Student-Designed Solar Photovoltaics Investigation – Student Handout Part 5

Summary

Part 5: Preparing the Scientific Presentation

In Part 5, student teams synthesize their work from Parts 1 through 4 into a scientific presentation that defends their final solar array recommendation for their school. Acting as solar energy consultants, students choose between three formats, a scientific poster, a digital slide presentation, or a report-style document, and develop a clear, evidence-based response to the driving question: Can we design a photovoltaic array to charge all school laptops?

The presentation includes nine required components: abstract, background and context, research question, prediction, methods, results, conclusion, application, and final recommendation. Each component has specific length and content guidance, helping students deliver focused, professional-quality work. The final recommendation integrates total energy demand, panel count and size, selected installation site, and a defense of the design grounded in calculations, site analysis, and experimental data. Students present their work in 5-7 minute team presentations, optionally to invited evaluators such as administrators or other teachers.

A nine-category assessment rubric supports teachers in evaluating presentations across abstract, background, research question, methods, results, conclusions, application, final recommendation, and organization and communication. Each category is scored on a three-point scale from Excellent to Needs Improvement.

This part builds skills in scientific communication, evidence-based argumentation, claim-evidence-reasoning, and professional presentation. It supports NGSS Science and Engineering Practice 8 (obtaining, evaluating, and communicating information) and HS-ETS1-3 on evaluating solutions against multiple constraints. The activity works for high school physics, environmental science, AP Environmental Science, and engineering classrooms.

Extend the Lesson: Use Part 5 as the culminating stage of the full Student-Designed Solar Photovoltaics Investigation. Build foundational understanding with the Introduction to Solar lesson, and use the Science of Solar lesson for deeper conceptual reading throughout the project.