Writing and sketching reflections in a student journal with the design process of crafting an automated solar panel to sense kilowatts over the course of a day.

Student Journal

Guide - Simple Machines and Linkages

Explore the regions of the sun and its vital role in sustaining life on Earth through its immense amount of energy. Learn about harnessing energy from the sun to create active and passive solar systems, and build a model of a light-sensing, rotating solar panel.

You are viewing the American-English version of this resource. [Click here to view in British-English.](/course/gb-city-building-course/gb-solar-energy-sensing-microbit-lesson)

🇬🇧 Teacher Notes

#### Lesson Structure

When students go through this lesson in each section, the objectives they will learn are:

* **Warm-up** – Recognize that the sun is the primary and secondary source of energy on Earth.
* **Imagine** – Study the process of harnessing solar energy and weigh its use against fossil fuel use.
* **Create** – Create a light measuring device measuring light while moving a servo.
* **Build** – Create a slow-moving panel changing the angle following the sun's position as the micro:bit reads sunlight.
* **Reflect** – Reflect on the projects, understanding of solar energy, and its conversion to usable energy.
* **Challenges** – Expand and combine solar panel designs into larger, more complex configurations and make new solar and light-related designs.

#### After this lesson students will be able to:

* Understand that light transfers energy from place to place.
* Investigate solar energy as a possible solution for fossil fuel dependence.
* Explore transformation of energy from one form to another.
* Recognize that energies and fuels come from natural sources and these affect our environment.
* Compare types of energy solutions and describe how some energies are renewable and some are limited.
* Create a model of a solar panel with Strawbees and a micro:bit with light-sensing input to explore different outputs.

Teacher Notes

Overview and Objectives

Materials

Facilitation and Collaboration Work

#### Teachers: Preparing Your Students (35-60 min)

When students begin the lesson, they start in [Overview and Objectives](#overview-and-objectives), then transition to this [Preparation](#preparation) section. Presented in their view is a vocabulary list of terms and infographics illustrating concepts across STEAM domains throughout this entire lesson.

There are extra guides and optional short intro lessons for preparing student readiness for their first engagement of new terms and content knowledge. Print or distribute the student journal and guides digitally. 

* Read through the vocabulary list. (5 minutes)
* Review the 6 simple machines. Download the optional asset and share to students. (10 minutes)
* Review the [Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)](https://sdgs.un.org/goals) blueprint based on global needs to create a more sustainable world by 2030 before starting the lesson. (5 minutes)
* (Optional) Pick a shorter, introductory lesson supplementing the guides. Assign lesson to students and start. (25 minutes)
* Test and get light sources. (15 minutes)


#### Light and Dark Sources

The micro:bit can be very sensitive to sunlight, but not so sensitive to artificial lights. If you are in a very sunny room, consider adding some masking tape on top of the LED screen to reduce the sensitivity. If you are in a dark room, consider using a flashlight to trigger it.

When starting this lesson, turn off the room's overhead lights, with minimal light shining from the window. As your students iterate through the programming sequence in [Create ](#create)and [Build](#build) sections, you can vary the light sources and even move near the windows or go outside!

### Sustainable Development Goals

Review the [Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)](https://sdgs.un.org/goals) blueprint based on global needs to create a more sustainable world by 2030 before starting the lesson. (5 minutes)

Student journal

#### Vocabulary (5 minutes)

This is the list of vocabulary terms used throughout the lesson. They will be in **bold,** listed throughout the different sections, and in **Student Journal** asset. Students can always revisit the vocabulary definitions with media and questions in the lesson. (5 minutes)

#### Simple Machines and Linkages (10 minutes)

Review the 6 simple machines. There is an **optional** guide used as a printout or can be shared online to students before they engage this lesson. Each simple machine is designed to make work easier or more efficient and referenced in this lesson. Download the optional guide. (10 min)

### Optional Intro Lessons (25 minutes)

(Optional) Pick an introductory lesson to use with the guide. **Students won't see these unless assigned to them by you.** (25 minutes)

Preparation

#### Facilitation and Collaboration Work

This Warm-up section can be facilitated as whole-group reading and discussion, or it can be facilitated in small groups or with partners. In particular, images are meant to stimulate discussion and help students think about the concepts in the text. Questions can be used as formative assessments to check for comprehension.

#### The Sun

The sun is the star at the center of our solar system. It produces energy which then travels to earth and sustains all life on earth.

* Stars are immense bodies of gas under a tremendous amount of pressure. The sun, which is the star closest to earth, has five main zones or layers.

  * The core is the first layer at the center of the sun generating 99 % of the sun’s energy. Intense pressure and exceedingly high temperatures at the core of the sun causes a reaction known as **nuclear fusion**.
  * **Nuclear fusion** occurs because of this pressure and temperature exerting such a force on hydrogen gas at the core, that four hydrogen molecules convert into one helium atom, releasing energy outwards. Each time this fusion occurs, it releases an amount of energy great enough to power a lightbulb for 100 years. This process is called a proton-proton chain reaction and produces a continuous stream of particles and waves as solar energy, heat and light.
  * The **photosphere** is the outermost layer of the sun before its atmosphere. This is the region of the sun that we see from earth. Visible light and heat transfer into outer space from the photosphere. This layer, like the rest of the sun, is made up of gas and ranges up to 300 miles, or 500 kilometers thick.

In nuclear fusion, 4 hydrogen atoms convert into a single helium atom, under tremendous amounts of pressure. This releases an incredible amount of energy.

#### Sustaining Life

Earth depends on this sun to sustain life.The earth is neither too close nor too far away from the sun.


* Scientists refer to this as the earth being in the **habitable** zone of the sun. The **habitable** zone means that the earth is neither too close to the sun, making the planet too hot for life, nor too far from the sun, making it too cold for life.
    * These conditions also mean that water occurs or could occur in liquid form. Scientists search for water because water is also a key ingredient to life. Water is a necessary component of earth’s biosphere. Biosphere refers to the sum of all the matter and energy flowing within earth’s ecosystems.
* Earth traps approximately 70% of the heat energy from the sun in the atmosphere.
    * This warms the planet and perpetuates the water cycle. The sun causes water on earth’s surface, in lakes, rivers, and oceans, to evaporate. Once in the atmosphere, water droplets cool and condense to form clouds. When clouds are heavy enough, precipitation falls back to earth in the form of rain, ice, snow, hail, or sleet. All plants, animals, and humans need water to survive, so without the sun warming the earth, the water cycle would not occur.
* Energy from the sun causes plants to grow, which feed animals and people     * Plants use light energy from the sun to convert carbon dioxide and water into sugar in a process known as **photosynthesis**. This sugar is called glucose and is the plant’s food. Animals and humans eat plants, thus absorbing energy that at one time came from the sun. This energy is measured in quantities called calories. Other animals, and many people too, eat meat from animals which once ate plants. Whether herbivores, omnivores, or carnivores, all animal and human life depend on energy from the sun in our food to sustain all of our biological processes.

The sun supports life through heating the planet, and giving energy to plants.  People also consume plants and absorb this energy from the sun.

#### Solar Energy Conversion

Nearly every type of energy source on earth can be traced back to the sun. Solar energy, the light and heat energy which takes eight minutes to travel from the photosphere to Earth powers not only powers plant growth but is also stored in plants. Besides experiencing the benefits of the sun such as its warmth and aid in plant growth, humans began taking advantage of solar energy for millennia.



* There is a rich history and development of humans using solar energy.
    * Ancient civilizations took advantage of the sun in agriculture. In an era long before modern food preservation, the sun acted as a natural preservative, drying out fruit, vegetables, or even meats, so that society could flourish with plenty of food.
    * Ancient Greek and Chinese societies use **passive** solar energy in the design of their houses. As both these civilizations developed in the Northern Hemisphere, they constructed houses to face south in order to experience the warmth of the winter sun shining in from the south. In summer seasons, the sun passed directly overhead and roofs provided shade during the hottest part of the day.
    * Many groups also constructed homes with passive solar design. The Anasazi and Ancestral Puebloans constructed houses under overhangs on the southern facing cliffs. They built them at precise angles so that the sun shone into their homes in the winter. However, it was directly overhead in the summer, providing them with cool shade in the summer heat.
* Other solar designs arose in the 18th and 19th centuries in the form of solar cookers and solar water heaters. Solar water heaters are built into the design of houses today in many countries and areas which receive a lot of sunlight such as Australia, Israel, and Spain.
* The sun also indirectly powers other sources of energy.
    * When humans discovered fire, the heat energy released by the burning wood was once energy from the sun, stored in molecular bonds as chemical energy inside the plant.
    * Fossil fuels such as natural gas, oil, and coal contain energy from the sun from millions of years ago. Fossil fuels form when plants and animals decompose over millions of years into concentrated forms of carbon in the state of natural gas, oil, or coal. People extract these fuels and use them to create electricity, heat, or power transportation.

The sun directly heats houses and water. However, people burning **fossil fuels** are using sunlight indirectly. This energy came from the sun millions of years ago and is now trapped in **fossil fuels**.

Common Core ELA

Florida - NGSSS

Warm-up

#### Facilitation and Collaboration Work

This Imagine section can be facilitated as whole-group reading and discussion, or it can be facilitated in small groups or with partners. In particular, images are meant to stimulate discussion and help students think about the concepts in the text. Questions can be used as formative assessments to check for comprehension.

#### Harnessing Solar Energy

Innovations past and present convert light energy into another form of energy, namely electricity! The 1800s saw much experimentation with solar energy as inventors and scientists sought a way to capture energy from the sun.

* Edmund Becquerel discovered the **photovoltaic** effect which is still used to power solar cells today. **Photovoltaics** refer to capturing light energy and converting it into electricity.
* Another inventor, Charles Fritz, then invented the first photovoltaic solar panel (PV) cell in 1883.
* In 1957 when scientists at Bell Labs in the United States discovered that silicon was even more effective at creating a **photovoltaic** electric current and more widely available.
    * This new innovation was able to convert 6% of solar energy into electricity. An energy crisis in the United States in the 1970s led the US government to begin to research how to make solar energy more affordable, and reduce dependency on fossil fuels.
* Another type of solar power is called concentrated solar-thermal power (CSP). Concentrated solar-thermal power works through directing mirrors and lenses at the sun to **concentrate** a substantial area of sunlight onto a receiver, which converts the concentrated sunlight into heat energy. The heat energy then generates a steam turbine, which creates electrical energy.
* In 2014, solar energy accounted for 1.1 percent of all energy consumed in the world.

Inventors had to discover how to use light energy from the sun to make an electrical current before they could continue with other steps.

#### Benefits of Solar Energy

Solar energy is a complex issue, with many benefits and drawbacks to consider in exploring this type of **renewable energy**.


* A major advantage of solar energy is the abundance of solar power that is freely available from our sun.
    * In choosing this source and other types of **renewable energies** like bio-energy, water and wind, humans can reduce their dependence on **non-renewable energy** sources, such as coal and fossil fuels. With the right technology in place, this ongoing, clean energy source could readily power the entire planet.
* Another major benefit of solar energy is that it does not create carbon emissions that can contribute to climate change. Burning fossil fuels for energy, on the other hand, produces high amounts of greenhouse gases which lead to global warming and the harmful effects these excess temperatures have on the environment, wildlife, weather, and human life.
* Energy costs related to fossil fuels may be unstable and increasing for many. Solar energy, through the installation of solar panels, may offer a way for individual residents and businesses to lower their energy bill and have more predictable payments.
* Little air pollution is made through producing solar energy. Less harmful air pollutants means that societies can save on health care costs and avoid losing valuable worker labor and productivity.
* Solar-harnessing technology can be easily attached to existing infrastructure without impacting the land. This is in contrast to fossil fuels, which negatively shapes the land though its heavy dependence on digging, mining, and extraction.

Solar power is **renewable**, has potential nearly everywhere on Earth, does not release pollutants or greenhouse gases.

#### Challenges Facing Solar Power

Humans have yet to develop the perfect energy source, and relying on solar energy, as beneficial as it is, still has several challenges and drawbacks.

* Manufacturing items such as solar devices and panels involves the use of hazardous materials and chemicals.

  * It is important to safeguard the health of workers that come into contact with these toxic substances and ensure this waste is either properly recycled or disposed of without harming people or the environment.
* Another concern is that of land use and habitat loss.

  * While solar energy installations can share spaces, like being placed in an agricultural setting, bigger solar project-sites and builds can both damage the land and remove the homes of local wildlife.
  * One solution is to place solar installations on less desirable land sites, including mines and brownfields.
* Solar energy is also not accessible for lots of people.

  * There are high initial costs to install solar panels. Besides cost, some people have roofs that do not receive enough sunlight to support using solar energy. Others have roofs that may lack the space to fit solar panels.
  * Two solutions are to install ground panels nearby the residence. Residents could also choose to become a part of a community solar garden, sharing electricity with others from a larger central solar plant.
* An added challenge of solar energy is determining how to lessen or limit carbon gases that are related to the production of solar energy.

  * While making electricity from solar energy is a cleaner solution, the entire life-span of solar equipment can be connected to carbon emissions.
  * This means actions such as the transportation and shipment of solar products can create extra carbon emissions that impact climate change.
* A final consideration is that the manufacturing of solar materials at solar plants requires an extensive amount of water.

  * This is a particular concern for more arid areas that need water, but also could benefit from solar power.

One challenge is that solar panels may take up valuable plant and animal habitat space.  One alternative is to let plants grow in between the panels, and to let animals graze.

#### Emerging Solar Innovations

* One idea is solar agriculture, which is known as agrivoltaics.

  * Farmers arrange with solar companies to receive payment for letting their animals graze and clear out vegetation near their solar panels. This keeps the plant growth low so that it does not block the sunlight and prevent the solar panels from absorbing the sun’s energy.
  * Solar panels can also lower a farmer’s energy and production costs, since much energy is needed to operate a farm. Even so, large scale growing is more challenging as large harvesting equipment cannot fit between solar panels.
* Another possibility is floating solar panels and floatovoltaics. Imagine a giant solar farm that can float on water!

  * The concept is to mount an array of photovoltaic panels onto a large structure located in bodies of water, such as dams and reservoirs. Installing floating **photovoltaics** is cheaper than putting in panels in the ground or on top of a roof.
  * Placing the solar array over water avoids having to use land that is needed by humans or wildlife. Water even keeps the floating solar panels at a lower temperature, enabling these solar panels to produce up to 10% more energy. Plus, the panels cover a large surface area of the water, and help to prevent evaporation, preserving more water in the reservoir that can in turn be used for irrigation.
* Solar energy could be supported by existing infrastructure such as roads, sidewalks, and highways, in solar roads.

  * These pathways could both produce electricity from the sun and also provide a path for transportation. Solar roads are being tested in places around the world. Such roads could develop a lot of **renewable energy** and one day replace asphalt roads.
  * A solar bike path in the Netherlands was able to collect enough solar power to support the energy needs for a few homes.

    Solar panels are widely used to generate energy for orbiting satellites and space technology.

  * Flexible, bendable solar arrays are being tested on the International Space Station. Research is underway to increase the efficiency of solar panels in space. Solar arrays represent a large cost in spacecraft. Developing solar systems with less material could aid in cutting the costs of creating spacecraft in the future.
* An issue with solar panels is that they only generate solar power during the day, when the sun is shining.

  * This puts renewable, solar energy systems at a disadvantage compared to **non-renewable energies** that can be collected and used all-day. However, new solar panels may be able to work during the hours when the sun is down. A new solar cell, actually called an anti-solar cell, can create about one-fourth of the power at night that a solar panel can make during the day. Strangely enough, it accomplishes this by sending out infrared light rather than absorbing light from the sun. Better still, it can collect energy during the day as well, if faced away from the sun.

Innovation can help solve problems that are still facing solar power, and one idea is to add in special solar panels to the surface of roads.

SDGs

Imagine

#### Facilitation and Collaboration Work

Students work on the instructions to build together in groups of 2-3.

Assemble the micro:bit, clip, extension cable, and servo motor

Connect to computer using USB cable

Start a new project on Makecode

Add Strawbees extension

Pair the micro:bit

Turn on the Robotics board

Set the start position of the servo motor

Program light level value

Transition the panel move over time

NGSS

Create

#### Facilitation and Collaboration Work

Students work on the instructions to build the Crane together in groups of 2-3.

Build a solar panel base

Make joints and attach to sides of the base

Continue to build up the sides of the base

Connect the sides together to complete the base

Build 2 sides for holding the solar panel

Make the moving support for the solar panel

Attach solar panel support to the base

Make a linkage

Connect linkage to the moving support

Push and pull the linkage to test for smooth motion

Make a structure to hold the servo motor

Click connectors into the corners of the base

Measure and cut 2 cardboard rectangles

Mark and poke holes on the large rectangle

Slide the legs from the base through holes of cardboard and lock

Mark and poke holes for servo motor structure

Anchor servo structure to cardboard

Connect the linkage to the servo motor

Detach the top of the solar panel support then clip to the micro:bit

Mark then poke holes into the smaller rectangle for panel

Attach micro:bit to the cardboard solar panel then connect to the base

Set up the program for solar panel on start

Program the panel to simulate a 12 hour daytime transition

Program the solar panel to simulate measuring kilowatts while moving

Place the solar panel in different environments

Build

For this section of the lesson, the following questions below can be discussed all together as a class or within each group. You can use the **Student Journal** asset as a helpful resource to capture ideas and process on the computer or printed ahead of time and distributed.

Reflect

ISTE Students

Challenges

References and Extra Resources

STEAM Classroom Robotics - micro:bit

United States

Ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all.

Goal 7

Make observations to provide evidence that energy can be transferred from place to place by sound, light, heat, and electric currents.

4-PS3-2

Obtain and combine information to describe that energy and fuels are derived from natural resources and their uses affect the environment.

4-ESS3-1

Apply scientific ideas to design, test, and refine a device that converts energy from one form to another.*

4-PS3-4

Define a simple design problem reflecting a need or a want that includes specified criteria for success and constraints on materials, time, or cost.

3-5-ETS1-1

Generate and compare multiple possible solutions to a problem based on how well each is likely to meet the criteria and constraints of the problem.

3-5-ETS1-2

Plan and carry out fair tests in which variables are controlled and failure points are considered to identify aspects of a model or prototype that can be improved.

3-5-ETS1-3

Define the criteria and constraints of a design problem with sufficient precision to ensure a successful solution, taking into account relevant scientific principles and potential impacts on people and the natural environment that may limit possible solutions.

MS-ETS1-1

Evaluate competing design solutions using a systematic process to determine how well they meet the criteria and constraints of the problem.

MS-ETS1-2

Describe how internal and external parts of computing devices function to form a system.

CSTA

CSTA.1B-CS-01

Model how computer hardware and software work together as a system to accomplish tasks.

CSTA.1B-CS-02

Determine potential solutions to solve simple hardware and software problems using common troubleshooting strategies.

CSTA.1B-CS-03

Students build knowledge by actively exploring real-world issues and problems, developing ideas and theories and pursuing answers and solutions.

1.3.d Knowledge Constructor

Students know and use a deliberate design process for generating ideas, testing theories, creating innovative artifacts or solving authentic problems.

1.4.a Innovative Designer

Students select and use digital tools to plan and manage a design process that considers design constraints and calculated risks.

1.4.b Innovative Designer

Students develop, test and refine prototypes as part of a cyclical design process.

1.4.c Innovative Designer

Students exhibit a tolerance for ambiguity, perseverance and the capacity to work with open-ended problems.

1.4.d Innovative Designer

Students understand how automation works and use algorithmic thinking to develop a sequence of steps to create and test automated solutions.

1.5.d Computational Thinker

Students communicate complex ideas clearly and effectively by creating or using a variety of digital objects such as visualizations, models or simulations.

1.6.c Creative Communicator

Demonstrate that radiant energy from the Sun can heat objects and when the Sun is not present, heat may be lost.

SC.3.E.6.1

Identify the Sun as a star that emits energy; some of it in the form of light.

SC.3.E.5.2

Recognize that humans need resources found on Earth and that these are either renewable or nonrenewable.

SC.4.E.6.3

Identify resources available in Florida (water, phosphate, oil, limestone, silicon, wind, and solar energy).

SC.4.E.6.6

Recognize that light waves, sound waves, and other waves move at different speeds in different materials.

SC.7.P.10.3

Describe how models and simulations can be used to solve real-world issues in science and engineering.

SC.35.CS-CS.1.2

Identify ways that technology can foster teamwork, and collaboration can support problem solving and innovation.

SC.35.CS-CC.1.3

Create a simple model of a system (e.g., flower or solar system) and explain what the model shows and does not show.

SC.35.CS-CS.1.4

Explain that computers model intelligent behavior (as found in robotics, speech and language recognition, and computer animation).

SC.35.CS-CS.6.3

Create, test, and modify a program in a graphical environment (e.g., block-based visual programming language), individually and collaboratively.

SC.35.CS-CP.2.2

Decompose a problem and create a function for one of its parts at a time (e.g., video game, robot obstacle course, making dinner), individually and collaboratively.

SC.68.CS-CS.2.5

Select appropriate tools and technology resources to accomplish a variety of tasks and solve problems.

SC.68.CS-CP.3.1

Identify and describe the use of sensors, actuators, and control systems in an embodied system (e.g., a robot, an e-textile, installation art, and a smart room).

SC.68.CS-CS.4.4

Design and demonstrate the use of a device (e.g., robot, e-textile) to accomplish a task, individually and collaboratively.

SC.68.CS-CS.6.6

Explain how text features contribute to the meaning and identify the text structures of problem/solution, sequence, and description in texts.

ELA.4.R.2.1

Explain how text structures and/or features contribute to the overall meaning of texts.

ELA.5.R.2.1

Explain how individual text sections and/or features convey meaning in texts.

ELA.6.R.2.1

Explain how individual text sections and/or features convey a purpose in texts.

ELA.7.R.2.1

Analyze how individual text sections and/or features convey a purpose and/or meaning in texts.

ELA.8.R.2.1

Explain how an author establishes and achieves purpose(s) through rhetorical appeals and/or figurative language.

ELA.8.R.2.3

Explain events, procedures, ideas, or concepts in a historical, scientific, or technical text, including what happened and why, based on specific information in the text.

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.4.3

Determine the meaning of general academic and domain-specific words or phrases in a text relevant to a .

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.4.4

Interpret information presented visually, orally, or quantitatively (e.g., in charts, graphs, diagrams, time lines, animations, or interactive elements on Web pages) and explain how the information contributes to an understanding of the text in which it appears.

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.4.7

Explain the relationships or interactions between two or more individuals, events, ideas, or concepts in a historical, scientific, or technical text based on specific information in the text.

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.5.3

Determine the meaning of general academic and domain-specific words and phrases in a text relevant to a .

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.5.4

Draw on information from multiple print or digital sources, demonstrating the ability to locate an answer to a question quickly or to solve a problem efficiently.

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.5.7

Analyze in detail how a key individual, event, or idea is introduced, illustrated, and elaborated in a text (e.g., through examples or anecdotes).

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.6.3

Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including figurative, connotative, and technical meanings.

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.6.4

Integrate information presented in different media or formats (e.g., visually, quantitatively) as well as in words to develop a coherent understanding of a topic or issue.

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.6.7

Analyze the interactions between individuals, events, and ideas in a text (e.g., how ideas influence individuals or events, or how individuals influence ideas or events).

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.7.3

Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including figurative, connotative, and technical meanings; analyze the impact of a specific word choice on meaning and tone.

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.7.4

Analyze how a text makes connections among and distinctions between individuals, ideas, or events (e.g., through comparisons, analogies, or categories).

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.8.3

Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including figurative, connotative, and technical meanings; analyze the impact of specific word choices on meaning and tone, including analogies or allusions to other texts.

Solar Energy Sensing (micro:bit)

Overview and Objectives

Structure