Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) affect nearly every aspect of our
lives — from the cars we drive, to the food we eat, to the smartphones we use to communicate.
The information and activities in this booklet will help you understand the critical role STEM
plays in the energy industry. Have fun exploring the world of energy, and we hope you learn
some interesting new things along the way.
Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) affect nearly every aspect of our
lives — from the cars we drive, to the food we eat, to the smartphones we use to communicate.
The information and activities in this booklet will help you understand the critical role STEM
plays in the energy industry. Have fun exploring the world of energy, and we hope you learn
some interesting new things along the way.
Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) affect nearly every aspect of our lives — from
the cars we drive, to the food we eat, to the smartphones we use to communicate. Innovation is the key to helping the U.S. stay competitive in today’s globalized, technology-driven world.
The information and activities in this booklet will help you understand the critical role STEM plays in the
energy industry. Have fun exploring the world of energy, and we hope you learn some interesting new
things along the way.
Solar Powered Cars are a fun engineering design challenge that provide plenty of room for academic conversations. The reality of solar panels is they aren’t perfect by any means. They require a level of precision in their positioning to the sun that producing a successful device is a challenge! Therein lies the opportunity for exploration, inquiry and iteration as both students and teachers alike can grow academically with the creation of a solar-powered car.
This resource from Discovery Place Science shows you two prototypes designed to serve as an exploration of what the introduction of a 3D printer and some simple design software can produce as well as an how this project can be completed using more common classroom materials such as popsicle sticks and hot glue
Creating turbines can be a fun way to explore the relationship of naturally occurring energy sources like wind. Using everyday materials students can create a variety of turbines that can be tested with LED’s and voltmeters to determine their effectiveness and start meaningful conversations around design improvements, energy conservation and a sustainable energy plan for the United States.
This resource from Discovery Place Science shows you how to build and test turbines with materials for the classroom, including 3-D plans for gear systems for your turbines.
Energy Tree Diagram: What do wind-up toys, springs, and pop-ups have in common? Energy! In this video, we’ll take a closer look at these toys to examine what types of energy transfers happen that cause these everyday object to spin, move, and pop. This is a great way to learn about types of energy in a fun and engaging approach by mapping out the kinds of energy present through a process of drawing out the types of energy in an energy tree diagram.
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Argumentation Toolkit: How do you get kids to think and discuss ideas critically on their own? The Argumentation Toolkit, developed by the Lawrence Hall of Science provides easy yet powerful ways to help students verbalize their thinking. This video steps you through a simple exercise where students are faced with pieces of evidence and whether they support a claim. These evidence statements are written on cards that students can move around, discuss and argue with one another in a more active, concrete way of supporting their ideas. When it comes to understanding energy and energy related issues, this is a great way to foster productive and meaningful discussion in the classroom. Funding support for Argumentation Toolkit made possible by a grant from the National Science Foundation.
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Novel Engineering: Developed by Tufts University, Novel Engineering is an excellent way to integrate literacy and STEM in your teaching. In this video, we’ll take you through the steps of this approach using a book on energy as an example. By looking at the characters in a story, students will identify problems these characters are faced with and then brainstorm possible solutions to help them. Once they’ve chosen one idea to develop, the students can then design a solution using simple materials in the classroom and share and refine their ideas with their classmates—just like an engineer solving with problems with energy.
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The Argumentation Toolkit is a collection of resources designed to help teachers understand and teach scientific argumentation. The resources featured can be adapted to any science content, including topics in energy. The Argumentation Toolkit was developed as part of a research and development project in which we are designing videos and other multimedia tools to support middle school teachers in integrating argumentation into their classroom across reading, writing and talking. This project, Constructing and Critiquing Arguments in Middle School Science Classrooms, is a collaboration between the Lawrence Hall of Science and Boston College, and is supported by a grant from the National Science Foundation (DRL-1119584).
This is a collection of experiments and demonstrations from Fizzics Education related to electricity using things you can find at home.
Fizzics Education provides outreach education in Australia. They’re online collection of activities, demonstrations and videos help students understand science at home or other informal environments.
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