Ancient Sources of Energy

Linda Bacon

This science unit is designed for fourth grade students and can be adapted for students in third and fifth grade. It should be used in the middle of fourth grade when students are beginning the electricity and magnetism FOSS science unit or energy unit under NGSS. It can be used for whole class instruction and group investigations. The activities are designed to help students build a deeper understanding of electricity and sources of power. In addition, students will implement the engineering design process to apply concepts learned in a project based culminating activity. The activities in this unit are aligned to fourth grade Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS). The concepts of complete circuits, series circuits, parallel circuits, insulators, conductors, alternative sources of power, and engineering design will be addressed. The unit was written to extend ideas addressed in a current curricular unit, Magnetism and Electricity. Some activities have been modified or extended in order to develop a deeper understanding of electricity and build problem solving/engineering design skills.