas?
Expanded Information 2:
The surface of the Sun has a temperature of about 5,800 Kelvin (about 5,500 degrees Celsius, or about 10,000 degrees Fahrenheit). At that temperature, most of the energy the Sun radiates is visible and near-infrared light. At Earth’s average distance from the Sun (about 150 million kilometers), the average intensity of solar energy reaching the top of the atmosphere directly facing the Sun is about 1,360 watts per square meter, according to measurements made by the most recent NASA satellite missions. This amount of power is known as the total solar irradiance.
A watt is a measurement of power, or the amount of energy that something generates or uses over time. How much power is 1,360 watts? An incandescent lightbulb uses anywhere from 40 to 100 watts. A microwave uses about 1,000 watts. If, for just one hour, you could capture and re-use all the solar energy arriving over a single square meter at the top of the atmosphere directly facing the Sun, you would have enough to run a refrigerator all day.
The total solar irradiance is the maximum possible power that the Sun can deliver to a planet at Earth’s average distance from the Sun; basic geometry limits the actual solar energy intercepted by Earth. Only half the Earth is ever lit by the Sun at one time, which halves the total solar irradiance.
In addition, the total solar irradiance is the maximum power the Sun can deliver to a surface that is perpendicular to the path of incoming light. Because the Earth is a sphere, only areas near the equator at midday come close to being perpendicular to the path of incoming light. Everywhere else, the light comes in at an angle. The progressive decrease in the angle of solar illumination with increasing latitude reduces the average solar irradiance by an additional one-half.
Averaged over the entire planet, the amount of sunlight arriving at the top of Earth’s atmosphere is only one-fourth of the total solar irradiance, or approximately 340 watts per square meter.
Source: https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/features/EnergyBalance/page2.php
