As we approach the end of the school year, we are starting to finish some our big units to move onto our final few. Probably one of the longest units PLP 10 has had this year revolved around energy. We combined math: linear equations and graphs, with science: natural energy production. That’s why I think this unit was pretty cool, we combined our math and science classes to learn about and create a final project.

First, we were given our inquiry question:

How can we capture and use renewable energy from nature?

Next, before we got started, our class went on a field trip to the powerhouse in  Stave Falls, Mission, BC. Here we learned about hydro energy production, renewable energy, and about energy and how it acts. Hydro production is really great, it’s really clean and causes no pollution.

Once we returned to class we immediately started brainstorming for our project. The main objective of the project was to find a way to generate potential energy from nature. We were put into groups, I was with Kate, Aiden, Willa, and Alex. Our first idea was a bit outlandish. We wanted to find a way to generate the potential energy through steam. To do this we would need to make a fire that would heat up water to create steam. The steam would need enough pressure coming out of a container to power a hand crank to light some small LEDs. We used this video to help us understand what we were getting into: 

Looks easy, right? Alex and I tried redesigning the idea and then we did a mini experiment at home to test out product.

Things did not go as planned… Since what we were doing could be potentially dangerous and we could make a bomb, we had to test it outside. The wind mixed with the lack of pressure inside the container didn’t even move the hand crank at all. Also, the hand crank we got was the worst out of the bunch. We had to put a lot more force on the crank to generate even the smallest amount of energy than all of the other groups did, theirs moved much more freely. After failing our first attempt we moved onto a concept that was much more easier to create, a water wheel. Using a water wheel would make generating energy much more accessible, especially with the faulty generator. With the lack of time and materials, our group quickly went into the construction of the wheel. We used hot glue to attach plastic spoons and knives together to form a base. We then took pop cans out of the recycling to create paddles that the water would push on to spin the generator. It may have not looked very professional, but our argument is that we used all recyclable materials to be more Earth-friendly.

Once we finished our generator we tested it out in a nearby creek, and to our surprise, it worked! We managed to create enough energy to power about 3 LEDs. Once we were finished it was time to create our final video. This acted as an advertisement for our product where we showed what the water wheel is used for, what situations it can be helpful in and how much power it actually produced. We used our math graphing skills to create a graph that shows the production of energy throughout time.

Overall this project was differently a fun one, and I learned a lot about the production of energy and how to graph it. One of my favorite parts of the project was when I got to weld the circuits together, I had never really welded before that!

Before we started the unit the class was instructed to create a mindmap on what we knew on the topic. At the end of the unit we were instructed to the same thing. This shows some of the things I have learned.

Before the unit:

After the unit: