Section 1: Introduction
Intro statement / How efficient is a passive solar power home in generating heat?
Length of Lesson / 1 ½ weeks
Note or advice to other teachers / This lab can be done with material from home or recycled material.
Section 2: Purpose
List key questions to address / How efficient is solar power energy?
Which has a bigger effect: distance or angle or sun?
Which type of material will trap large amounts of heat?
Can a passive solar power house keep us warm?
Section 3: Learning Objectives / Outcomes
Key objectives / Identify Standards and Benchmarks to be taught for this lesson plan –
SC.912.P.10.1 Differentiate among the various forms of energy and recognize that they can be transformed from one form to others.
SC.912.P.10.4 Describe heat as the energy transferred by convection, conduction, and radiation, and explain the connection of heat to change in temperature or states of matter.
After completing this lesson, the students will be able to: / -measure and graph the angle of rays and materials that generate the most heat.
-understand what a kilowatt of energy is.
- create a passive solar home and evaluate the efficiency of that home
Tasks / Skills to be achieved / Build a passive solar power house that is efficient in holding heat.
Read and understand graphs.
Relate observations to real life situations.
Section 4: Identify Materials and Media to Be Used
Worksheets / Worksheet 1: Part 1
Worksheet 2: Part 2
Worksheet 3: Part 3
Handouts / Teacher Notes for Sun and Seasons
Articles / Publications / Cost of solar electricity:
Web Sites /
Passive Solar Heating - Arizona Solar Center
References / Resources /Passive solar heating | YourHome
Videos / Passive solar house:PowerPoint Presentations /
Passive Solar Design - Florida Solar Energy Center
Section 5: ContextVocabulary list with definitions / 1.Solar Energy: radiant energy emitted from sun.
2. Solar photovoltaic (PV) systems: capture solar radiation and convert it directly to electricity
3. Solar Thermal Systems: designed to harness the sun’s heat to provide for water heating or space heating or cooling
4. Passive Heating:where the energy of the sun used to keep people comfortable without using mechanical systems, (example fans, blowers, pumps, etc.).
5. Overcapacity:the situation in which an industry or factory cannot sell as much as it can produce.
6. Peaking Plant:power plants that generally run only when there is a high demand, known as peakdemand, for electricity.
7. Levelized Cost of Energy: (LCOE) is a measure of a power source which attempts to compare different methods of electricity generation on a comparable basis.
8. kilowatt (kW): a unit of power kW denotes how much power a PV system is generating at a given point.
9. kilowatt-hour (kWh): a unit of energy used over time.
Section 6: Preparation - technology needed to teach the subject
Computer / Teacher access with LCD
Overhead / N/A
Internet / with computer
Other / N/A
Section 7: Recommended Sequence of Learning Events
* Examples of common principles and concepts used for describing Teaching & Learning events may include: Introduce concepts; motivate; direct attention; guide thinking; discussion; lecture; provoke thought; identify patterns; critique; synthesize; evaluate
* Instructional Event / Media / Materials / Content
Example:
1. Present Case Study / Handouts: -electricity cost vs solar power
Worksheets
-guided reading / How much power do you think a light bulb or water heater uses in a month?
Which materials and which angle of the sun produces the optimal amounts of heat for you solar home?
2. Make observations / Thermometer, metric stick, 150 watt heat lamp, protractor,
stopwatch, graphing paper, colored pencils,
materials to be tested. / This lab can be done inside with a lamp. Choose 4 types of material for building your house (ex. black paper, cardboard, wood, tile). Each member of group will run the experiment on 1 type of material.
- Set material under the lamp for 15 minutes and record the temperature of the material. (wewill use this material later for our house!)
- Set the thermometer with the metric stick at 2 different distances (36cm and 46 cm) from a 150 watt heat lamp. Measure these temperatures after 10min.
- Use the above distances with different angles of light. . Change the angles from 60, 75, 90, 105, and 120 to see which angle will show an increase of temperature.
- Record all information.
- Graph information
3. Guide discussion / -YouTube: little solar house
Pictures of -different angles of sun. / How can the angle of our light, the distance of our light and the materials that we use help to insure optimal heat in our solar homes? Discuss materials used with other members of group design the “optimal passive solar home”
4. Summarize / -graphs of all students info. / Can your solar home be designed to obtain enough solar energy to heat your house during the winter months? How can we store this energy on a cloudy, raining day? What are the “myths” out there about solar energy? Each student will make a wheel explaining “myths” of solar energy and with pictures and what they have learned.
5. Make assignment / -List of materials / Make your solar house. Set the lamp up at the optimal angle and set it up for “summer” and “winter” months. Record temperature over time.
Section 8: Assessment
Five measurable test questions to be asked and answered /
- What is solar energy?
- How does solar power compare to electricity costs?
- What materials would be used for the optimal solar home and why?
- How does the angle and distance of light improve the amount of heat in our solar homes? Explain.
- How could we improve on our ability to passively heat our homes?
Exercise thinking skills /
- How much power do you think your TV and computer uses when it is not on?
Recommended performance measure to assess transfer of knowledge /
- Measure the amount of heat that your house holds at night time. Write a scientific conclusion as to whether your passive solar home would keep you warm during the evening hours and how you can improve on this.
- Use a hot water furnace in your house and (can of water) to measure the heat of the house and how much it dropped over night.
Section 9: Extensions / Enrichment
Recommended activities that would broaden the students experience / ●How do you store the energy within your passive solar house? Attach solar panel to house and record information overtime.
Section 10: Related Resources
References and resources to support additional learning and research of subject /
Department of Energy
Passive Solar Energy - Alternative Energy News
Solar House, Student Lab Template. Copyright @2004 by the College Entrance Examination Board. apcentral.collegeboard.comSection 11: Credit
Curriculum Developer / Mary Swigert, Jupiter High
Contact information /
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