Greenewables: Making Renewable Energy Poster Presentations
Poster presentation on biomass as a source of alternative energy.Copyright Physics 102 Class, St. Mary's College, Notre Dame, IN. Used with permission.
Students form expert engineering teams working for the (fictional) alternative energy consulting firm, Greenewables, Inc. Each team specializes in a form of renewable energy used to generate electrical power: passive solar, solar photovoltaic, wind power, low-impact hydropower, biomass, geothermal and (for more advanced students) hydrogen fuel cells. Teams produce poster presentations making a case for their technology and produce an accompanying PDF document using Adobe Acrobat that summarizes the presentation. This activity is geared towards fifth-grade and older students, and Internet research capabilities are required. Some portions of this activity may be appropriate with younger students.
Every day we use energy to light our homes, listen to the radio, keep our food cold, etc. Engineers are concerned about how all this energy is produced and what it is doing to our environment. They are currently developing alternative energy sources and ways to conserve energy. Solar, wind, and nuclear power are some of the alternatives to the existing high carbon-dioxide-emitting coal plants. However, no energy source is perfect and engineers are constantly weighing the pros and cons of each energy source.
After this activity, students should be able to:
- Write stories, letters and reports with greater detail and supporting material.
- Draft, revise, edit and proofread for a legible final copy.
- Apply skills in analysis, synthesis, evaluation and explanation to their writing and speaking.
- Incorporate source materials into their speaking and writing (for example, interviews, news articles, encyclopedia information).
- Write and speak in the content areas using the technical vocabulary of the subject accurately.
- Recognize, express and defend a point of view orally in an articulate manner and in writing.