Kathleen C. Rende
1) Energy, Work and Heat
Goals:
1. The students will explore the idea of energy by creating models with the teacher of energy transforming into heat, then energy changing the composition of wood to waste.
2. The students will explore the idea of a need for fuel to make a Stirling engine.
Background Information
Energy comes in many different forms, from motion that can be seen to the potential for the production of it. There is also chemical energy like that of gasoline to a car engine or stored energy in food. Energy such as heat can be stored and used to make motion. Further, there is nuclear energy of plutonium and hydrogen, to name a few.
While the idea of all these forms of energy may seem distant and abstract to a kindergartner, the idea of energy creating work is not. Work is defined as “the product of a force acting on a body and the distance the body had moved under the action of the force” (Goldstien & Goldstien, p. 11) Work can be an observable action that a student at the kindergarten level can see and respond to. By pushing against a wall, a kindergartener can tell if there is work being done or if the effort is wasted because that wall never moved. The energy is expelled and nothing changes.
As stated earlier, the first law of thermodynamics states that energy cannot be created or destroyed. It always stays constant. When heat is the form of energy students can see and feel what happens to that energy when it is used. More importantly, if students can grasp this concept of energy, even though they may not be able to see energy with their eyes but just what happens in terms of work. The second law of thermodynamics states that although energy does not change, it can be wasted. Although the word “thermodynamics” is a mouthful for a young child, the idea of energy wasted can prime a child to understand the importance of conservation.
Activity Plan: Introduction to Energy and Heat
Content Objective:
The students will predict how they will cause a plastic bag to rise using a hair dryer. The students will observe what happens when the bag rises.
Language Objective:
The students will orally predict what how they will cause the plastic bag to rise. The students will report their observations when the bag rises.
Materials:
Hairdryer
Flimsy plastic bag used for vegetables
Chart Paper
Markers
Introduction: Begin by asking the students what they know about energy. A graphic organizer such as a KWL chart is useful during this portion of the lesson because is can be added to during the unit as the students gain more understanding about the topic. As the students generate ideas explain to the students that energy is in them and everything around them.
Procedure: In a small group, discuss with the students how they think they will get the bag to rise. Stress that they have to make the bag rise without blowing the bag with the hairdryer. The hairdryer must be off and the bag must rise off the hairdryer. Record a few predictions on a large piece of chart paper then demonstrate the experiment. Wrap the plastic bag loosely around the mouth of the hairdryer, and then wrap tape around that. Do not tape the bag to the hairdryer. Holding the bag where you taped it, turn on the hairdryer for a few seconds, just enough to inflate the bag. When you turn off the dryer, let the bag go. As the bag rises, ask the students to tell you what they think is happening.
Explanation: Hot air that is rising is doing work and that work uses up the heat energy that makes the hot air hot. The further up the heat rises, the more it has worked, and the less energy is in it. Without energy the air turns cold and the bag falls.
After this lesson is taught, the students should have a general understanding that heat is energy and this can be applied to an engine. The students can use what they know about energy to observe a coffee cup Stirling engine.
Activity Plan: Coffee Cup Stirling Engine
Content Objective:
The students will gain an understanding of engines and fuel by observing a Stirling Engine.
Language Objective:
The students will discuss observations as they examine a coffee cup Stirling engine.
Materials:
Markers
Chart Paper
Coffee Cup Stirling Engine,
From the American Stirling Company.
http://www.stirlingengine.com/ecommerce/product.tcl?product_id=21
Procedure:
Ask the students to review what they know about energy.
Then ask them to tell you what they know about fuel. Discuss the engine in a car and have the students look under the hood of a car in the parking lot. Point out the engine, and discuss how they get a car to move, guiding the conversation towards having to put gas in a car and then turn the key to make it go. Have the students become familiar with the idea of a need for fuel. Since the students cannot see directly in the engine in the car, use the coffee cup Stirling engine to show them how the engine works. Place the engine on a hot cup of coffee and have the students observe the engine. Encourage them to use vocabulary such as energy, heat, piston, and engine.
Explanation: The heat from the coffee causes the piston in the engine to move, thus causing the propeller to move. This demonstration will allow students to see how fuel is needed to make an engine work, and since food is used to make it work it will allow for students to easily transfer this concept to the nutrition portion of the lesson.
Other activities for introducing energy: On an overhead, use a clear plate to drop food coloring in. Use cold water and hot water to drop the coloring into. The food coloring should disperse faster in the hot water showing that heat is energy; it makes things move faster. Also, have the students observe a candle and a match burn to investigate the idea that heat needs fuel in order to create work. The teacher should have a candle already lit for the students to observe. Try to use a candle with a thick wick so they can really watch what the flame looks like. Ask the students to describe what they see. Ask them what they think is happening, why the flame is still lit, why doesn’t it just extinguish after a period of time. Then light a match and ask the students to tell you what is happening with this flame and why it does extinguish after a period of time. Explain to the students that fuel is needed in both cases to keep the flames going. Also ask the students what happens when the match is extinguished. When the burnt match is cooled, ask the students to touch the waste the match makes and ask them what they think happens to that waste.
2) The Body as an Engine and Responsible Choices About Our Bodies
Goals:
1. The students will explore the idea of a need for fuel for the human body as they learn about different kinds of food and how they affect the body.
2. The students will apply the idea of food converted to energy then to waste
Background Information
Anyone who has ever interacted with a kindergarten-age student knows very well that kindergarteners are energetic, very energetic. Kindergarteners need energy do to what they do all day; run, jump, play, learn, draw and even sleep. If they don’t eat, they won’t have that energy. Although kindergarten children may not realize their need for energy to do all that they do, kindergarteners are vaguely conscious of their need for food. When they are hungry, they feel tired and they eat. Most children at this age can express this need for food to someone, so they understand they need fuel.
This idea of a need for fuel for our bodies can be outlined to a child as young as kindergarten. These children know they have to eat; they can name their favorite food and can, with disgust, name the foods that they dislike. If you take a random poll of favorite foods of kindergarteners, chances are you will get a list of high fat, high sugar foods. I doubt you will get a child who will, with enthusiasm express his love for wax beans or asparagus. However typical this list of favorite high fat, high sugar foods is, it is still dangerous. Children do not seem to be making healthy choices about the foods they put in their bodies.
There is currently an epidemic of childhood obesity in the United States today. Thirty percent of American children are overweight or at risk for being overweight according to a recent publication in the Journal of American Medicine. Children are unaware of the benefits of healthy food choices on their bodies and in some cases unaware of what those choices are. For example, according to the Dole 5 A Day website, fewer then 15% of elementary children eat the recommended 5 or more servings of fruit and vegetables a day, and a quarter of those “vegetables” they do eat are French fries which are very low in nutrients and very high in fat.
An awareness of the process our bodies go through when we eat can help a kindergartener think about what they eat. When we put a piece of food that is low in sugar and fat but high in protein, the energy lasts longer and we are less likely to feel hungry sooner.
As with engines, our bodies also have an input/output system for energy. We consume fuel, our bodies convert it to energy and our muscles produce work. Some foods are burned more efficiently in our bodies to produce optimal work. There are three kinds of biological work; the work the muscles do to show movement, osmotic work, which is the work the kidneys do to make urea from the blood into urine, and synthetic work which develops large molecules from smaller ones. (Goldstein & Goldstein, 277)
The fuel that the body uses is called carbohydrates, fats and proteins. Most commonly the body uses the carbohydrates or glucose mixed with oxygen during exercise to produce energy. However during long exercise sessions, the body will use fat. Proteins are used during starvation to give the body energy. Tests can be performed to show how efficiently the body uses these three kinds of fuel, however they really cannot be practically applied in the kindergarten classroom.
Throughout this unit, children will be introduced to food groups, and will be required to look critically at what kinds of food they put in their bodies. Grains, vegetables and fruits will be closely examined because this is where most carbohydrates and glucose comes from. Fatty foods will also be examined to show the adverse effects of those foods on the bodies.
Activity Plan: Burn a Peanut
Content Objective:
The students will become familiar with the idea that food has caloric value.
The students will be introduced to the idea that food can be converted to energy.
Language Objective:
The students will discuss observations when they burn the peanut.
The students will generate ideas as to what are better foods for them to eat.
Materials:
Fresh peanuts
Ring stand with a test tube holder with water in it
Wire
Matches
Pie pan
Procedure: Ask the students to discuss what happened with the Stirling engine when it was placed over a cup of coffee. Tell them that food is fuel for their bodies. Show them the peanut and ask them what the peanut does for their bodies. Then ask them how they can get the water to boil using the materials mentioned above. Set up the test tube so it is over the peanut that is resting on a wire under the test tube. Set the peanut on fire and have the students observe what happens. It should burn for a few minutes allowing the water to boil in the test tube. Guide the students in a discussion about how the food is fuel for their bodies and what responsible food choices are. Have the students think about what foods will burn for a long time and what foods will burn for a shorter amount of time. Relate that concept to energy.
Explanation: Heat from the burning peanut is combustion from the chemical energy stored in the peanut. Your body does the same sort of thing. It converts the energy in the peanut into energy to keep your body running.
Other activities for introducing food energy (nutrition): Have students decide what are nutritious food by creating graphic organizers depicting what are good foods to keep their bodies (engines) healthy, and what foods are poor choices for their bodies.
3) Environmental Responsibilities and Alternate Forms of Energy
Goals:
@OL:1. The students will briefly explore fossil fuels (oil and coal) and the engines that burn them to gain an understanding of where most of the United States energy and waste come from.
2. The students will explore alternative energy and compare that with fossil fuels to determine what would be a more responsible choice for energy.
Background Information
After an understanding of food as chemical energy, student can then begin to think about waste (naturally!). Most children understand that food after it is eaten is converted to waste, but now they know that food is changed into chemical energy and then to waste. This idea can now be transferred to the environment.
The use and consumption of fossil fuels has a detrimental effect on the environment and on humans. From the collection phase, through the transport and finally the combustion phase, these fuels can negatively impact the world around us. When fossil fuels are collected there is a risk of injury to humans, as well as leaks to the environment. When fuels are transported there is also a risk for spill, such as the catastrophic spill of the Exxon Valdez and also by-products that can leak toxins. When fossil fuels are burned, they release chemicals and debris into the air that can lead to environmental decay and possibly global warming. While this concept is relatively heavy for a kindergarteners cognitive process, seeing what could happen to a small environment can contextualize the idea of pollution and a need for energy conservation
As stated earlier, when fossil fuels are burned, they have an adverse effect on the environment. Most car engines, (including Hybrid cars) run on a internal combustion engine which requires fossil fuels to operate. The combustion of those fuels emits a variety of pollutants into the environment, altering the environment. These pollutants also pose a variety of health problems for humans.
Every child is aware of the sun. They can feel and see what the sun does, but don’t really think about how important the sun is to our survival. The foods we eat are dependent on the sun. By using solar energy and through photosynthesis the energy is used to make that plant grow. Through many chemical processes, that plant become food which becomes energy for us, all the while causing no harmful effects on the environment. All organisms depend on the sun’s energy and heat.
Heating water for use in the home is a major contributor to energy consumption. By using the sun energy to heat water, we create a free and clean way to gain hot water. Home solar water heaters can be used in houses. Collectors can be mounted on roofs to trap the sun’s heat. Through a series of pipes it can be transported to a well-insulated water heater where it is stored for later use. Although there are many other forms of renewable energy, the idea of the sun as a heater can be contextualized for young students.
Activity Plan: Pollution in a Micro-system: Terrarium
Content Objective:
The students will be introduced to the idea of pollution.
The students will become familiar with a variety of pollutants.
Language Objective:
The students will discuss the effects of pollution on the micro-system and then that effect on the environment.
Material:
A developed terrarium (a system of soil, water, and plants that can sustain life without human interference.)
The burned peanut
A piece of coal
Matches
Procedure: Discuss with the students the terrarium, and how it is able to sustain life. Relate this idea and guide this discussion towards the environment. Then show the students the burned peanut and the piece of coal, (charcoal is sufficient). Ask the students what they think will happen when the piece of coal is placed in the terrarium and set on fire. Use a small piece of charcoal and light it inside the terrarium. Allow it to burn for a small amount of time, and then extinguish it. Close up the terrarium then observe the environment over the next few days. Discuss with the students what happens to the environment.
Explanation: Use of fossil fuels entails some environmental degradation and also a risk to people. By burning the coal in the terrarium, it has caused the environment to die.
Activity Plan: Warming water with the sun
Content Objective:
The students will be introduced to the sun’s energy.
The students will heat water with the sun’s energy.
Language Objective:
The students will discuss the sun’s energy as they heat water with the sun.
Materials:
A shallow black container
A thermometer
Water
Chart paper
Markers
Procedure: Ask the children how they heat water when they want warm water. Ask them discuss this further and explain to them that they are going to heat the water using just the container and the sun. Ask them to tell you how they think this can be done. Then take the container to a sunny spot in the room, or outside and take a baseline temperature. Record the temperature of the container on a piece of chart paper and leave the container alone. Return to the container a few hours later, and take the temperature of both containers again. Discuss the results with the class.
Explanation: The sun’s energy has heat the water in the container without using a fossil fuel or expelling any waste. It was a clean form of energy that did work (heating the water) and it is completely renewable.
Responsibility and the Environment
Using what they have learned about the need for energy and alternative forms of energy the students will create a murals of two environments: one being an environment where the choice was made to use fossil fuels and engines that create pollution and one of an environment where clean, renewable energy forms were used to create a clean, healthy environment.
Unit Conclusion
With the students, read The Lorax and discuss with students what happened to the environment in the story and how they could have conserved energy and saved their world.
