Energize! Week 2 bESTology

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Energize!

Not only has the advancement of TECHNOLOGY improved our roads and highway systems, technology has had and continues to have an enormous impact on how we POWER our modes of transportation.

In the past, fossil fuels (oil) have been the dominant energy source for transportation.  But due to global innovation and advances in technology, the manner in which natural resources are collected, modified and consumed has been transformed creating a new vision for transportation in America.

LNG, algae, wind farms, solar and biofuels are only a handful of new energy sources that will propel America into the future.

Resources: 

• Power Up – video game
• Algae Tech – creating fuel independence, sustainably
• Solar Whiz Kid
• Compressed Natural Gas for powering vehicles
• Liquefied Natural Gas Big Rigs vs. Diesel
• What is Liquefied Natural Gas – Presented by Shell
• Toyota and biofuels in Alabama
• Salt Water into Fuel?  True American Innovation
• Capturing “Wind Energy” Challenge
• Wind Turbines. Wind Parks. Norway!
• Airbus: Greener, Cleaner, and Quieter
• Wind Power and Wind Farms Database

Brainstorm:

As future leaders, list the potential alternative energy sources in your community.  Give examples of the various types of energy sources that could be used to power your city’s 2018 transportation systems (cars, city busses, school busses, trolleys, trains, planes, etc.). Transportation and equipment selection should be evaluated based on availability, price, accessibility and needs of your community.  Categorize the pros and cons of converting vehicles from fossil fuels to renewable energy sources.

Writing:

Sketch a mural of your futuristic community in 2018 showcasing the energy sources discussed above.  Choose a minimum of four energy words to include in your sketch. Write a brief explanation of the mural.  Collect all of the team member’s sketches and explanations and create a larger mural in your school.

Advanced Writing:

Extend the list generated in the brainstorming activity into a futuristic diary account of a day in the life of this vision of transportation systems.  Predict how you will get from home to work to recreation to shopping.  How will your supplies be delivered from afar? Be creative!  Add the potential cost for each segment of the logistics.  For a real stretch, travel across the country in a day.  What would that include?

BEST Robots:

Equipment selection for BEST kits is based on availability, price, accessibility, safety, reliability and recyclability. Currently batteries are a BEST robot’s power source.  Evaluate and determine what changes would be required for any of these power sources to be used on a BEST robot: photo voltaic cells, chemical, air pressure, mechanical or fuel cells.  Apply your entrepreneur skills to identify, modify or invent a new power source for a BEST robot.

Community Connection:

The definition of a system, according to the Oxford Dictionary, is “a set of connected things or parts forming a complex whole.”  BEST is a system of Engineering, Science and Technology. Behind every BEST robot is a future engineer, scientist and computer programmer.  This concept is also true in industry. To generate power, it takes a team.  Select and research a local company in your region that is now involved with generating an alternative fuel source.  Engage some of their technical team to show how they connected, ultimately forming the complex whole – the energy source.

Bloom’s Taxonomy:   Apply, categorize, collect, create, evaluate, extend, give examples of, identify, illustrate, modify, predict, select, sketch, write

Workforce Skills:   Active learning, critical thinking, equipment selection, reading, systems analysis, systems evaluation, writing.

(Correlates with Week 10 – Power Up! bESTology 2013)