Energy!

Today's science lesson was all about how and where we get energy to power our lives! Since the industrial revolution, humans have primarily been using fossil fuels, such as coal, to burn to create energy for our lives: to heat our homes, to power our electrical devices, and to use appliance that make everyday life so much easier! In our science lesson, we learned about alternative forms of fuel/energy, so that we can use less fossil fuels to create a more healthy environment.

The students learned that not all forms of energy will work depending on the location in which you live. For example, if it's always raining where you live, solar energy may not be the best option for you! In addition, students realized that cities can combine more than one type of energy, and so we problem solved for a fictional city and decided as teams which forms of energy would be best for this particular city.

Our class was able to "visit" three different cities: one that primarily uses solar energy, one that primarily uses wind energy, and one that primarily uses water as energy. After learning more about the landscape, climate, and weather patterns of each city, we went back to our own city to discuss which sources of power would work best, and where we would put them (did you know a field of solar panels can be as big as 333 football fields?!).

We were so excited to share our findings and conclusions, like real problem solving scientists! Some students were especially intrigued because they're interested in becoming engineers one day! This was such a fun lesson :)