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Solar Car Races: Build and retrofit for speed Lesson PlanSolar Car Races: Build and retrofit for speed Lesson Plan
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Lesson Plan

Solar Car Races: Build and retrofit for speed

Curated and Reviewed by Lesson Planet

If you have solar car kits for your junior high schoolers, they can experiment with photovoltaic cell angle, light intensity, and aerodynamic design to discover what makes their car move more quickly. This is a classic activity to use when wrapping up a unit on alternative energy sources. The lesson plan really does not offer anything innovative, but provides a general procedure for guiding your class, as well as questions for discussion.

9 Views 17 Downloads
Concepts

solar energy, energy, photovoltaic cells, solar cells, alternative energy sources

Additional Tags

alternative fuel, solar cars, solar cells, solar energy, alternative energy source, photovoltaic cell, pv cell, science
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Resource Details

Grade
6th - 9th
Subjects
Science
4 more...
Resource Type
Lesson Plans
Audience
For Teacher Use
Duration
3 hrs
Instructional Strategies
Inquiry-Based Learning
1 more...
Technology
Scientific Equipment

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Solar Kit Lesson #3 Parts of a Solar Panel - Part I

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Investigation: Making a PV Cell

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Rise and shine! Class members collaborate to construct a photovoltaic solar cell with two semiconductor layers, as guided by this fabulous lab sheet. They test its output with an ammeter or galvanometer. 
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Energy Solutions; A Brochure

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By creating an energy brochure, teams of science learners inform others about the advantages of using alternative energy sources. An instructions page for your class and a grading rubric are provided. The lesson focuses on photovoltaics,...
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Instructional Video

Alternative Energy Sources

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With a variety of video clips and diagrams, the narrator acquaints the audience with three sources of alternative energy: the sun, the wind, and water. This is a homemade video created as a homework assignment, but it is well-done and...
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Lesson Plan

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Drive the clouds away from your day with this video. It thoroughly details how photovoltaics work and how clouds prevent us from relying solely on solar as an energy source. Unique knitted-object animation (bunnies, clouds, and all...
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Lesson Plan

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