Teaching sequence

10 min

Tune In: Identifying Energy

30 min

Find Out: School energy audit

15 min

Take Action: Becoming energy efficient

5 min

Reflection

Tune In: Identifying Energy

Preparation

Talk to your school staff

Communicate to your co-workers what groups are doing and how/why they are completing this audit. Double-check that students are able to enter the different rooms and collect the data they need with minimal disturbance to other staff. Make sure students are aware of where they can and cannot go!

Set expectations

Remind students how much time they have to complete the project and encourage students to be realistic about the tasks they need to complete in that time. Make sure they are mindful of staff and other students working and that they are to stay focused.

Maintain a high level of communication with each group.

Make sure that everyone has what they need to complete the work they have been allocated and that everyone knows what they should be doing.

Step 1

Pose the following question to your students and record all of their answers in a word cloud.

What uses electrical energy?

If they are getting stuck, prompt them to look around the classroom or think about what they have in their homes.

Step 2

That’s a lot of different things that use electricity! Looking at our list, what things are switched on all the time? Circle these things. Do they need to be on all the time? Or are they left on because it is convenient?

Today, we’re going to look at our school and see if we can find out how much electricity we use, and see if there are any ways we can save electricity.

Find Out: School Energy Audit

Step 1

Show students a map of your school. If you don’t have one available, we recommend using Google Maps on satellite view. Alternatively, many councils have detailed satellite maps available. Looking at this map, which areas/rooms use electricity? Answers might include:

classrooms
science lab
media room
art room
staff room
office
library
hall/gym
toilets
storerooms
sickbay
outdoor areas
principal’s office

Step 2

Today, we are going to conduct an energy audit of these areas. Let’s see what an energy audit involves.

Schools Energy Audit - https://vimeo.com/899356105/ef6a8b1762?share=copy

Assign students to different groups for the audit and divide the rooms among the groups as evenly as possible (combining a number of smaller rooms if necessary). If your school has a number of rooms that are very similar (e.g. a classroom), just assign a group to one of these rooms and multiply energy data for one room by the total number of similar rooms. Mark on your map which groups are responsible for which rooms.

Roles and Responsibilities

MANAGER

The manager is in charge of any equipment the group needs and is responsible for collecting and returning the equipment. In addition, the manager needs to tell the teacher if any equipment is broken or missing.

DIRECTOR

The director is in charge of ensuring the project stays on track and that all group members understand what is expected from each step of the project. The director also needs to offer encouragement and guidance but is not the group leader (this responsibility falls to all students).

RECORDER

The recorder is in charge of record keeping and identifying any points of data that might have been missed. The recorder needs to make sure the data is accurate and usable.

Step 3

Make sure each group has the resources they need (student worksheet, a clipboard, and a pen). Talk through the student worksheet. Make sure students are aware that they need to:

Move around the school and collect data on electrical usage in each room they have been allocated.
Return to the classroom and calculate the kilowatt-hours used by the appliances and the room in total.
Use this information to calculate the greenhouse emissions for their area.

Remind students of the time allocation they have and the expectations for when they are outside the classroom.

Step 4

As student groups return to the classroom, prompt them to continue working through the student worksheet, to calculate the energy usage for their area and the subsequent greenhouse gas emissions.

Step 5

Record the data in a table as below, and as a class, calculate the energy usage for the whole school for a year.

Remember! If you only did 1 classroom as a sample, you will need to multiply that by the number of classrooms in the school.

Areas	Emissions














Total for the whole school in a year:

Numeracy extension: How many black balloons of carbon dioxide does your school emit? One black balloon has a volume of 50 grams CO2e. On average, how many black balloons does your school emit in a month? A week? A day? An hour?

Take Action: Becoming Energy Efficient

Step 1

If you are able to, compare your student’s findings with the school’s energy bill.

Step 2

In their groups, ask students to answer the following questions on their worksheets:

Did you find any examples of energy inefficiency in your area? Where and what were they, and how could this inefficiency be addressed?
Do you think the emissions for your school are high or low? Why?
What do you think the school could do to cut back on energy use and the emissions it makes?

Step 3

Share this video with students to look at some of the solutions to energy inefficiency.

Solutions Video - https://vimeo.com/900953500/f8989fffd8?share=copy

Which of these solutions do you think would benefit our school?

Literacy extension: Students can choose a method of reducing energy inefficiency based on the results of their audit and write an elevator pitch addressed to the principal and school board to promote this solution.

Reflection

Exit ticket: Complete the following question on the student worksheet:

What are two things I can do at home to reduce my energy consumption?

Save the Sparks: School Energy Audit

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Summary

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