Activities

Activity 1
Energy Challenge

Teacher-led Classroom Activity
Science, Technology, Engineering, Math, Social Studies,
Language Arts, Art

 

Students explore and promote ways to save energy.

Objective:

Students brainstorm simple ways to save energy and design a school-wide challenge to save energy and thus reduce carbon dioxide emissions.

Students will need:

• Access to a computer and the Internet
• Pens or pencils
• Poster board, markers, glue, rulers

Suggested time:

Three class periods

What to do:

1. Use the student magazine to engage students in a discussion of how using energy contributes to climate change. Ask them if they think they can reduce the amount of energy they use by changing their habits—for example, turning off lights when leaving a room or walking or biking to school instead of going by car.
2. Have students brainstorm a list of simple ways to save energy and make the classroom more energy efficient based on the audit and other research.
3. Pick several of the most promising ideas. Divide the students into small groups. Have one group make a poster listing and illustrating the ideas for your classroom. Have another group design a handout with the same material to post around the school and send home. Another group could put the list with appropriate illustrations on the school’s website.
4. As a follow-up, students can make a poster summarizing the results of the classroom energy audit. They might present it to the school administration or at a meeting of the school board or parent-teacher organization as a way to both save money and help protect the environment.

 

Photos: Patricia Monteiro; kotoffei/depositphotos.