We Are Eco-Warriors!

What is an ecosystem?
What ecosystems can we find in Harlem?
How do our choices impact the planet?
What does it mean to be a steward for our environment?
What role can each of us play as concerned environmentalists?

What questions do you have?

Use the image below to fill out the first pages of your packet.

PRODUCERS
CONSUMERS
DECOMPOSERS

What gives us energy?
What kinds of things do you love to eat?
What do you not love to eat?
If you could only eat one food for the rest of your life, what would it be?
How do you eat a cup of yogurt? Animals have special features to help them eat the foods in their diet!

The Food Pyramid

Natural Events

Human Causes

Choose one of the articles below and write up a Current Event.

....

Picture: Nikola Tesla (1856–1943) pioneered the alternating current power system most of us use today. Even so, his rival, Thomas Edison (1846–1931), is still popularly remembered as the inventor who gave the world electric power.

• 600 BCE: Greek philosopher Thales of Miletus (c.624–546 BCE) discovered static electricity.
• 1600 CE: English scientist William Gilbert (1544–1603) was the first person to use the word "electricity." He believed electricity was caused by a moving fluid called humor.
• 1752: American printer, journalist, scientist, and statesman Benjamin Franklin (1706–1790) carried out further experiments and named the two kinds of electric charge "positive" and "negative."
• 1780: Italian biologist Luigi Galvani (1737–1798) touched two pieces of metal to a dead frog's leg and made it jump. This led him to believe electricity is made inside animals' bodies.
• 1827: German physicist Georg Ohm (1789–1854) found some materials carry electricity better than others and developed the idea of resistance.
• 1820: Danish physicist Hans Christian Oersted (1777–1851) put a compass near an electric cable and discovered that electricity can make magnetism.
• 1821: A French physicist called Andre-Marie Ampère (1775–1836) put two electric cables near to one another, wired them up to a power source, and watched them push one another apart. This showed electricity and magnetism can work together to make a force.
• 1821: Michael Faraday (1791–1867), an English chemist and physicist, developed the first, primitive electric motor.
• 1830s: American physicist Joseph Henry (1797–1879) and British inventor William Sturgeon (1783–1850) independently made the first practical electromagnets and electric motors.
• 1831: Building on his earlier discoveries, Michael Faraday invented the electric generator.
• 1840: Scottish physicist James Prescott Joule (1818–1889) proved that electricity is a kind of energy.
• 1870s: Belgian engineer Zénobe Gramme (1826–1901) made the first large-scale electric generators.
• 1881: The world's first experimental electric power plant opened in Godalming, England.
• 1882: Thomas Edison (1846–1931) built the first large-scale electric power plants in the USA.
• 1890s: Edison's former employee Nikola Tesla (1856–1943) promoted alternating current (AC) electricity, a rival to the direct current (DC) system promoted by Edison. Edison and Tesla battled for supremacy and, although Edison is remembered as the pioneer of electric power, it was Tesla's AC system that ultimately triumphed.

Video

Exploratory

1 conductors and insulators

2 Steady Hand

3 Snap Circuit Day 2

4 wind up toy (look inside), kosmos and thames kit, Gear Display challenge

5 poppers-design a game

6 Makey Makey

7 Squishy Circuits student guide http://www.sciencebuddies.org/science-fair-

8 make a lemon battery

9 design a backpack

How is energy used to make your life better?

Now imagine if none of that energy was available.

One hundred years ago we used burning wood for heat, candles for light, wind to sail ships, and animals for transportation. Burning wood was the primary source of energy in addition to using it for building homes and ships. Wood became scarce and new sources needed to be found, such as fossil fuels, like coal and oil.

The world's population is now much greater, and each person uses more energy than ever then before. So, the worlds supply of oil and natural gas is rapidly being used up. If other sources are not found, then our standard of living will go back to how it was centuries ago. However, there is a more urgent problem with these fuels: pollution.

Here are the main sources of energy used by society:

Solar Power

Wind

Chemical or Batteries

Geothermal Energy

Hydro and Tidal Power

Nuclear

Biomass (wood and plants)

Fossil Fuels (coal, oil, and natural gas)

Biofuels

Resources

Brain Pop Jr "Energy Sources"

Safety Smart® Science with Bill Nye the Science Guy®- Renewable Energy -- PREVIEW.mp4

How does electricity get to your house? Find out here!

https://ca.pbslearningmedia.org/resource/1d509e35-0c74-48c8-b2d1-5c19685c6889/how-does-electricity-get-to-your-home/#.WNhDV7GZPow

10 Interesting Facts

https://climatekids.nasa.gov/10-things-energy/

Read Aloud: The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind

Quick video glimpse

Sail Away Challenge

What do sails and turbine blades have in common?

You and your partner are going to design sails in order to decide which material and shape are best for a wind turbine blade. See which sail can travel down the path farthest!

Contraints: Your wind source will be a box fan and you can build your turbine or sails using only the constraints listed.

Popsicle sticks

Straws

Wax Paper

Cardstock/Index Cards

Paper Rolls Paper

Tape Dowels

String

Dixie Cups

Cardboard

Tinfoil

Plastic Bags

Styrofoam Tray

Finished?

Torch kits

Wind Turbine model

News report about the noise

Socket ball project

Catalytic clothing

In Closing:

What is a mechanical engineer? What are the disadvantages of using wind energy? Would you want a wind turbine on your property? Would you want to live near a wind farm? Would you want to get your electricity from a wind farm? Why or why not?

Brain Pop video

Build a solar rover!

Video and Notes

https://energy.gov/eere/videos/energy-101-hydroelectric-power

Dam It lab

• Build a dam using only clay, sticks, and rocks! Does your reservoir leak?

Open Exploratory

1 green snap circuits

2 Solar Rover Take 2

3 Finish sails and test

4 Squishy Circuits

5 Read

6 build the wind turbine or Dynamo Torch kit

7 gear trains

Check out our glacier. What do you notice? Qualitative observations? Quantitative?

Animals

Land

Water

Air

Human Health and Well Being

Energy Crisis

Climate Change

Greenhouse Effect

Carbon Footprint

http://video.nationalgeographic.com/video/greenhouse-what-counts-env?source=searchvideo

So, which of the ways used to harness energy is most efficient, less polluting, and does not contribute to global warming. Which energies are renewable, because they can last indefinitely?

The Polar Bear Promise

https://polarbearsinternational.org/get-involved/actions-with-impact/

Conservation...Use less!

Design, invent, and build our way out of this! Here are some amazing things happening now!

3d Printing the Coral Reef

Air Cleaning Clothes

Kids with the Lawsuit

Alternative Energy

http://video.nationalgeographic.com/video/great-energy-challenge?source=searchvideo

Earth Friendly Homes

http://video.nationalgeographic.com/video/news/150120-passive-house-vin?source=searchvideo

Solar Market Gardens and Watering Systems

http://video.nationalgeographic.com/video/151020-20102015-special-projects-light-bulb-moments-solar-energy?source=searchvideo

Creating electricity with a soccer ball

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yeQ-OrkUTII

all engineering starts with empathy. To do so, they needed to consider the needs of the members of their community

great video http://futurecity.org/resource/city-model-moving-parts

the grid

https://ca.pbslearningmedia.org/resource/1d509e35-0c74-48c8-b2d1-5c19685c6889/how-does-electricity-get-to-your-home/#.WNa6WbGZPow

Green Architecture and Design-city planning https://www.thoughtco.com/teaching-and-learning-about-architecture-178436

Bill Nye the Sci Guy Architecture

Public spaces how much?

civil engineering (moving people)

The Challenge:

Imagine four different cities 150 years from now. 3 of the cities are Sustainable Cities. They have made changes to use renewable energy sources. Dystopia City has not. What will these cities look like? Feel like? Sound like?

For this project, you are City Planners and your engineering challenge is to work together to build a 3D model of these cities in order to teach about our responsibility as energy concerned citizens at exhibition.

The Nitty Gritty:

• Each class will design and build their own Sustainability City first. (We will build one giant Dystopia City a little later.)
  
• Each Sustainable City will be constructed out of recycled materials
  
• Each city may spend no more than $50
  
• The city has to fit on ____ classroom tables…..
  
• Process documentation must be carefully maintained: Designs, Floor plan, … (Please save everything and keep it all in your Engineering folders!)
  

Sustainable Cities must include:

• At least 1 movable part (powered by mechanical, solar, battery power, wind energy)

• A sample of working lights throughout (powered by mechanical, solar, battery power, wind energy)

• Design an innovative and eco-friendly energy system with functional prototypes of each energy form

• How do citizens get around? Design an energy efficient transportation system

• Different zones (industrial, commercial, residential,...)

• Where do citizens work?

• Where do citizens get the things they need?

• Where do citizens live? What do their homes look like? How are they energy efficient?

• Public spaces

• Services your city provides

• Parks and recreation your citizens can enjoy

• Futuristic and innovative design features

• A name

• A map for guests that highlights significant energy features

• If Time Permits

• Landmarks

• Proof of community engagement through arts and advocacy

Let’s Get Started:

• Brainstorm Packet on your own- Dream Big!

• City Planning Meeting #1

• Agreements

• Inspiration Mingle and Share Out- What if our city… (10 mins.)

• Timeline Overview

• Who will do what? Form Departments

• Department of Energy

• Department of Transportation

• Department of Buildings and Infrastructure (zoning, public spaces, energy efficient housing, parks and rec, waste management, buildings for education, healthcare, safety,..)

• Department Meeting #1

• Establish appointed meeting area

Next Steps:

• City Planning Meeting #2

• Start brainstorming names for your city

• Establish scale (no taller than a…)

• Department Meeting #2

• Label boxes for resources and materials being used

• Location of where to keep those boxes in the lab (each city will have a different place)

• Each department will use a portable Scrum Board

Inspirational Videos

http://thekidshouldseethis.com/tagged/engineering?orderby=title

Project Products/Deliverables:

Engineering: (2 dioramas connected with Moses line) Futuristic Town/Sustainable City and Dystopian Future/ Projected Course 150 years out

Writing: opinion piece

Math: infographic

The Thing That Lasts: ? tree?

Electricity -- we depend on it every minute of every day. And yet to many of us, electricity seems a mysterious and even magical force. Before Ben Franklin did his famous and very dangerous kite flying experiment, electricity was thought to be a type of fire. In 1847, the year Thomas Edison was born, most people considered electricity to be some sort of dangerous fad. By the time Edison died in 1931, entire cities were powered by electricity.

Circuit Simulation

Act out an electric circuit, as follows: Ask students to join you in forming a circle. Tell students that you represent a battery and they represent a wire conductor. The circle represents a circuit. (Note: The word circuit comes from the Latin circuitus, which means "to go around.") Distribute an object -- like a ball, a book, or an eraser -- to each member of the circle, including yourself. Ideally, everyone should have the same object. Tell students that these objects represent electrons inside a wire conductor. Explain that a wire conductor is full of electrons.

Remind students that you are playing the part of the battery in this circuit, and explain that all batteries have a positive end, represented by your left hand, and a negative end, represented by your right hand. Pass your "electron" to the student on your right. The student receiving your electron should in turn pass the one he or she is holding to the right. Have students continue passing on electrons to the person to their right. Tell students that because electrons share the same negative charge, they repel one another, which keeps them moving along in the same direction. State again that the flow of electrons through a conductor is called electrical current.

Tell students that as long as the circle remains intact and the electrons continue to flow, their circuit is closed. To illustrate what happens when a circuit breaks, or opens, create a gap in the circle of students that is too wide across to pass electrons. The current will stop as a result.