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Water As An Energy Source

This school program explores hydropower as an energy source and its impact on the environment. Students will engage in hands-on activities, virtual labs, and engineering challenges to understand how water can be used to create electricity and the consequences it may have on ecosystems. They will also learn about the importance of freshwater resources and ways to ensure sustainable access in the future.

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Water As An Energy Source

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  1. Water As AnEnergy Source School/program name Date

  2. Background Information(for facilitator) • Hydropower is the force or energy or moving water. It has been transformed to mechanical energy for centuries. Water wheels have historically been used to power mills for processing grains, lumber, and mineral ore, among many other things. Now, moving water is used to power turbines, which spin generators to produce electricity. How much electricity is produced depends on the available hydropower. In most cases, hydropower comes from the potential energy of water collected behind dams. The greater the volume or water behind a dam, and the greater the height difference between the intake (above the dam) and outtake (below the dam) of water, the greater the hydropower available. Waterwheels at the bases of dams are spun by the force of the water falling over the dam, or through pipes. • Hydroelectricity is considered clean energy because it does not produce any harmful emissions such as greenhouse gases. Hydroelectricity is the most commonly used form of renewable energy in the world. However, hydroelectric power has its drawbacks as well. Dam failures have killed thousands of people in catastrophic floods. Dams also have a huge impact on the environment both upstream and downstream of the dam. Large reservoirs form upstream of the dam, and people and cities must be relocated out of the area of flooding. Upstream flooding also destroys and divides habitats. Dams create obstacles for fish such as salmon that must swim upstream to spawn. Dams also trap sediment, which piles up behind the dam and reduces the amount of water that can be stored. Water emerging from a hydroelectric dam may also be warmer than the normal temperature of the river. This can lead to changes for the plants and animals that live below the dam, as well as changing the ability of the river to freeze during winter.

  3. Agenda • Opening (30 minutes) • Activity: Well in a Cup (60 minutes) • Setting the Stage (15 minutes) • Activity: Water Power (45 minutes) • Break (15 minutes) • Cyber Investigation: Do Re Meanders Virtual Lab (30 minutes) • Lunch (30 minutes) • Recess: Water Obstacle Course (30 minutes) • STEM-tasticCareers (30 minutes) • Engineering Challenge: Hydropower Challenge (45 minutes) • Mind Snacks (15 minutes) • Engineering Challenge: Continued (30 minutes) • STEM Camp Notebook Reflection (10 minutes) • Wrap Up (5minutes) • Dive Into Digital Project (60 minutes)

  4. Learning Objectives • To explain how water is used to create electricity • To determine nature’s way of recycling, i.e., hydrological cycle • To explore water effects on the environment and environmental effects on water

  5. Today’s Vocabulary • Hydropower • Aquifer

  6. Activity:Well in a Cup

  7. Setting the Stage

  8. 3 Truths and 1 Lie • People have depended on the power of water for a millennia. • The water behind a dam has tremendous mechanical energy • The water wheel converts the energy of water into mechanical energy. • The three gorges dam will be able to generate 18,000 megawatts

  9. Video Segment: Hydropower

  10. 3 Truths and 1 Lie • People have depended on the power of water for a millennia. • The water behind a dam has tremendous mechanical energy • The water wheel converts the energy of water into mechanical energy. • The three gorges dam will be able to generate 18,000 megawatts

  11. CyberInvestigation:Water Power Exploration: Water Power

  12. How do we benefit from our water resources? Reading Passage – Hydropower

  13. Activity: Water Power Hands-On Activity: Water Power

  14. CyberInvestigation:Do Re MeanderVirtual Lab Virtual Lab: Do Re Meander

  15. STEMtastic Careers What information interested you about this career? Why did it interest you? What tools and technology does a water resource specialist use? How could these tools and technologies important to their job? What skills, knowledge and abilities do you need to perform this job? Where their any skills, knowledge and abilities that surprised you? What type of education do you need for this job? How is education and training important to having a successful career? What other information about water resource specialists did you find surprising or interesting?

  16. Think Pair Share

  17. Engineering Challenge:Hydropower Challenge

  18. Engineering Challenge:Hydropower Challenge • What is electricity? • What is a circuit? • What is the difference between AC and DC? Video; What is Electricy? Video: Switches and Circluites Moving Electricity fro One Place to Another

  19. Mind Snacks Virtual Lab: Getting Connected

  20. Engineering ChallengeContinued:Hydropower Challenge

  21. Notebook Reflection • Identify at least three ways you are dependent on freshwater. • Explain what would happen if you had limited access to freshwater for one of those ways you identified. • What can you do to help ensure access to freshwater for years to come?

  22. Wrap Up

  23. Lodge McCammon:The Shallows Song: Lodge McCammon – The Shallows

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