Do It Yourself: Energy Transfer Lesson Plan
 This is an outline in classic lesson plan format detailing our first Energy Outreach. It covers the 5th Grade level Sunshine State Standard for energy while building a solid foundation to build upon for later lessons.
Objective:
Illustrate that energy can be transferred to one type of energy to another with varying degrees of efficiency; Energy is defined as the ability to do work; Different types of energy are heat, light, radiation, chemical, mechanical, and electrical.
Materials:
Tesla coil, plasma ball, laser, radiometer, light source, thionen solution, incandescent bulb, fluorescent bulb.
Introduction:
KWL with students to determine their knowledge on these types of energy.
Have students get into groups of 3-6 and make a list of various types of energy that they know of.
What are some of the energy types your group listed?
List types on the board. Make sure that heat, light, radiation, chemical, mechanical, and electrical are listed. Also explain that some types are radiant energy like heat, light, magnetic, and nuclear energy.
Let's see if we can transfer these types of energy from one type to another.
We will start with electricity.
Procedures:
 Explain that a tesla coil emits a frequency of AC (alternating current) electricity through the air.
Have the student bring the fluorescent light bulbs close to the tesla coil.
What is happening to the light bulbs?
How does a light bulb normally work?
What must be happening in order for the fluorescent light bulb to be working?
Let's now see if we can transfer it into heat.
Call on other students to bring the incandescent light close to the light bulb.
What is happening to the bulb? Is it getting hot?
So we transferred electricity to heat and light?
Can we transfer light energy to another form of energy?
Explain that a radiometer is a tool used to measure light energy.
Have students shine the laser on the radiometer.
What happened to the radiometer?
So can light make things move?
How?
Students can further their investigations into the transformation of light to electrical to mechanical energy by researching a Solar Sail.
Can light be used to create heat?
 Using an incandescent light, have students hold out their hand and close their eyes. Instruct them to tell when and if they feel heat as you wave the light over their hand.
Was light changed to heat energy?
Can light be used to make chemical energy?
Using a bright light source, hold thionen to light. Explain to students that the change in color is the thionen's way of storing light energy as chemical energy.
Did light change to chemical energy?
Can we change light back to electrical energy?
Explain to students that solar means light from the sun and that solar panels directly transfer light into electricity such as in a calculator, solar cars and on buildings.
What else is Solar energy used for?
Discuss that solar energy is used for photosynthesis in plants and can be used to
heat objects in devices such as solar cookers.
Review with students the different types of energy and the ways that they can be transferred.
Evaluation:
Have students create a journal listing different types of energy, the types of energy that were transferred in this lesson, and to draw a picture of one of those types of energy.
Lesson Plan Menu:
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