Energy After the Feast: Holiday Activity – Answer Key

Summary

The Energy After the Feast Answer Key provides teachers with detailed guidance and sample responses for every stage of the activity. It includes completed sorting examples for all four Energy Pathways—Compost/Biogas, Recycling, Food Donation, and Landfill—along with clear explanations that connect each decision to concepts of embedded energy and conservation.

Teachers can use the answer key to check student work, facilitate discussions, and model scientific reasoning. It also includes sample calculations for comparing energy savings between materials such as aluminum, plastic, and paper, helping instructors ensure consistency across student analyses.

In addition to content answers, the key provides suggested responses for the Claim-Evidence-Reasoning (CER) challenge. These examples show how students might defend either side of the core question—whether conserving energy or recovering it from waste is more effective—while citing data from the lesson’s charts and tables.

Designed to save time and build confidence in teaching complex concepts, the answer key aligns directly with the Teacher Guide and Student Handout. It supports accurate grading and encourages meaningful classroom discussion rooted in evidence and systems thinking.