TEAK
Solar Energy Kit
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Solar Energy Kit
Overview
This kit will teach students some of the ways solar power can be harnessed to provide energy for various
applications. Students will discover where they can gather the most solar energy using photovoltaic collectors
outside. Finally, they will warm a food item in a solar oven so they will have a tasty memory of how solar energy
can be applied.
Main Concepts
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Solar Energy
Photovoltaic Cells
Solar Cells
Energy Cycle
Activity Descriptions
Solar Oven Activity – 15 active minutes (1/2 hour inactive)
In this activity, students will take advantage of the sun’s thermal energy to warm a food item. The
students should see that solar energy can be applied to heating applications as well as electricity
generation.
Solar Gathering Activity – 10 minutes
The objective of this activity is to allow the students to achieve a hands-on understanding of solar
energy, its requirements, and its limitations. The students will be provided with a small photovoltaic cell
and allowed to go outdoors and gather solar energy themselves. The students will see how much solar
energy they are gathering through a bar graph on the photovoltaic collectors. More lights on the bar
graph will light up as the amount of direct solar energy to the photovoltaic cells increases. The students
can then see what conditions are best for using photovoltaic cells to provide electricity.
Solar Cell Model Activity – 20 minutes
The objective of this activity is to allow the students to act out how a solar cell works. The students will
represent the energy from the sun and the electrons within a solar cell and their movements will
demonstrate how the small parts within the solar cell actually work to create electricity.
Partial support for the TEAK Project was provided by the National Science Foundation's Course, Curriculum, and Laboratory Improvement (CCLI) program
under Award No. 0737462. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not
necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.
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Solar Energy Kit
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Key Outcomes
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Students should be able to explain solar energy and the energy cycle.
Students should understand and be able to explain the needs and limitations of solar energy.
Students should understand why it could be beneficial to use solar energy as an alternate fuel.
Students should understand the use of solar energy in both heating and electricity generating
applications.
Students should be able to explain why photovoltaic cells need to be in direct sunlight to generate
electricity.
Identify various everyday products that use solar energy.
Resources
NASA:
http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2002/solarcells.htm
Energy Information Administration:
http://www.eia.doe.gov/kids/energyfacts/sources/renewable/solar.html
Renewable Energy Kits:
http://re-energy.ca/t_solarelectricity.shtml
Powerhouse Kids:
http://powerhousekids.com/stellent2/groups/public/documents/pub/phk_ee_re_001505.hcsp - P-4_0
Note: Many of these resources were used in assisting the creation of the following Lesson Plan and we want to
thank and reference them for their valuable instruction.
NYS STANDARDS
NYS Learning Standards:
MST
1
E
Scientific Inquiry
Interpret organized observations and measurements, recognizing simple patterns, sequences, and relationships
MST
1
E
Engineering Design
Discuss how best to test the solution; perform the test under teacher supervision; record and portray results
through numerical and graphic means; discuss orally why things worked or did not work; and summarize results in
writing, suggesting ways to make the solution better
NYS Science Standards:
Standard 4: Energy exists in many forms, and when these forms change energy is conserved.
Students:
• Describe the sources and identify the transformations of energy observed in everyday life.
• Describe situations that support the principle of conservation of energy.
This is evident, for example, when students:
-Design and construct devices to transform/transfer energy.
- Build an electromagnet and investigate the effects of using different types of core
materials, varying thicknesses of wire, and different circuit types
TEAK
Solar Energy Kit
Lesson Plan – Solar Power TEAK
(Approximately 1 hour)
Concepts covered:
Solar Energy
Solar Energy Usage
Solar Ovens
Photovoltaic Cells
Solar Energy Storage
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TEAK
Solar Energy Kit
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Solar Energy: Group discussion
(Pose the following questions to the group and let discussion flow naturally… try to give positive feedback to each
child that contributes to the conversation)
What is solar energy?
 Solar energy is radiant energy from the sun that can be converted to other forms of energy such
as heat or electricity.
 The word “solar” comes from the Latin word for “sun.”
 The sunlight that shines on the Earth over a period of just an hour is enough to meet the world’s
energy needs for a whole year!
How do we use solar energy?
 Ancient Greeks built their houses facing the sun to take advantage of the sun’s energy and heat
their homes in the cold months.
 Many explorers have used energy from the sun to cook their food while in remote areas.
 Solar energy can be used to directly heat and light buildings as well as be used to generate
electricity.
 The sun's energy also keeps the Earth at a temperature to support life.
What is the solar energy cycle?
 Energy from the sun is captured and transformed throughout nature.
 At the Earth's surface, incoming energy from the sun is absorbed by land, water, and
atmosphere, where it is converted into measurable heat.
 The uneven heating of a given body of fluid creates winds and currents in our atmosphere,
oceans, and rivers.
What is meant by the term “solar power”?
 Solar power refers to any energy that is harvested from the sun’s light
How is energy from the sun transferred throughout nature?
 Plants absorb the sunlight and grow, animals eat the plants, and humans eat both the animals and
the plants
 Water also absorbs a lot of the sunlight that comes to the earth. When water absorbs heat it creates
currents in the water, these currents bring nutrients and fish, and keeps the water ecosystem in
balance.
 Humans also use the sunlight. We harvest it to create electricity and power our homes.
How can humans use solar power?
 Humans can use the heat of the sun directly to heat our homes or cook our food.
 We can use the light to create electricity
Make a list of whom or what captures and uses energy from the sun.
Plants
Oceans
Lizards
Humans
Solar Ovens
Solar Panels
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Solar Energy Kit
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Solar Oven: Group discussion
(Pose the following questions to the group and let discussion flow naturally… try to give positive
feedback to each child that contributes to the conversation)
How is solar power used today?
 Solar power is used today in a variety of applications, including home heating, electricity generation,
and cooking.
 Today solar power is used to heat homes, heat water, generate electricity and even cook food.
 If you have seen big, shiny panels on the roof of a house, it usually means that home is using solar
power.
How do you heat your home with solar energy?
 There are two types of heating: active and passive.
 Active heating uses devices like electric heaters, while passive heating makes use of energies like
solar energy.
 Passive heating can be seen in a home with large glass windows that face south (in the Northern
Hemisphere).
o These windows allow sunlight to heat the home. If a home is insulated properly, the heat
gained from passive heating can be contained within the house for a long time.
How do you make electricity from solar energy?
 Generating Electricity: Solar energy can be captured using photovoltaic cells and converted into
electricity.
 Photovoltaic cells use the energy from every single ray of light that hits a panel and tries to convert
that to electricity
How can solar energy be used to cook food?
 A solar oven utilizes the greenhouse effect.
 Energy from the sun shines through the glass of a solar oven.
 The inside of the oven is a black metal, which absorbs the energy and changes it to a different
frequency.
 The glass does not allow the heat energy at the new frequency to come out.
 The three forms of heat conduction, convection, and radiation are all trapped inside the solar oven,
and increase the temperature.
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Solar Energy Kit
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Solar Oven Activity
Objectives
The Solar oven will demonstrate the ability of solar energy to be used in an application not typically
associated with the sun. Though many know of the Sun’s ability to generate electricity through solar cells, they
may not be aware of the more simple uses of the abundant energy.
Materials
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Solar Oven
Food (bagel bites, frozen garlic bread, warming chocolate chip cookies, will cook in about an hour)
Sunshine
Procedure
1. Take the solar oven from the box and place it outside in a location where the sun can shine directly on
it.
2. Spread the aluminum walls outward so that they capture sunlight and direct it into the oven.
3. Note the starting temperature of the oven.
4. Place selected foods inside the oven.
5. Place equal amounts of the selected foods outside of the oven, perhaps on a plate on the ground.
6. After approximately ½ hour- 1 hour (times will vary) check on the food.
7. Notice the difference between the food inside the oven and that outside.
8. Explain this difference in terms of the greenhouse effect. This is a good place to talk about the
greenhouse effect on the planet.
Expected Results
The temperature of the oven will steadily rise over time (assuming the sun is shining). The food inside
will warm and/or cook while the food outside will not warm/ cook to the same degree. This can be explained by
the greenhouse effect in which radiant energy can go through the glass of the oven and is absorbed by the oven.
However, when it is re-radiated, most of it cannot escape from the oven.
End Solar Oven Activity
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Solar Energy Kit
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Solar Cell: Group discussion
(Pose the following questions to the group and let discussion flow naturally… try to give positive
feedback to each child that contributes to the conversation)
What are photovoltaic cells?
 Photovoltaic cells capture solar energy and convert that energy into electricity.
 They are also called solar cells
How do photovoltaic cells capture energy?
 Photovoltaic cells use the energy from each ray of light to try and bump an electron off of the solar cell.
 When the electron it moved it forces the electrons in front of it to move and this chain reaction is known
as current.
 Current is the driving energy behind electricity.
 A single cell produces only a small amount of electricity, so they are used in devices like calculators and
watch. When many cells are combined, they can be used to power larger electronics.
How do we store solar energy?
 Solar energy requires sunlight, so it cannot be generated at night. In order to meet nighttime electricity
needs, solar energy must to be stored during the day.
 Energy captured from the sun needs to be stored so that it can be used even when the sun is not shining.
The energy is most often stored in rechargeable batteries.
 These batteries need to be able to recharge over and over again.
What are the benefits of solar energy?
 Solar energy is always there during the day.
 Solar energy can be turned to electricity directly. Many other technologies need some form of generator
to convert the mechanical energy created to electrical energy.
 Solar energy is free
 Solar energy does not create any sort of pollution when it creates electricity.
What are the disadvantages of solar energy?
 The current photovoltaic cells only capture about 12% of the light that shines on their surface. And of
that 12% only a small amount is actually useable as electricity.
 The battery technologies around today are not efficient at storing the energy created.
 Solar energy cannot be harvested at night or during cloudy days.
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Solar Energy Kit
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Solar Cell Model Activity
Objectives
The students should model how a solar cell, or photovoltaic cell actually works.
Materials
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Relatively open area
40 ft rope – white and blue
o 10 knots 2 feet apart (the rest is unknotted)
o Ends knotted together to form a circle
Yellow rope
o Ends knotted together
Procedure
1. Split the students in half.
- One half will be photons (energy from the sun) in the sun.
- The other half will be electrons within the photovoltaic cell.
2. Mark out the areas for the sun (yellow rope) and photovoltaic cell (multicolored rope).
3. Have the students stand in their positions along the ropes.
- The photons will be within the circle representing the sun.
- The electrons will stand along the knots in the PV cell.
4. Explain the following:
 A photon will walk and join with the first electron inside the PV cell. This gives the electron
energy and allows it to move.
 The photon and electron pair move together towards the next electron and then tag them. They
stay at the knot while the second electron goes to the next and tags them. This tagging
continues until the energy reaches the last student on the knotted part of the rope.
 That student then activates the load on the circuit (rings a bell, or calls out an electric device).
 Once the bell is rung, have the class chant “Hurray for Solar Energy!”
 The electron continues to move along the circuit until they reach the first knot (that has been
emptied now).
 Another photon leaves the Sun and the movements are repeated again (photon and electron
pair up, move down the rope, tag the next electron, tagging continues until bell is rung, electron
travels back to the PV cell, etc)
Expected Results
Activity Extenders
- Simulate a cloudy day.
- The last electron calls out the name of an electrical device that they are powering. Each device can only
be named once.
End of Solar Cell Model Activity
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Solar Energy Kit
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Solar Gathering Activity
Objectives
The objective of this activity is to demonstrate the effect of light on the power generation of a
photovoltaic cell. This will show both the advantages and disadvantages of the technology and highlight possible
areas for improvement.
Materials
 Photovoltaic Collectors
 Sunlight
Safety Precautions
Make sure the flaps are completely open. The metal might be too hot to touch right after use.
Procedure
1. Separate students into five groups and give each group one photovoltaic collector.
2. Using indoor light, have students test the collectors indoors and see how many bars on the bar graph
light up using incandescent, florescent, and sun lights, if possible.
3. Have the students record how many bars light up for each light source on the Solar Energy Gathering
Handout.
4. Send students outdoors and have them test the photovoltaic collectors in direct sunlight, shade, and
when cloudy, if possible.
5. Let the students observe what happens if they cover part of the photovoltaic with their hands.
6. Have the students record their results and observations.
Expected Results
The photovoltaic collectors will work best in direct sunlight, causing all the lights on the bar graph
display will light up. If the students begin to cover the photovoltaic cell with their hands, the lights on the bar
graph will decrease. If the entire cell is covered, all of the lights will turn off.
Direct sunlight should be enough energy to light up all 10 bars on the LED Segment display, which means
the solar cell is generating 10 Volts of power. In cloudy conditions, the voltage generated may fall to
approximately 6 Volts, while indoor conditions generally provide 2-3 Volts.
End of Solar Gathering Activity
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Solar Energy Kit
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Concluding Discussion
(pick and choose depending on student questions/responses to activity)
Think of all the electronics you use in your daily activities. Is it possible to use photovoltaic cells to power
some of these? Why or why not? How could this be done?
How can we make the power generated by the solar panels more efficient?
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Solar Energy Kit
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Solar Energy Gathering Activity Handout
Using the Solar Detector given, explore the amount of voltage created from the photovoltaic cells (or solar
panel) mounted on the top of the detector. Explore areas that you believe will produce varied results and record
these results in the chart below, adding additional locations if needed or desired.
The conversion to volts is very straightforward, each segment of the LED Bar Graph lit, equals one volt.
Area
Direct Sunlight
Classroom
Shady Area
Dark Room
Number LEDs Lit
Voltage (Volts)