Rationale

Why are you spending class time on this? Why would their futures be ruined if they didn't know this?

Unit Goals

This unit focuses on electricity and electrical devices. The big ideas in this strand is that many different forms of energy can be transformed in to electricity and that electricity can be transformed into many different form of energy; that it plays a significant role in society; and that we must reduce the impact on the environment. While teaching about the transformation of different energies to electricity, we will be emphasizing the differences between renewable and non- renewable energy sources, and the environmental and economic costs of these differences. For example, when teaching about coal, we will be talking about the effectes of mining, the carbon and other emissions when burning, and the toxic ash that's left over. When teaching about the transformation of electricity to other forms of energy, we will emphasize conservation, as well as examining the benefits that electricity brings to society and how to balance that against the cost to generate it. For example computers now use as much energy as transportation
The students will be using their skills of research and critical thinking to do basic cost-benefit analysis of generation technologies and to produce a reasonable and justifiable action plan to reduce electricity consumption. They will be using their inquiry skills to discover the principals of building simple circuits and how batteries work. Finally they will be using their technological design skills to build an renewable energy device.
Along with the big ideas mentioned above, the students will also gain a knowledge of the fundamental nature of electricity, how to build simple circuits, and the safety issues around dealing with electricity.

Expectations

Overall Expectations

• demonstrate an understanding of the principles of electrical energy and its transformation into and from other forms of energy.

Specific Expectations

• 1.1 assess the short- and long-term environmental effects of the different ways in which electricity is generated in Canada (e.g., hydro, thermal, nuclear, wind, solar), including the effect of each method on natural resources and living things in the environment
• 1.2 assess opportunities for reducing electricity consumption at home or at school that could affect the use of non-renewable resources in a positive way or reduce the impact of electricity generation on the environment
• 2.1 follow established safety procedures for working with electricity (e.g., ensure hands are completely dry when working with electricity; be aware of electrical hazards at home, at school, and in the community)
• 2.4 design, build, and test a device that produces electricity (e.g., a battery built from a lemon or potato; a wind turbine)
• 2.5 use technological problem-solving skills (see page 16) to design, build, and test a device that transforms electrical energy into another form of energy in order to perform a function (e.g., a device that makes a sound, that moves, that lights up)
• 2.6 use appropriate science and technology vocabulary, including current, battery, circuit, transform, static, electrostatic, and energy, in oral and written communication
  2.7 use a variety of forms (e.g., oral, written, graphic, multimedia) to communicate with different audiences and for a variety of purposes (e.g., using scientific and technological conventions, create a labelled diagram showing the component parts of the device they created to transform electrical energy into another form of energy and perform a function)
• 3.4 describe how various forms of energy can be transformed into electrical energy (e.g., batteries use chemical energy; hydroelectric plants use water power; nuclear generating stations use nuclear energy; wind turbines use wind power; solar panels use energy from the sun; wave power stations use energy from ocean waves)
• 3.5 identify ways in which electrical energy is transformed into other forms of energy (e.g., electrical energy is transformed into heat energy in a toaster, light and sound energy in a television, mechanical energy in a blender)

Settings

Students

The students will know how to design and build simple circuits from previous work in this strand.

Teacher

What you need to study up on before you can handle this unit. List teacher resources.

Classroom

What you need or would like in your classroom to do this lesson.

Community

Any community resources you need or could draw on to enhance the project.

Assessment

poster/interview, electromechanical device, STSE

Task Overview

1. Introduction - what is electricity - safety - electrocute a pickle - Bill Nye, Electirc currnet (25 min), Static Electircuty (25 min) - kwl chart - three ways electricity is made: electromagnetic (generator), chemical (batteries), quantum mechanical (solar cells) - edible batteries
2. How we generate electricity now - pros and cons
3. Alternative electricity - wind, solar, fuel cell, etc. - pros and cons
4. First task - poster on/interview with different generation technologies
5. finish task + gallery walk + update kwl
6. Major uses of electricity - big items for conservation
7. Light incandescent, CFL, LED, how motors work, how motors can be used as generators
8. Build electromechanical device - can use any energy source except hydro or commercial batteries (e.g. lemon battery, solar cell, wind turbine), can do anything - or have them design something that performs some task that currently uses hydro.
9. finish task + presentations
10. STSE

Accommodations

Level 4
What will your best students do when they finish early, or how you will keep them busy.
Level 1/IEP
What modifications will be applied to the assessment. Differentiated instruction will probably be listed on the individual task plans.