STELR Renewable Energy
Unit 1: Investigating Energy
- Students investigate global warming and climate change, energy types, transfers and transformations, renewable and non-renewable energy resources and careers.
They:
- discuss global warming and climate change,
- find out about types of energy and how energy can be transferred from place to place and transformed from one type to another
- investigate energy resources both renewable and non-renewable
- find out about careers in the renewable energy industry
Maps to year 6 Physical sciences
Electrical energy can be transferred and transformed in electrical circuits and can be generated from a range of sources (ACSSU097)
Elaborations
- investigating how moving air and water can turn turbines to generate electricity
- investigating the use of solar panels
- considering whether an energy source is sustainable
Maps to year 7 Earth and space sciences
Some of Earth’s resources are renewable, including water that cycles through the environment, but others are non-renewable (ACSSU116)
Elaborations
- considering what is meant by the term ‘renewable’ in relation to the Earth’s resources
- considering timescales for regeneration of resources
- comparing renewable and non-renewable energy sources, including how they are used in a range of situations
Maps to year 8 Physical sciences
Energy appears in different forms, including movement (kinetic energy), heat and potential energy, and energy transformations and transfers cause change within systems(ACSSU155)
Elaborations
- recognising that kinetic energy is the energy possessed by moving bodies
- recognising that potential energy is stored energy, such as gravitational, chemical and elastic energy
- investigating different forms of energy in terms of the effects they cause, such as gravitational potential causing objects to fall and heat energy transferred between materials that have a different temperature
- recognising that heat energy is often produced as a by-product of energy transfer, such as brakes on a car and light globes
- using flow diagrams to illustrate changes between different forms of energy
Unit 2: Understanding Energy
Students revise global warming and investigate energy efficiency, batteries and electric circuits. They
- revise global warming and energy concepts,
- find out about energy conservation and efficiency
- investigate batteries and electric circuits,
- find out about careers in the renewable energy industry
Maps to year 10 Physical sciences
Energy conservation in a system can be explained by describing energy transfers and transformations (ACSSU190)
Elaborations
- recognising that the Law of Conservation of Energy explains that total energy is maintained in energy transfer and transformation
- recognising that in energy transfer and transformation, a variety of processes can occur, so that the usable energy is reduced and the system is not 100% efficient
- comparing energy changes in interactions such as car crashes, pendulums, lifting and dropping
- using models to describe how energy is transferred and transformed within systems.
Unit 3: Powering Earth
Students investigate the use of batteries, solar electricity and wind turbines using inquiry-based hands-on activities. They
- revise global warming,
- investigate the use of batteries,
- study solar electricity and wind turbines using inquiry-based hands-on activities,
- find out about careers in the renewable energy industry
- design and run investigations to answer their own inquiry questions
Maps to year 10 Physical sciences
Energy conservation in a system can be explained by describing energy transfers and transformations. (ACSSU190)
Elaborations
- recognising that the Law of Conservation of Energy explains that total energy is maintained in energy transfer and transformation
- recognising that in energy transfer and transformation, a variety of processes can occur, so that the usable energy is reduced and the system is not 100% efficient
- comparing energy changes in interactions such as car crashes, pendulums, lifting and dropping
- using models to describe how energy is transferred and transformed within systems.