Techtronics Solar Energy Unit
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Published on TeachEngineering by Techtronics
Click on links below to access the Techtronics Solar Energy Unit, “Exploring Solar Power,” published on the Teachengineering website.
Unit: Exploring Solar Power
- Lesson: Using Heat from the Sun
- Activity: Cooking with the Sun - Creating a Solar Oven
- Lesson: From Sunlight to Electric Current
- Activity: Racing with the Sun - Creating a Solar Car
- Optional Lesson: Generators: Three Mile Island vs. Hoover Dam
- Optional Activity: Win that Bid! Selling Your Power Solution
Unit Description
The Techtronics Solar Energy Unit includes two major projects designed to provide students the opportunity to explore methods engineers have devised for harnessing sunlight to generate power. Both are completely published on TeachEngineering. The first project teaches students about harnessing the thermal power of the sun. Students will explore heat transfer and heat storage through the construction, testing, and eventual use of a solar oven. The second project is designing and building a solar car. With a lesson focused on photovoltaic cells, students will learn the concepts of energy conversion, conservation of energy, current, and voltage. Through construction of model solar powered cars, students can see these conceptual ideas manifested in modern technology. Furthermore, the solar car project provides opportunities to explore a number of other topics, such as gear ratios and simple mechanics. Both of these design and construction projects are examples of engineering design. The Techtronics Solar Energy Unit called “Exploring Solar Power” is published in the TeachEngineering Digital Library.
In the first lesson, “Using Heat from the Sun,” students first discuss where energy comes from, including sources such as fossil fuels, nuclear, and such renewable technologies as solar. After this initial exploration, students investigate the three main types of heat transfer: convection, conduction, and radiation. Students learn how properties describe the ways different materials behave, for instance whether they are insulators or conductors. In the associated activity, “Cooking with the Sun - Creating a Solar Oven,” the class then focuses on the acquisition and storage of energy through the design, construction, and testing of a fully functional solar oven. This project generally takes 2-3 class sessions and the ovens are then tested during the Saturday at Duke.
In the second lesson, “From Sunlight to Electric Current,” students explore the concept of current in electrical circuits and learn how photovoltaic cells function. Students learn Ohm’s law and explore how electricity generated by photovoltaic cells can power everyday items. Finally, in the activity “Racing with the Sun - Creating a Solar Car“, students use engineering design principles to design, construct and test a small solar powered car. This project generally takes 2-3 class sessions and the cars are then raced for the students’ parents during the Saturday at Duke.
An optional addition to the unit is an activity that introduces the various different means of power generation for electricity. In the lesson “Generators: Three Mile Island vs. Hoover Dam,” students learn about the history of electricity and its development into the modern utility upon which we depend. The methods of power generation are introduced, and further discussion of each technology’s pros and cons follows. Then, the students participate in a role playing activity called “Win that Bid! Selling Your Power Solution.” In the activity, students are divided into small groups, and each group plays the part of an engineering company. Each company is a leader in one of the major methods of power generation. The groups look at the needs of a particular town, and then each group gives a presentation to the town about why it should adopt their power solution. If there is an extra class session at the beginning of the unit, this provides a good overview of various ways power is generated today.
