Lesson Overview

Students will discuss how we use energy everyday and where it comes from. Students will then draw or sort energy flow diagrams and write a paragraph to explain their diagrams.

Target Grades: 3-5

Set Up Time: 15 minutes

Class Time: 45 minutes

Lesson Resources

Objectives

  1. Identify sources and forms of energy.
  2. Draw energy diagrams that describe how energy makes its way from the Sun to the forms that humans commonly use.
  3. Explain how energy from the Sun relates to personal life, community, or culture.

Guiding question: How does energy cycle through the Earth?

Educational Standards

ALASKA CULTURAL STANDARDS: A6, B1, and B3

ALASKA ENGLISH LANGUAGE ARTS:
Reading for Informational Text: 3-5.RST.KI.1,2,3 and 3-5.RST.CS.4
Writing: 3-5.W.TT.2 and 3-5.W.RW.10
Speaking and Listening (for extension activity): 3-5.SL.PK.4,5

ENERGY LITERACY CONCEPTS: 2.2 and 2.4

NGSS: 5-PS3-1

Print one worksheet per student:
  • There are two worksheet versions that you can hand out to the students. Choose the version from the drop down menu of “lesson resources” at the top of the page:
    • The Energy Flow Diagram worksheet shows the flow of different processes (i.e. sun – willow trees – moose – moose stew dinner) which students illustrate on a separate piece of paper and write a paragraph using the vocabulary words to describe each process. 
    • The Energy Flow Sort worksheet gives the students words to cut out that they sort into the correct order for the given item/task (i.e. Where does the energy for moose stew come from?). The students paste these words into the correct order on a separate piece of paper and write a paragraph using the vocabulary words to describe each process. 
Gather Materials:
  • Pencils
  • Markers or colored pencils
  • Energy Flow Diagram student worksheet
  • Notebook paper
  • Scissors
  • Glue stick

The light and heat produced from the Sun’s interaction with the Earth is the driving force of many physical processes such as wind and precipitation, as well as biological processes such as photosynthesis. Both non-renewable energy resources as well as renewable energy resources contain energy that was transformed from Sun energy.

Energy must be in balance for a healthy life and world. One example of this in some Yupik cultures is the balance of the Sun and the Moon. Dance and song are also balanced and tell the stories of Yupik life and balance within life. When energy is not in balance, there are consequences such as rivers not freezing in the winter or not having enough or the right nutrition for our bodies. 

It can be hard to imagine when we fill up our car or snow machine with gasoline or when we eat moose or salmon that the Sun made that possible. The following lesson will help students understand the path that sunlight takes to eventually become electricity or other usable energy. Examples include renewable systems like solar, hydro, or wind producing electricity, salmon and berries fueling our bodies, biomass heating our homes, or gasoline running a 4-wheeler.

For example, wind is created by the uneven heating of the Earth’s surface by the Sun. Wind can be used to spin wind turbines to power generators, which produce electricity for our homes and buildings. There are plenty of windy places in Alaska, and several wind farms to generate electricity, such as the Pillar Mountain wind farm in Kodiak, the Fire Island wind farm near Anchorage and the Eva Creek wind farm near Healy.

The sun also drives the water cycle, through evaporation and precipitation. The water from rain or melted snow helps plants to grow; it also allows lakes to maintain normal water levels, and supplies the water that keeps rivers flowing. Hydroelectric power is produced when water that enters dams, rivers, and streams spins turbines connected to a generator. An example of a hydroelectric facility in Alaska is the Bradley Lake project on the Kenai Peninsula.

Another way to transform the energy of moving water to electrical energy is hydrokinetic energy. Hydrokinetic energy is created by using the force of moving water in rivers and oceanic wave and tide to spin turbines connected to a power generator. In Alaska, Igiugig (ig-ee-aw-gig) is producing electricity from an in-river hydrokinetic system. While no energy is currently being produced from our tidal and wave resources in Alaska, companies are exploring projects for tidal energy in Cook Inlet near Anchorage and wave energy near Yakutat. Note that tides are caused by the combined effects of gravitational forces exerted by the Moon, the Sun, and the rotation of the Earth. This can be related back to the balance of the Sun and the Moon in Yupik culture during discussions with students.

Igiugig resident discussing the hydrokinetic system.

The Sun also drives energy systems through photosynthesis in green plants, algae, and bacteria. These organisms use the energy from the sun to drive several processes in the plant, eventually ending up with oxygen and glucose, a source of energy that helps the plants, algea, and bacteria grow. Green plants, algae, and bacteria are ingested by larger organisms, which humans then devour (or eat the plants themselves).

Photosynthesis also contributes to multiple resources used to produce biomass, such as wood, sawmill waste, fish byproducts, and municipal waste, and is a form of renewable energy. Biomass has long been used for burning to produce heat for homes, but is also sometimes to produce electricity and has offset diesel use in many small communities, businesses, greenhouses, and schools around Alaska.

Non-renewable resources such as coal, crude oil, and natural gas, also known as fossil fuels, are the product of tiny photosynthetic plants and animals that died and sank to the bottom of shallow oceans and swamps millions of years ago. They are covered by thick layers of sediment and begin to decompose under intense heat and pressure. They were eventually transformed into fossil fuels and extracted from deep underground sources to be used for a wide variety of applications today.

Biomass – Energy that is created by burning wood, fish oil, sawmill waste, municipal waste, or other organic byproducts.

Crude Oil– A liquid fossil fuel formed from dead organisms (usually zooplankton and algae) that were buried underground under heat and pressure for millions of years. Crude oil can produce different fuels including diesel and gasoline.

Coal – A fossil fuel formed from dead organisms (mainly ancient plants) that were buried underground under heat and pressure for millions of years. 

Fossil Fuel – An energy resource derived from organisms that lived hundreds of millions of years ago during the Carboniferous Period; fossil fuels include coal, crude oil, and natural gas.

Hydroelectric– Energy derived from the kinetic energy in falling water and converted into electricity (hydro-electric power) or another form of work (irrigation or a mechanical device such as a mill). 

Hydrokinetic – Energy harnessed by anchoring propeller-like devices to river beds, ocean shores, or on the ocean floor in areas of strong tides and current.

Natural Gas – A fossil fuel formed from dead organisms that were buried underground under heat and pressure for millions of years. It is in a gaseous state because of its low number of carbon-carbon bonds.  It is comprised mostly of methane, which is a carbon atom bonded to four hydrogen atoms.

Non-Renewable Energy Resource– An energy resource that cannot be grown, produced, or generated at a rate that can sustain its consumption. The three main types are petroleum, natural gas, and coal.

Photosynthesis – The process by which plants convert energy from sunlight into chemical energy by producing energy-rich carbohydrate molecules from water and carbon dioxide.

Renewable Energy Resource– An energy resource that can be replenished through biological or natural processes at a rate that can sustain its consumption; examples are wind, hydro, geothermal, biomass, and solar.

Wind – Movement of air created by the uneven heating of the Earth’s surface by the Sun. Wind contains kinetic energy that is derived from radiant energy provided by the Sun.

Wind Turbine – A device that converts kinetic energy from the wind into mechanical energy; this mechanical energy can then be converted by a generator into electrical energy. 

Gear Up:
  • If possible, invite an elder in to share a song and/or dance which relates to Sun or energy. You can also read or listen to a version of the story of Raven bringing light to people. The story is especially prevalent in Tlingit communities in Southeast Alaska. See video below for one example.
  • Ask students how they use energy every day and record their answers on a board, poster or projector. Group their examples around heat, electricity, transportation and biological processes. 
  • Ask where the energy comes from for these uses of energy. Guide them to understand that energy is all around us, but it changes forms. The Sun, a massive ball of flaming gases, helps to make life on Earth possible and is a main source of energy for our planet. You can also illustrate the processes and have students draw along with you. 
A Canadian Tlingit artist created an image of Raven in the snow on snowshoe.
Activity
  • Hand out one worksheet per student or per pair of students. For the Energy Flow Sort version, ask them to try to put the items in the order the energy is transferred for the various items/activities. For students who might struggle with this, you can give an example describing how an item or activity uses energy from the Sun, such as the steps from the Sun to using a cell phone. For the Energy Flow Diagram version, ask students to describe how the energy is transferred. 
  • When they are done, ask for volunteers or pick students to give an explantion for each item/activity. Invite other students to explain why they might have put items in a different order or explained the steps in a different way.
  • Guide the students through a discussion about the Sun, including how it is a source of heat and light for our planet and how the natural processes resulting from this heat and light help humans to produce and use energy. Introduce some of the Vocabulary words as appropriate, and define on the board as needed. 
  • Another option for this assignment is to assign a process to each group of students and have them cut pictures from magazines to create their diagram. 
  • This activity could also be done on a computer using a drawing program. 
  • The Power Point presentation illustrates a few of the examples from the worksheets, which you can use as a review for the students at the end of class. 
Extension

Have students work in groups to present one source of energy that we use, using library and/or internet research along with their diagrams. Students should explain where the resource comes from and the various ways that we use the energy derived from this source. Students can include their own ideas for ways to use the resource more efficiently.

Evaluation

Ask students to:

  • Place images of a process of energy from the Sun in the correct order.
  • Describe or write a story about the process of energy from the Sun to an activity or item.

Weather Wiz Kids: This website provides fun information about weather for students, teachers and parents.

Short version of “Raven Stealing the Light” : a video in Tlingit with English subtitles

Raven and the Box of Light story: Tao of Raven excerpt (by Ernestine Hayes) 

U.S. Energy Information Administration Energy Kids: This website provides background information and lessons on non-renewable resources.

StudentEnergy.org Energy Map: The Energy Systems Map captures the interconnections of the complex energy system in a simple yet dynamic way.