'About Energy'

- learn -
- teach others -
- become a watchdog -


All around the Earth scientists and others meet and discuss the nature of climate change. A lot of attention circulate around the role of carbon dioxide  a naturally occuring compound that is considered to be a greenhouse gas because it helps trap solar radiation within the Earth's atmosphere. It's like 'wrapping a globe' with a plastic cover (see photo).

The Centre for Sustainable Communications at KTH, Stockholm, has tried to make it easier to understand the magnitude of carbon dioxide told click here

Around Earth there are about as many opinions about the greenhouse effect as there are scientists studying it. Scientists have highlighted the risk we will face if our action and environmental behaviour aren't changed. Some believe that the Earth might be warmer and warmer, others predict that the effect will be much more complex - parts of the Earth might even get colder.

Severe droughts and flooding, melting ice caps and rising seas, land-erosion, countries might shrink and the extinction of organisms or changed ecosystems. Resources like timber, water, minerals etc. have began to run out and the effects of pollution and the disposal of waste have become critical issues. All human action has an affect on the natural environment and the consequences often go beyond what we immediately can perceive.

What can we do about such a global problem? The immidiate answer would probably be - 'Nothing'. But if we "Act Local and Think Global" a lot more can be done.

Introduce the problem in the classroom...

You'll be astonished how much students of today know about climate change and fears that might occur because of that.

Below you find a couple of exercises or lessons that will inspire students of all ages and get them talk about it in the schoolyard, at home and with their friends. Hopefully these exercises can get them think about differences they can make in their life and in their behaviour.

Exercise/Lesson

Keep the heat in a tin 

The class is divided into small groups. Each group is given a tin with 100 ml of cold water, 3 matches, a striking face from a match box, a thermometer and a stop watch.

Problem: Is it possible to extend the cooling period and keep the heat in the tin?

Manual:

  1. Plan the test (some information could be given to the students a number of hours in advance)
  2. Bring the water to boil
  3. Switch of the fire
  4. Measure the temperature of water 1 minute after the switch off (starting-point)
  5. Then measure the falling temperature every minute för 30-40 minutes.
  6. Note all values in a table and draw a diagram (see below discussion)
  7. You could make it to a competition to see which group will get the best result

 .. or in a cup of tea   

The class is divided into small groups. Each group is given a cup or similar with 100 ml of boiled water, a thermometer and a stop watch.

Manual (same as above excl. point 1-3

  1. -
  2. -
  3. -
  4. Measure the temperature of water 1 minute after the water has been put into the cup (starting-point).
  5. Then measure the falling temperature every minute för 30-40 minutes.
  6. Note all values in a table and draw a diagram (see below discussion)

Discussion

 
How did the students solve the problem?

Surely students in different countries and of differnt ages have different and interesting ideas about how to keep the heat in a tin or in a cup of tea.

The idea about the cup of tea and the discussions and laboratory work around it can be applicable to any other things using energy i.e. at home,an aquarium, a vehicle, a machine, an ecosystem.

 

 

 

time 

temp.

Change in oC 

minutes

ToC

0

95

0

1

86,8

-8,3

2

79,4

-7,3

3

72,9

-6,5

4

67,1

-5,8

5

61,9

-5,2

6

57,3

-4,6

7

53,2

-4,1

8

49,5

-3,6

9

46,3

-3,2

10

43,4

-2,9

11

40,8

-2,6

12

38,5

-2,3

:

:

:

:

:

:

34

21,4

-0,2

35

21,3

-0,2

36

21,1

-0,1

37

21,0

-0,1

38

20,9

-0,1

 

Keeping the heat or high temperature in a tin or in a cup of tea means saving wood, saving timber or fossil fuels and in the long run - reducing the amount of greenhouse gases.

 

How much light (Lux or W) is it possible you could get from one tea light?

 

a) How much light (Lux or W) is it possible you could get from one tea light? Possible to use as "reading-light"? The students should construct something with any equipment they’ll find. There are good ideas in the history of Europe i.e. the Microscope etc

b) If you put a teaspoon with water above the flame of a tea light, the water will start to boil very soon. If you don’t use a teaspoon but something else - how much water can be boiled by using one tea light? The students should construct something with any equipment they’ll find.

c) What to do with the metal cover when the candle has burned out. Can one or a couple of them be used in a clever way instead of just being thrown?

Let the students think and come up with ideas themselves about solving each of the problem a,b,c (above)

Follow-up-questions or problems

Describe a concrete idea for a new product that can make the world more climate friendly.
What can we as individuals do to make our life (home, school, town etc) more climate friendly?

 

Result

Record a 30 second video or make a Power Point presentation of your way of solving the problems. You can choose to do it yourself or work with others in a group of students. There could be several videos from each class. The speaker on each video should use the common language - English, of course.

It will be interesting to see how students in different groups and countries solve the problems. A jury consisting of participants (pupils and teachers from the countries involved in the Comenius project) could select a winner or two among the entries based on criteria relevant to subject matter, creative expression and communication in terms of value.