Teaching sequence

Work through this resource material in the following sequence:

10 minutes

Tune In: Act it out

20 minutes

Find Out: Hands-on investigation

35 minutes

Take Action: Communicating scientifically

5 minutes

Reflection

Learning intentions and success criteria

Students will:

investigate various types of energy, along with their transfers and transformations, through hands-on experiments
apply their knowledge to explain to an audience how energy is produced from renewable sources
learn about occupations in the renewable energy sector that require communicating about clean energy.

Students can:

classify various types of energy in renewable energy systems, such as solar, batteries, wind and hydro, and describe the energy transfers and transformations occurring in each system
conduct experiments or demonstrations to observe and explain energy transfers and transformations in different renewable energy sources
develop communication skills by applying their knowledge of renewable energy occupations and their understanding of renewable energy systems to inform an audience about how renewable energy is harnessed and its benefits to society and the environment.

Curriculum Connections

In this lesson, students investigate different types of energy, transfers and transformations in renewable energy sources. The next lesson in this unit, Energy Transformations in Action: Exploring Pumped Hydro, allows students to build on and expand this knowledge by looking at the transfers and transformation in the Kidston Pumped Hydro Project in detail, which is essentially a big battery storage device attached to a solar farm. In the Design and Technology lessons of this unit, students investigate how force, motion, and energy combine in pumped hydro systems by building water turbines and understanding how they generate electricity. Cool.org recommends that Science and Design and Technologies teachers collaborate to deliver these content materials across their respective subjects so students can understand the content from multiple STEM perspectives.

Tune In: Act it out

Preparation

This lesson assumes prior knowledge of energy types, energy transfers and energy transformations. If you haven’t covered these topics with your students yet, consider explaining these concepts before you begin this lesson. Some simple definitions and examples can be found in the Teacher Content Information to assist you. You might also like to showcase the types of energy with simple demonstrations using common science lab equipment. For example:

wind-up toys to show elastic potential to kinetic energy
a light with a hand-crank generator to show mechanical to electrical energy
a lamp left on to show light energy converting to heat energy

Step 1

Divide students into groups of 4-5 and pose the scenario below:

Imagine a mobile phone. You turn it on and flick through a few apps before deciding to watch a video on YouTube.

Explain to students that they will be given 5 minutes in their groups to put together a role-play that demonstrates how a mobile phone uses chemical energy from the battery to produce electrical energy, light, sound and heat.

Depending on your students’ prior knowledge, you can scaffold this task as much or as little as you like. If you want to challenge your students, don’t mention any of the types of energy, and encourage them to show in their role-play what energy they start with and what energy they transform into.

Step 2

Invite students to perform their role-plays for the class or small groups – points for creativity! As students present, conduct discussions to ensure they understand how different sources of energy can be transferred or transformed to provide us with usable energy.

Step 3

Once students have completed their role-plays, explain that most of the electricity that powers our mobile phones, devices, and a huge proportion of the things we use in everyday life comes from electricity generated by non-renewable sources such as coal.

Ask your students: "how could we power our phones more sustainably?"

Lead students to brainstorm alternative renewable energy sources such as wind power, solar power and hydropower.

Step 4

Ask your students:

Why doesn’t the initial energy source matter when considering the output of a device like a mobile phone?
What benefits are there from being able to harness different sources of energy?

Students should talk about how energy can be transferred and transformed from 1 form to another to provide us with the energy we need. This means we can use renewable, sustainable energy sources to provide us with exactly the same electricity as non-renewable sources have historically provided us.

Find Out: Hands-on investigation

Preparation

If you have the equipment available, set up the 4 stations in the table below, each representing a different renewable energy source (solar, battery, wind, hydro). The easiest station to set up with basic materials is the battery station, which requires a battery, wires and a light globe. If you have access to renewable energy equipment like small solar panels, turbines and fans, you might want to set these up, too. If you don’t have access to these materials, you can set each station up with a printout diagram of the energy source (available in the attached Visual Explainer)

Step 1

Divide your class into groups of 3 and explain to students that they will be investigating how different types of renewable energy transfer and transform to produce electricity.

Rotate the groups through each station. At each energy station, students should observe the demonstration or the visual stimulus in order to identify the types of energy involved and what transfers and transformations are taking place. Students can record their observations by annotating the images on the Student Worksheet. Suggested answers can be found in the Teacher Content Information to help guide your discussions with students.

Step 2

Ask students to stay in their groups and predict what kind of occupations might exist for generating and maintaining these energy sources. Also, invite students to consider what jobs might exist that need to explain to the public and local communities about renewable energy, how it works and the benefits.

Take Action: Communicating scientifically

Step 1

Use the attached Visual Explainer to display the following page from the Future Energy Jobs Guide (https://www.publications.qld.gov.au/ckan-publications-attachments-prod/resources/57272966-0265-4a95-87b4-fcbc92a30ed6/future-energy-jobs-guide-interactive-pdf-version-final.pdf?ETag=0aa487ce72a1cf5b5cfb991edf3eb93c), created by the Queensland Government, to your students. As Queensland and Australia transition to renewable energy, there are many different careers and jobs available for people who want to work in renewable energy across different sectors.

Ask your students to consider the importance of community engagement and digital marketing in relation to renewable energy. These might not be roles that immediately spring to mind when students think about renewable energy, but prompt them to think about why these positions are important.

Suggested responses (See the Teacher Content Information for more details):

Community engagement helps build trust between project developers and the local population, addressing concerns and providing clear information about the project’s goals, benefits and potential impacts.
Involving the community in planning can provide valuable local insights to improve project design and implementation.
Engaging with the community allows project developers to address any concerns or misconceptions about renewable energy projects.
Engaging with stakeholder groups within a community is important. In particular, to ensure Traditional Owners (such as Native Title Holder Corporations) are included and consulted regarding significant cultural sites and impacts on Country.
A well-engaged community is more likely to take pride in the project and ensure its continued success and maintenance.

Raising awareness about renewable energy, its benefits and the importance of transitioning from fossil fuels. Renewable energy companies can educate the public and influence public opinion through online campaigns, social media and marketing.

Step 2

Explain to students that educating the public about how different renewable energies work and operate is an extremely important part of the overall project. In order to fully support renewable energy and the benefits this type of electricity generation can bring about, it is necessary for people to understand the scientific principles behind how the different types work.

In this part of the lesson, students will explore renewable energy by acting as Community Engagement Consultants. They will be assigned a specific type of renewable energy or project and will need to demonstrate how this energy is obtained, transferred, and transformed to generate electricity for homes. They will also discuss the benefits of their assigned energy type and compare its advantages to non-renewable energy sources.

Step 3

Divide students into groups of 3-4 and inform them that their goal is to understand and promote a renewable energy project to the local community by creating a piece of communication that illustrates how their assigned energy type works, and its benefits. Clearly outline that each group must show how their assigned energy type is obtained, transferred and transformed into useable electricity, and discuss its benefits over non-renewable energy.

Allocate each group to 1 of the following renewable energy projects in Queensland. Students requiring extension can be allocated to hybrid projects such as Kidston and Kennedy, as these projects utilise more than 1 type of renewable energy.

Energy type	Project name and link
Onshore wind farm	MacIntyre Wind Farm (https://www.acciona.com.au/projects/macintyre-wind-farm/?_adin=11734293023)
Onshore wind farm	Wambo Wind Farm (https://wambowindfarm.com.au/#hero)
Solar farm	Western Downs Green Power Hub (https://westerndownsgreenpowerhub.com.au/)
Solar farm	Aldoga Solar Farm (https://www.acciona.com.au/projects/aldoga-solar-farm/?_adin=11734293023)
Hydro/solar	Kidston Pumped Storage Hydro (https://genexpower.com.au/250mw-kidston-pumped-storage-hydro-project/)
Battery storage	Chinchilla Battery (https://www.csenergy.com.au/what-we-do/firming-and-storage/chinchilla-battery)
Wind/solar/battery	Kennedy Energy Park (https://kennedyenergypark.com.au/)

Each group should design their communication to answer the questions below (available on the Student Worksheet):

Where is this project located? What community are you talking to?
What is an overview of the project? What information might the community want to know?
What type of renewable energy does this project make use of?
What is the science behind the energy? Describe what transfers and transformations take place in this energy generation process from the source energy to the final ready-to-use electricity.
What are the benefits of this energy type compared to non-renewable sources?

Step 4

Students have the opportunity to be creative with their communication pieces. Encourage them to think of ways of communicating that would be most engaging to a local community learning about these types of renewable energy. This may include:

building a physical model
designing a detailed poster
creating a digital presentation
scripting and filming an informative video.

Step 5

If time permits, allow students to present their completed projects to the class in a mock community engagement session. The group should present their information as if they are talking to the designated audience. Audience members should act as if they are members of the local community and should ask questions that local community members would.

Reflection

Reflect on this lesson with your students using ‘The 3 Whys’ thinking routine:

Why might understanding the science behind renewable energy matter to me?
Why might it matter to people around me (family, friends, city, country)?
Why might it matter to the world?

Energising Communities: Communicating the Science of Renewable Power

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