Engineering Renewable Energy

Lab Brief #1

🎯 Your mission

Predict it first. Then prove yourself right (or wrong).

⚡ The twist

Living things break the rules of non-living things — find the rule they break.

What you'll learn

Renewable resources like solar panels and wind turbines generate clean energy. Human innovation in engineering continues to make these technologies more efficient and affordable.

Key words

renewable energy
Energy from a source that is replaced as fast as it is used.
turbine
A machine with blades that spin to generate electricity.

Make a hypothesis first

Predict: what will happen to the plant if you change the water?

Say your guess out loud — then find out if you were right.

Get ready

🧰 What you need

aluminum foil

⚠️ Safety first

Have an adult check your set-up before you start, and tidy everything away afterwards.

Step 1 of 4 · Read

Look at the vocabulary words and write a definition for each in your own words.

Step 2 of 4 · Do

Create a solar oven from a pizza box lined with foil. Measure the temperature inside on a sunny day. Try melting chocolate or cheese.

Step 3 of 4 · Observe

Note any unexpected results and think about why they happened.

Step 4 of 4 · Record

Share your findings with the class or a partner and discuss what you learned.

Question 1 of 2

What is a constraint in engineering?

How sure are you?😐 maybe

Question 2 of 2

What is the first step of the engineering design process?

How sure are you?😐 maybe

Mind = blown

🌳 Trees can talk to each other through underground fungus networks.

Nice work!

You got 0 of 2 right.

Next: What Is Technology?All lessons

🎯

Next Smart Experiment

We'll pick an experiment that matches exactly how you're thinking right now.

✨ More to explore

🌍 Where you see this in real life: This is why plants grow toward windows and why scabs form.

🏆 Stretch challenge (try it this week): Watch a plant or pet for 5 minutes today and write down what you noticed.

👨‍👩‍👧 For the dinner table: “Tell me something you noticed about your own body today.”

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Engineering Renewable Energy

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