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What's the best way to light up a city?

What's the best way to light up a city?
Lesson narration:
English Spanish
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DISCUSS:
Why do you think this power plant might have a huge fire inside it?
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DISCUSS:
What do you see coming from this fire?
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DISCUSS: Compare these two machines.
What’s similar about them? What’s different?
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DISCUSS:
How do you think cities decide what source of energy to use for electricity?
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DISCUSS: If you were deciding between wind, solar, and water power for a real town, what else would you want to think about before you made your decision?
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energy


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the ability to do an action
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electricity (electrical energy)


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a form of energy, such as what usually powers light bulbs
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coal


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a dark rock that can be burned and used for energy
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heat energy (thermal energy)


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energy in the form of heat, such as what usually comes from a fire
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natural gas


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a type of gas that can be used as a source of energy
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pollution


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something harmful in the environment
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water energy (water power)


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energy of moving water, a renewable resource
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water turbine


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a machine that can turn the movement of water into electricity
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wind energy (wind power)


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energy of moving air, a renewable resource
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wind turbine (windmill)


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a machine that can turn the movement of air into electricity
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solar energy (solar power)


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energy from the Sun, a renewable resource
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solar panel


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a machine that can turn sunlight into electricity
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renewable resource


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a source of energy that exists in a limitless amount, such as sunlight, wind, and moving water
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engineer


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a person who uses science to come up with solutions to problems
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graph


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an image that helps you understand the number or amount of something
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Lesson narration:
English Spanish

Activity Prep

Print Prep

This lesson was revised on May 31, 2024. Here is a link to the previous version.
In this lesson, students explore how a city's electricity is derived from natural resources such as coal, sunlight, wind, and water. They investigate how using these different energy sources affects the environment. In the activity, Power this Town, students obtain and combine information about different types of renewable energy, and evaluate the advantages and disadvantages of each energy source.

Preview activity
Number of students:

I have a Mystery Pack

Energy Plan worksheet 1 per student
Energy Plan Answer Key teacher-only resource 1 per class
Energy Signs worksheet 1 per class
Wind, Sun, & Water Energy worksheet 1 per student
Wind, Sun, & Water Energy Answer Key teacher-only resource 1 per class
Prep Instructions

We suggest students work in pairs. Homeschool students can work on their own.

Set Up Classroom for Discussion

Place each Energy Sign in a separate area of the room so that students can easily see them.

Teacher Tip

Some classes may want to do research on the towns we featured in the readings. All of them are real towns, but we changed the name of one town. We called the solar-powered town in Florida “Ranchtown,” but the actual name is “Babcock Ranch.”

Exploration

15 mins

Hands-On Activity

35 mins

Wrap-Up

5 mins

Extend this lesson

Vocabulary

Unit Reading

Transcripts

Credits