Renewable Energy Curriculum
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TEACHER RESOURCE GUIDE Prepared for: Prepared by: Teacher Resource Guide The Solar Schools Teacher Resource Guide is designed to lay the groundwork for a series of activities that encourage learners to explore solar energy, energy conservation and the enmeshed topics of climate change and environmental stewardship. Please make use of the activities in this guide however you see fit. Adapt them, modify them, extend them as needed! If you have any feedback on how this resource can be improved, please let us know at [email protected] or [email protected]. About Solar Schools Canada Solar Schools Canada (“SSC”) is a registered charity that assists public schools to develop and fund solar energy projects in order to prevent emissions, reduce school operating costs, and enhance education by using the projects as a learning tool. For more information, please visit www.ssc-esc.ca. About Clean Foundation Clean Foundation (“Clean”) is a registered charity which provides the knowledge, tools and inspiration needed to encourage the individual actions that sun to a positive environmental shift, including through the provision of environmental education. For more information, please visit clean.ns.ca. Acknowledgement Clean and SSC wish to acknowledge the financial support of the Province of Nova Scotia, represented by the Department of Energy and Mines, in creating this Guide. TEACHER RESOURCE GUIDE 1 Table of Contents Introduction 3 Format 3 About Solar Photovoltaic Panels 4 How they Work Benefits Approach and Rationale 5 Curriculum Alignment 5 Concepts and Principles 8 Inquiry-based Education 9 Grade-level Learning Plans – Primary to Grade 6 10 Lesson Plan Index 17 Lesson Plans 20 Appendices 81 TEACHER A Additional Resources B Materials C Incorporating Indigenous Perspectives RESOURCE GUIDE 2 Introduction This Solar Schools Teacher Resource Guide (the “Guide”) contains resources designed to lead teachers and students in exploring science, technology, engineering, arts, mathematics (“STEAM”), climate, sustainability and energy subject matter through leveraging school-based solar projects to create situated, hands-on learning opportunities for students. We designed this Guide for schools that have developed their own solar photovoltaic (“PV”) projects. However, the resources, lesson plans and other materials contained in this Guide are equally suitable for any school, educator or student interested in learning more about solar energy, sustainability and environmental stewardship. More broadly, the resources, lesson plans and other materials contained in this Guide are designed to encourage students from Primary to Grade 6 to develop an abiding love and respect for nature, a sense of environmental stewardship, and a sense of individual empowerment to protect and preserve the environment. By fostering these attitudes, we hope children will genuinely care about making changes in their world and feel empowered to take action as children and throughout their lives. Format Part [1] of this Guide contains introductory materials designed to assist students to understand solar technology and its use in mitigating our carbon footprints and accelerating the transition to a more sustainable and socially equitable society. Part [2] of this Guide contains a series of solar and sustainability focused unit plans, lessons and activities designed to meet general and specific curriculum outcomes. Many of the lessons and activities contain modifications and/or extensions, permitting them to be used by a range of ages and learning abilities. Although, these resources have been created to align with the Nova Scotia Provincial Learning Outcomes framework, the lessons and activities may be adopted for a variety of different educational contexts, inside and outside of Canada. TEACHER RESOURCE GUIDE 3 About Solar Photovoltaic Panels How they Work Solar photovoltaic (PV) modules or panels work by allowing photons, or particles of light, to knock electrons free from atoms, generating a flow of electricity. In fact, the word “photovoltaic” literally means to convert sunlight into electricity. Solar panels are comprised of many, smaller units called PV cells. Many PV cells linked together make up a solar panel. Panels are designed to supply electricity at a certain voltage, such as a common 12 volts system. The current produced is directly dependent on how much light strikes the panel. Each cell is made of two pieces of a semi-conducting material (often silicon). To work, photovoltaic cells need to establish an electric field. Much like a magnetic field, which occurs due to opposite poles, an electric field occurs when opposite charges are separated. To create an electric field, manufacturers add other materials to the silicon, giving each end a positive or negative electrical charge (boron and phosphorus are two commonly used materials). When a photon of light hits the electric field, it knocks an electron out of that field and onto metal conductive plates on the sides of the cell that collect the electrons and transfer them to wires. At that point, the electrons can flow like any other source of electricity. Benefits Three of the primary benefits of solar energy are as follows: Renewable. Because solar energy involves converting sunlight into electricity, it is a truly renewable resource. Solar energy is available everyday, in all areas of the world. As long as we have the sun, we cannot run out of solar energy. Contrast this with conventional energy sources, such as coal, oil, natural gas or nuclear, among others, which rely on non-renewable and finite resources to create electricity. Did you know? 173,000 terawatts (trillions of watts) of solar energy strikes the Earth continuously. MIT Scientists suggest that this energy is 10,000 times greater than the Earth’s total energy consumption. The Sun’s potential to supply all of the Earth’s energy needs is therefore tremendous. The challenge lies in harvesting, storing and deploying that energy and in a sustainable, equitable and cost-effective manner. Zero Emissions. Solar energy does not create emissions of carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide or other greenhouse gases (GHGs) in order to generate electricity. Contrast this with conventional energy sources, such as coal, oil, natural gas, which generate GHGs as a by-product of the combustion process used to generate electricity. Although manufacturing and decommissioning of TEACHER solar PV panels creates some pollutants (e.g., arsenic, cadmium, selenium), research suggests that emissions of such pollutants are manageable and comparatively lower than emissions generated by conventional energy sources. In fact, scientific studies estimate that the life-cycle GHG emissions of solar energy are between 0.025 and 0.050 kg of CO2e per kWh of electricity, compared with an estimated 0.9 to 1.1 kg of CO2e for coal-fired electricity – making coal-fired electricity more than 28 times more emissions intensive than electricity produced by a solar PV system. RESOURCE GUIDE Did you know? A 100 kW solar panel system will prevent the release of nearly 1,400 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent emissions, equal to: removing 297 passenger vehicles from the road annually; avoiding burning 1,530,516 pounds of coal; or, preserving 1,648 acres of forest annually. 4 Cost Reductions. As the capital costs of solar energy continue to fall globally, the technology has become increasingly cost effective and competitive relative to conventional energy sources. Once installed, solar energy is low maintenance and does not require input or fuel costs. This means that once an individual or organization installs their own solar installation, they can produce their own electricity independently and reduce the amount of money spent purchasing electricity and reallocate those savings to other areas. Did you know? A 100 kW solar panel system will reduce school operating costs by approximately $400,000 over 25 years. If re-invested in education, that amount represents the salary of 8 new teachers, providing over 13,440 hours of additional student assistance. Independent Inquiry: Exploring the relationship between solar energy and social development. Explore what happens when you pair solar energy with organizations doing important work in the community. For example, what happens when you develop a solar energy installation on a homeless shelter, school or community centre? How can those organizations reallocate the cost savings associated with reduced electricity bills to create broader community benefits? What are examples of social organizations embracing solar or renewable energy in your community, or around the world, that demonstrate the shared environmental and social value that these pairings can create? Curriculum Design: Purpose, Rationale & Approach The paragraphs below detail the purposes, outcomes, rationale and approach that we have employed in designing the unit plans, lessons and activities contained in this Guide. Purpose 1. Leverage school-based solar projects to enhance education in STEAM, climate, sustainability and energy subject matter. Outcome. Leverage school-based solar projects as a hands-on learning tool in order to enhance education in STEAM, climate, sustainability and energy subject matter in a manner that is curriculum-aligned and interdisciplinary. TEACHER Rationale. Teachers can choose to leverage school-based solar projects to explore how abstract STEAM, climate, sustainability and energy concepts can be tangibly applied to real world problem solving. Rather than