Bills, Bills, Bills!
Teacher: Amanda Hernandez
Area: Social Studies
Topic: Sustainability - Conservation
Grade: 5th
Materials:
School’s electric and gas bill
Personal gas and electric bill
Computers
Chalkboard
Standards:
UW-Madison Teacher Standards:
STANDARD 11: USES TECHNOLOGIES
Teachers appropriately incorporate new and proven technologies into instructional practice. They understand the major social, cultural, and economic issues surrounding their implementation.
STANDARD 6: CONNECTS SCHOOL AND COMMUNITY
Teachers use the knowledge and abilities necessary for collaboration with individuals, groups and agencies within the school and community. They base instruction of students on an understanding of curricular goals, subject matter and the community, and help the students make connections between community-based knowledge and school knowledge.
MMSD Standards:
Behavioral Science:
Participate in various groups and assume different roles in the classroom and at school.
Wisconsin DPI Social Studies Standards
Economics:
D.4.7 Describe how personal economic decisions, such as deciding what to buy, what to recycle, or how much to contribute to people in need, can affect the lives of people in Wisconsin, the United States, and the world
Objectives:
SWBAT estimate the electric bill of the school using a home bill.
SWBAT evaluate the pros and cons of using green power.
Lesson Opening:
Ask students if they have ever thought about how much energy the school uses in a month. Pass around your personal gas and electric bills so that students can get a good look. Try to equate the size of your house to the size of the building. Try to have students come up with an estimate of what they think the school’s gas and electric bill will be by talking with the rest of their classmates.
Procedure:
After students come up with their estimate, give them the actual school’s electric bill and compare their answers.
Ask students if they know if their parents have green power, which is provided by Madison Gas & Electric. Inform students that green power can offset 100% of the school’s electricity-generated carbon dioxide emissions and costs about 1 penny per kilowatt-hour. Many businesses in the Madison area have invested in green power and are help saving the environment by doing so.
Have students get on the computers and have them go to: https://www.mge.com/my_mge/ServiceForms/WindPowerRes.htm. Have them check out the list of local businesses that have green power.
Have students type in the address of their school to see how much it would cost the school to pay if the school participated in the green power program and compare this to their school’s electric bill now.
Have students go back to the computers and read the article “Case Study: Madison Gas and Electric – Green Power, Green Goals” at http://www.presstek.com/Collateral/Documents/English-US/CaseStudy_Madison.pdf. Ask students to come up with pros and cons as to why they would get green power through MG&E. Have them work in groups of 4 and then write their list on the board for the classroom to see.
Lesson Closing:
Have students go to this site: http://www.mge.com/environment/green/solar/schools.htm which shows schools within the community that are working with MG&E for their green power program. Have students browse around the website and look at the “Live Data Reporting” link to see how much greenhouse gases are avoided using green power.
Assessment:
Formal assessment will take place when students collaboratively come up with their pro and can list regarding the use of green power. Students will also be assessed on their estimations of costs (converting home energy costs to school energy costs).
Resources:
“Case Study: Madison Gas and Electric – Green Power, Green Goals.” Retrieved on April 22, 2009 at http://www.presstek.com/Collateral/Documents/English-US/CaseStudy_Madison.pdf
“Sign Up For Green Power.” Retrieved on April 23, 2009 at https://www.mge.com/my_mge/ServiceForms/WindPowerRes.htm
“Solar in Schools.” Retrieved April 22, 2009 at http://www.mge.com/environment/green/solar/schools.htm#memorial
“Understanding your Electric Bill.” Retrieved April 30, 2009 at http://www.focusonenergy.com/files/Document_Management_System/Business_Programs/understandingelectricbill_technicalsheet.pdf
