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Starlight Park Elementary Outreach Partnership

This fall the Sustainable Schools outreach team provided ongoing support to the Starlight Park Elementary Science Club in the form of three engaging presentations/activities about renewable energy given by a total of four fellows over the course of fall semester. During the first visit, fellows helped to make lemon batteries (Link to another GK-12 Lesson on Lemmon Batteries).

The second week focused on a biofuels experiment. Students were excited to watch as their balloons expanded with yeast waste (CO2) while our control stayed the same. The students rightly predicted that the plain cane sugar and the corn syrup would blow up the balloons more than the powdered lemonade mix. Why is that? Because the color and flavor additives meant there were less fermentable sugars to expel CO2.

The last presentation was all about climate change. The students first brainstormed what they thought climate change was and some possible causes. Many students listed cars as a reason for climate change. Teachers outlined the recent Hurricane Sandy as a potential connection to climate change and used this to tie in the social aspects of sustainability – like property damage and health impacts. Fellows explained the difference between weather and climate in addition to why it matters that more carbon dioxide is being released into our atmosphere. Fellows demonstrated the NASA Climate website showing global carbon emissions and temperature over time. They also discussed different ways to display data. Finally, teachers led students and fellows in a physical activity which mimed the movement of glaciers over time.

Fellows Jared and Nelson asking “what are fuels?”

Biofuel fermentation experiment
Biofuel fermentation experiment