Introduction to Energy

 

STUDENTS WILL BE ABLE TO:
- Identify sources of energy.
- Differentiate between various sources of energy.

GUIDING QUESTIONS:
What is energy?
How do things in our ecosystem get energy?
What do they do with their energy?

MATERIALS:
- Sugar snack, such as sugar cane or maple sugar candy
- Thermometers (the kind that you hold onto your forehead)

CLASS ACTIVITIES:
1. Give students a snack of sugar - pick something that is as close as you can get to a plant. Sugar cane is ideal; maple sugar candy is also good. Discuss: What is sugar? What is energy?
2. Have students take and record their temperatures (using forehead thermometers), and then have them exercise in some way: run around, do jumping jacks, etc. Have their temperatures risen? If so, why?
3. Note that energy can be stored, as it was in the sugar, or as it is in fossil fuels. Energy can also be in other forms, such as heat energy or light energy. Brainstorm a list of forms of energy on the board.
4. Where do we get our energy? Pick a food - pizza works well (including mushrooms, a decomposer!) - and trace each item back, showing how its energy comes from plants, and ultimately from sunlight.
5. Assign homework for Personal Energy Use.