Renewable Energy Lesson: Conserve Energy
Lesson Plan
1 hour 15 minutesGrades3, 4, 5Science, Mathematics
This resource has been reviewed by SubjectToClimate's climate scientists and verified for scientific accuracy and up-to-date information. Learn about our review process →
Written by Ashley Nelson, Lindsey Pockl
About this lesson
In this lesson, students reflect on their personal energy use. Students learn about why it is important to conserve energy and make an informative poster to share what they learned.
Inquire: Students review how we use energy in our daily lives and share the results of their energy audits.
Investigate: Students make a bar graph of their energy footprints and use it to reflect on energy use around the world and why it’s important to conserve energy.
Inspire: Students create an inspirational conservation poster to display in their class or school.
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Everything you need to teach it
- Teacher SlideshowOpen
- Student DocumentOpen
- Our Class Energy Footprint Data Sheet & GraphOpen
- Vocabulary CardsOpen
Teaching tips
Suggestions
- This lesson includes using a spreadsheet to create a bar graph. This may be the first time students learn this skill.
- Creating a conservation poster is a great way for students to feel empowered to take immediate climate action.
Prerequisites
- This is lesson 2 of 6 in our 3rd-5th grade Renewable Energy Unit.
- Students will need computers to make the bar graphs using a spreadsheet.
- When you are collecting data for the spreadsheets and graphs, some students may respond that they spend 1,440 minutes using energy (which is the total amount of minutes in a day) due to use of electricity for refrigerators or the heating and cooling of their homes. Although true, having multiple data points of 1,440 minutes is not useful. Have them come up with a lower estimate.
- Learning about the effects of climate change can bring up strong emotions for students, who may have been personally affected. This guide for educators can support teachers in having these conversations with students.
Differentiation
- Some students may have difficulty with data entry when adding numbers to their spreadsheet. It may be best to create groups of students so they can check each other’s progress to make sure it is correct.
- Students can create the bar graphs by hand.
- To extend the conversation around climate justice with your students, consider using these resources.
- It may be best to allow students to create conservation posters individually or with a partner.
- Some students may want to create conservation posters using digital tools like Canva or Adobe Spark.
From the scientist review
This lesson is suitable to build the capacity of students to understand energy sources and what they can power, to compute and audit their daily energy consumption, to share their energy footprint in group activities, and to raise awareness on energy consumption to a wide audience by creating a conservation poster. This lesson has passed our science review process and is recommended for classroom use.
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About the teacher writers
Ashley Nelson
K-2 Science and Technology Teacher
Ashley has been teaching for 16 years and has taught in Vietnam, Thailand, California, and Virginia. She is passionate about teaching STEM, computer science, and technology and empowering teachers to try new things in their classroom practice. She is also a certified Yoga and Mindfulness teacher and believes we must take care of our inner world to care for our external environment properly. She lives in Richmond, Virginia and loves vegan cooking, climate change activism, and connecting to the natural world.
Lindsey Pockl
Lindsey worked with SubjectToClimate to develop accompanying materials for lesson plans for grades 3-12.
