Kids teach kids about energy all over our Island. Pick a project and see what we’ve been doing.

We read and do experiments about different kinds of renewable energy in our class and we find out ways to save energy. We learn by doing the experiments and then we pick a project to do. We teach other kids what we learned. Projects are fun!

Solar Saver Kids

Energy Carnivals

Carnivals are really fun because you get to work in teams to experiment, play games, and invent games to teach other kids about energy. Everyone likes it!

First, we learn about energy. Then we decide what we will do to teach what we learned to little kids at our carnival. Sometimes we go outside to hold our carnival and sometimes we are inside.

We try out some games and experiments to see if we like them. Kids can use games from the Electroworks Carnival Guide (see top of page). Then we make teams and think of questions to ask. We take our experiments from the NEED Electroworks Kit.

We invent and make our own games (see top of page). We talk together and think of ideas. We collect the materials and toys we need. Then we think of questions. Finally we practice our games and experiments.

We go to other classes to invite little kids to come to our carnival and we teach them about energy. We experiment with batteries and electricity. We play the games we invented to teach about energy. We give solar tours to teach about the solar panels at our school and how they work to make electricity for us.

West Tisbury School's fifth graders and Edgartown School's sixth graders

Model Solar Car Race

Making model solar cars takes a lot of time. It’s not easy, but it is fun! We learn how to build model solar cars in our school and then we race with other schools on Energy Day. The winning teams for each school get ribbons.

We can start with a kit that Vineyard Energy Project gives us, or we can bring in some of our own materials and use them. Sometimes, it’s good to start with the kit and then add our own stuff.

We begin by putting together the chassis of the car. We have to glue on the motor and attach the gears and then attach the wheels. That’s the easy part! We practice to make sure that it goes. Then we make changes if it doesn’t work.

When the car goes the way we want it to, we add the solar panel. We have to be able to take the solar panel on and off, and be able to tilt it towards the sun. The more sun it gets, the more electricity the solar panel makes. The electricity is sent through wires to the motor. It makes the motor go. The motor makes the gears move. The gears turn the axle and make the wheels turn. When the wheels turn, the car moves. The speed the car goes depends on the amount of direct sun it gets and how well the car works.

The last thing we add is an empty soda can. We have to figure out how to keep it on the car during the race, without attaching it to the car. We check the bottom of the car to make sure it has an eye-hook or safety pin to attach the car to the fishing line on the race course. This will make sure it goes straight from the start line to the finish line.

Finally it’s time for the race. We check everything one last time. Then we get ready to start. We need to cover the solar panel until the signal is given to start. When the signal is given, the covers come off and our cars take off…..or we hope they do!

The race is on. The first car across the finish line is flagged as the winner. Sometimes when there is a tie, the judges decide. The winning teams receive ribbons.

When we're back at school, we take out our assessment booklets (see top of page) and write down how we've done.

Martha's Vineyard Public Charter School's Fifth/Sixth graders

Bright Ideas

Classroom Experiments:

Experiment One:  Nuclear Chain Reaction

First, we got the materials for our experiment. Then we arranged dominoes one right behind the other, in the order that it shows on the instructions to show how a nuclear reaction works. Next we knocked down the first domino to see what would happen and four dominoes fell over and the rest didn't. After that we tried it again and it worked! Then our teacher Jack Regan took a picture of the experiment.

We learned about splitting atoms and how they can split over and over again. This makes more energy.

This is a chant that we learned, this is how it goes... Uranium, Uranium (clap!) split goes the atom. You can do it over and over again, just like atoms splitting!

Experiment Two:  Solar Sisters Play

We have a play that we are doing for an energy program. We started with making the props. This play talks about what we can do to save energy. The play also talks about polluting with gasoline. The play talks about the sun and how important it is in our life. Coal, oil, and natural gas are found under ground. They are formed by dead plants and animals that have been dead for millions of years. We can always remove coal, oil and gas with pipes, but what happens when we use all of it?

Do you know that 99.9% of our energy on Martha's Vineyard is nonrenewable? That is why we are trying to save energy in our homes.

Experiment Three:  Greenhouse Effect  

We got two glass jars and put two cups of water in each jar. We put one jar in a plastic bag. We put both jars in the sun. Two hours later we measured the temperature. It was 80 degrees in the jar with the bag and 75 degrees in the jar without the bag. The bag represents a greenhouse. This experiment showed how the earth heats up when enclosed by a layer of air (held within the plastic bag in this experiment).

Experiment Four:  Solar Cooker

We got a card board box and we found the rest of the materials at school. These other materials were poster board, tinfoil, wire clothes hanger and clear tape. It was really hard because we had to shape all of the materials. First we got the cardboard box and shaped it. Then we got the poster board and we put it on top of the cardboard box. Then we put the tinfoil on top of the posterboard. We put the tinfoil on because the sun will shine on it and it will make it hot. The temperature of it was 80 degrees. We put a thermometer in the box so we could look at the temperature. We also put plastic wrap over the box to make the greenhouse effect. 

Chilmark School third graders

Poster Gallery

If you were going to draw what our island would look like as a renewable energy island, what would you draw?

Kids from Tisbury School, West Tisbury School, the Martha’s Vineyard Public Charter School, the Chilmark School and the Edgartown School all learned about renewable energy and then we drew our ideas on posters. After we made our posters, we wrote about what’s in the posters. Visit our gallery and see what we made.