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Energy is the ability to do work, where work means moving something, lifting something, warming something, or lighting something. Where does this energy come from? How do people go about collecting it? How is it distributed? There are also many different forms of energy, including: fossil fuels, electricity, biomass, geothermal, hydro, nuclear, solar, and wind. This collection of Science NetLinks resources shines a light on the types of lessons, tools, and interactives available to help students understand energy.
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Lessons
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K-2 | Hands-On
In this lesson, students will probe the problem of what happens to a battery-operated flashlight when it is not turned off.
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K-2 | Hands-On
Students will take a closer look at the sun and begin to recognize its critical function in heating and warming the air, land, and water that sustain our lives.
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3-5 | Hands-On
In this lesson, students distinguish between renewable and nonrenewable sources of energy while comparing the benefits and drawbacks of each.
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3-5 | Interactive
In this lesson, students compare and contrast different energy sources and the trade-offs of using them.
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3-5
In this lesson, students will perform simple experiments that will help them to explore unseen energy produced by the sun.
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3-5 | Hands-On
This lesson is intended to give students a general idea of how heat is produced from human-based activities and mechanical and electrical machines.
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6-8
In this lesson, students will study energy through the idea of energy transformations and conversions.
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6-8
In this lesson, students will learn about the sources of the energy that supply their community.
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6-8 | Interactive
In this lesson, students look at different energy resources, where they come from, what they produce, and the trade-offs of using them.
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6-8 | Hands-On
This lesson is intended to increase students' understanding of electron transfer and its role in chemical changes.
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6-8
In this lesson, students investigate how electrical energy can be produced from a variety of energy sources and then transformed to almost any other form of energy.
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9-12
In this lesson, students research and assess past, present, and future decisions related to energy shortages.
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9-12
In this student-centered learning model, students work collaboratively in small teams to design a heat- and water-conserving “green roof” of plant material for an urban apartment building.
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9-12
In this lesson, students explore how geoscientists use technology and computer modeling to find oil and natural gas.
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9-12
In this lesson students explore the history of the splitting of the atom.
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9-12 | Hands-On
In this lesson, students will discover that sunlight and the electromagnetic spectrum are the main tools with which we study objects in the solar system.
Science Updates
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6-12 | Audio
Learn about a thirty-year plan to replace 70 percent of our fossil fuels, using only current technologies like storable solar power, safer nuclear plants, and methanol from crop waste.
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6-12 | Audio
As number of households is increasing faster than the human population is growing, it puts a strain on our energy resources.
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6-12 | Audio
Solar power is clean, abundant, and becoming cheaper and more efficient all the time. Unfortunately, however, the sun isn't always there when you need it—like when it's cloudy, or it's raining, or it's nighttime. In this Science Update, you'll hear about an ambitious plan to get around that problem.
Tools
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3-8 | Interactive
This resource provides an introduction to electricity and power plants.
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3-8 | Interactive
This interactive challenges students to think about the positive and negative consequences of various types of power.
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6-8 | Interactive
This interactive game helps students learn about harnessing energy from different power sources.
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6-12 | Interactive
The Energy Time Machine is a site that presents the history of energy from 500,000 BCE (Before the Common Era) up to 2006.
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9-12 | Interactive
This resource from the Physics Classroom provides an animation of the motion of a pendulum.
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9-12 | Video
This resource contains a video and an interactive explaining how petroleum was formed and how it is processed.
Collections
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6-12
Science NetLinks has developed a number of resources that examine the science behind energy and oil refining.
Other Resources
National Energy Action Month
Grade Band: 6-12
Description: October marks National Energy Action Month and people are encouraged to take action "to achieve greater energy security, a more robust economy, and a healthier environment for our children."
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