Welcome to Change is Simple’s Online Learning Platform!
Overview: In this activity, students will draw their own community on a sheet of paper to help identify how electricity travels from a power plant through power lines to all the buildings in a community. Students will list as many things as they can that require electricity.
Grade Level: 2-4
Theme: Energy Conservation
Supervision needed? No
Essential Questions:
What is an energy grid?
How can we produce electricity without pollution?
What do fossil fuels produce when burned?
What are three fossil fuels?
Materials Needed:
One sheet white paper
Assorted markers
Computer
Standards:
K-2-ETS1-2. Develop a simple sketch, drawing, or physical model to illustrate how the shape of an object helps it function as needed to solve a given problem.
4-PS3-2 Make observations to provide evidence that energy can be transferred from place to place by sound, light, heat, and electric currents.
4-ESS3-1 Obtain and combine information to describe that energy and fuels are derived from natural resources and their uses affect the environment.
14.2 Identify ways the physical environment is related to individual and community health
13.4 Identify individual and community responsibility in ecological health.
Welcome to Change is Simple’s Family Fun Activities! Today’s topic is energy grids. Today we will get to learn about how important electricity is and how it gets to the different buildings in our towns! Enjoy the this fun activity to learn about how electricity travels to us and how it is created.
energy grid activity instructions
Student-Led Experiment
Activity Duration: 20 Minutes
Materials Needed:
1. One sheet white paper
2. Assorted Markers
3. Computer
step 1: set up your town grid
1) Take a sheet of paper and draw the outline of your town.
2) Draw squares in BLUE for where the houses and apartments are in your town.
Draw squares in ORANGE for restaurants, schools, and other town buildings.
3) Draw at least one large GREEN park or field in your town.
4) Draw a power plant on your map as a BLACK filled in square.
5) Let’s make a grid! Draw dotted lines in BLACK that connect each building to the power plant.
step 2: what uses electricity?
An energy grid like you drew is how we get electricity to all of the buildings in our town! We need electricity for so many things! The majority of our power comes from a power plant.
Question 1: List 10 things in your house that use electricity?
We typically use what are called fossil fuels like coal, oil, and natural gas in our power plants. When we use these to make our electricity, it produces air pollution. This is not good for us to breathe in. Let’s brainstorm some alternatives. Hint: let’s think of some ways to make electricity that do not pollute.
Question 2: What other ways can we make electricity that does not produce pollution?
step 3: let’s make it shine!
Now we want to make our electricity grid a little more “green.” So let’s add some Renewable energy such as solar panels, wind turbines, and hydroelectric power. These renewable energy sources can produce electricity for us and also not produce pollution! Yay! So let’s add some to our town today.
1) Draw solar panels as YELLOW filled in boxes on houses.
Draw wind turbines in YELLOW in any open fields.
2) Draw YELLOW dotted lines connecting the wind turbines & solar panels to the grid!
You’re adding clean renewable energy to the grid! This source does NOT produce air pollution!
step 4: let’s reflect
Question 1: The more electricity we use, the more _____________ we produce. Fill in the blank. (Hint: look at step 2 for help)
Question 2: Research where the closest power plant is to your town. Where is it and what fuel does it burn? (coal, natural gas, oil, etc.)
Question 3: Why do we want to add renewable energy to our energy grid?
Question 4: What are some ways we can use less electricity?
step 5: Let’s wrap up
Now that you have completed this activity, you hopefully understand that when we use a lot of electricity, we produce a lot of air pollution. We use fossil fuels like coal, oil, and natural gas to create electricity in a power plant. When we burn fossil fuels, it produces air pollution. This is not healthy for local communities' air quality and it also contributes to climate change. Let’s brainstorm some ways that we can help lower our electricity use! Hopefully you have brainstormed some ways in your reflection.
The Change is Simple team has come up with a few ways to help you get started:
Play outside.
Play cards, board games, and read books
Set timers for how long we use our electronic devices
Shut off the lights when we are not using them