Grade - High School
Topic – The Power Grid
Next Generation Science Standard (NGSS):
PS3-2 3, and 5: Energy
Science Performance
Title
Energy for the Future
ESS2: Earth’s Systems
ESS3: Earth and Human Activity
ETS1: Engineering Design
Performance Expectation (Learning Targets):
Students will design an energy system that meets demand and saves the greatest amount of carbon emissions for the least amount of money.
Prior to visit/Background information
 Westar Energy is an investor owned electric utility headquartered in Topeka, KS…..
 Discuss all the ways people use energy in their home. Where does power come from and how does it get to your home?
 Have students complete the exploratory exercises that support the applet, The Power Grid, at http://tcipg.mste.illinois.edu/applet/pg
 Lesson plans can be downloaded from http://tcipg.mste.illinois.edu/sites/default/files/files/applets/pg_lessons.pdf
Student Performance
Gathering Information:
Students will gather information to support their research of various methods for creating energy (coal, nuclear, solar, wind, water, geothermal) within a Power Grid.
Questions to support students in research for the design of power grids:
 How could you plan and design a system that takes advantage of local renewable energy sources? What variables should you consider? (Region, weather, energy demand, cost, etc.)
 What would success look like for your location? Power generation? Affordability?
 What types of renewable energy resources are available and used in your city or region? Consider taking a field trip to other types of power generation stations.
Video support can be found on Nova Labs at http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/labs/educators/energy-guide/
Reasoning:
Using multiple sources of information (maps, information gathered during the research phase, interviews of Westar engineers or city development planners, or other), students will design a power grid that efficiently balances cost, output, and use of renewable/non-renewable resources.
Communicating:
Students will bring interview questions to support the gathering of information needed for their research project.
Science Essentials
Science Practices
Develop and use a model based on evidence to illustrate the relationships between systems or between components of a system.
Plan and conduct an investigation to answer questions or test solutions.
Design, evaluate, and/or refine a solution to a complex real-world solution.
Crosscutting Concepts
Cause and effect relationships can be suggested and predicted for complex natural and human designed systems by examining what is known about smaller scale mechanisms within the system.

Disciplinary Core Ideas
When investigating or describing a system, the boundaries and initial conditions of the system need to be defined and their inputs and outputs analyzed and described using models.
Changes of energy and matter in a system can be described in terms of energy and matter flows into, out of, and within that system.
Conservation of Energy and Energy Transfer
Relationship Between Energy and Forces
Connections
Common Core State Standards
Math – Reason abstractly and quantitatively; model with mathematics.
Writing – Conduct research to answer a question. Make use of digital media in presentation to enhance understandings of findings, reasoning, and evidence to add interest.
ELA/SS - Draw evidence from informational texts.
After the visit
Students will create a working model of their power grid (either 3-dimensional or virtual), with a video or live explanation of each component and a rationale for its use in their grid.
Access to a virtual energy lab is provided at http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/labs/lab/energy/