Power Down Challenge – Teacher
Summary
Power Down Challenge Teacher Guide
This power down challenge teacher guide gives you a complete, classroom-ready plan for running a school energy-saving challenge with minimal prep. It includes a phased timeline, a checklist-building discussion, student team procedures, and a simple scoring system that makes progress visible and motivating.
What the teacher guide includes
- A 3-phase timeline (kickoff, monitoring, results) with pacing options
- Kickoff video suggestions using Introduction to Efficiency and Science of Energy Efficiency
- A class-created checklist process so students monitor the same behaviors consistently
- Guidance for assigning Detective Teams to participating classrooms
- Promotion day expectations and presentation guidelines
- Monitoring instructions and scoring system (+1 for saving actions, -1 for waste)
- Debrief prompts, recognition ideas, and optional celebration suggestions
- A rubric covering teamwork, promotion materials, monitoring accuracy, and presentation
How teachers typically implement it
- Use the kickoff and checklist build to create buy-in and establish expectations
- Run the challenge for one to two weeks with short daily check-ins
- Wrap with a debrief where students summarize top issues and top tips and present results back to classrooms
Helpful Links:
- Find the complete project overview and downloads on the Power Down Challenge lesson page.
- Use the Student Handout for team planning, monitoring schedules, and presentation requirements.
- Use the Introduction to Efficiency and Science of Energy Efficiency videos as prerequisite background resources.