Today P4-7 were lucky enough to welcome John from Computer Xplorers. He spent a whole day with the class jam-packed with fun hands-on activities to investigate energy and renewable energy sources.
We started by looking at the transfer of energy through thermal imaging. Maisie left her hand print on the desk transferring the heat from her hand to the desk, Phoebe left her toasty footprints on the floor – we couldn’t see the handprints of footprints with our eyes but we could with the thermal imaging camera! Cool!
Throughout the day, the children worked in 2s and 3s to build Lego Educational models. John organised a competition – to design and create a model which could produce the most voltage. The small groups tested out their designs and then tried to improve on the voltage they could produce by altering their design slightly. Chloe and Euan won having produced a voltage of 14.94v!
The boys and girls also built wind or water turbines and tested these out. Then found out more about solar energy by building (and racing!) solar cell cars.
John spoke to the class about the desperate need for renewable energy sources for the future of planet Earth. The boys and girls had already done some work on fossil fuels; how they were created and the finality of their supply and so were aware of the importance of renewable energy sources.
The second challenge faced by the pupils was to build a wind or water turbine. John talked to them about wind and water power first and how this would work on a grand scale.All groups worked together so well on this. I overhead snippets of chat, “this is well cool!” and “I’m getting the hang of this” to “you want a shot doing the next bit” – so good to observe children working in this way.
In the afternoon, the children were set the task of building a solar panel car which they powered with a lamp (unfortunately weather was against us today).
So – three renewable energy sources covered in a day and awareness raised within our adults of the future and all whilst having lots of fun! Win win!
