Lessons

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  Just Turn It Off

  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.
• 

  Energy Sources and Use

  3-5  |  Hands-On
  In this lesson, students distinguish between renewable and nonrenewable sources of energy while comparing the benefits and drawbacks of each.
• 

  Power Up!

  3-5  |  Interactive
  In this lesson, students compare and contrast different energy sources and the trade-offs of using them.
• 

  True Green Kids: 100 Things You Can Do to Save the Planet

  3-5  |  Hands-On
  This lesson shows that products and objects have lifespans so we need to recycle, reuse, and re-imagine new purposes for them.
• 

  Energy for You

  6-8  
  In this lesson, students will learn about the sources of the energy that supply their community.
• 

  How We Know What We Know about Our Changing Climate

  6-8  |  Audio
  The lesson introduces students to the scientific basis of climate change.
• 

  Renewable Energy Sources

  6-8  
  In this lesson, students will use Internet resources to investigate renewable sources of energy.
• 

  Energy: The U.S. in Crisis?

  9-12  
  In this lesson, students research and assess past, present, and future decisions related to energy shortages.
• 

  Green Roof Design

  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.

Tools

• 

  Power Up!

  3-8  |  Interactive
  This interactive challenges students to think about the positive and negative consequences of various types of power.
• 

  Communicating and Learning about Global Climate Change

  6-12  |  Video
  This 12-minute video produced by AAAS features a number of experts on global climate change talking about its impacts to our planet.

Science Updates

• 

  Carbon Emissions

  6-12  |  Audio
  Carbon gases are prime culprits in global warming. One study suggests we're making even more of them than we thought. You can learn why in this Science Update.
• 

  Electricity from Sewage

  6-12  |  Audio
  In this Science Update we learn how researchers are using leftover material—wastewater—as a way to generate electricity.
• 

  Fossil Fuel Switch

  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.
• 

  Mountain Rain

  6-12  |  Audio
  This Science Update explores why pollution from cities could dry out nearby mountains.
• 

  Nitrogen Pollution

  6-12  |  Audio
  In this Science Update, learn why human sources of nitrogen may be just as environmentally costly as carbon emissions.
• 

  Solar Power from Moon

  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.