Summary

Energy Lessons and Activities

Earth Day provides an opportunity for students to explore how energy systems, natural resources, and environmental impacts are connected. Understanding how energy is produced, delivered, and used can help students examine the challenges and trade-offs involved in meeting energy needs while managing environmental impacts.

This collection highlights Switch Classroom lessons and activities that help students investigate energy sources, explore environmental impacts, and examine how energy is used in homes and communities. These resources support classroom discussions, investigations, and projects that connect energy concepts to real-world systems.

Energy & Environmental Foundations

These lessons introduce key concepts about energy systems, environmental impacts, and how energy is produced, used, and transformed.

• • Intro to Environmental Impacts
  • Understanding Energy Transformations
  • Energy Demand and Scale
  • Intro to Energy Choices
  • Intro to Energy Efficiency
  • Intro to Indoor Air Pollution

Energy Sources & Technologies

These lessons help students explore how different energy sources work and how energy is generated, stored, and delivered.

• • Intro to Solar
  • Intro to Wind
  • Intro to Hydropower
  • Intro to Geothermal
  • Intro to Bioenergy
  • Intro to Energy Storage

Investigating Energy & the Environment

These hands-on activities allow students to explore scientific concepts and investigate how energy technologies and environmental systems interact.

• • Cleaning Up an Oil Spill Investigative Lab
  • Investigating Passive Solar Heating Lab
  • Thermal Transfer Investigative Lab

Energy Use in Everyday Life

These activities help students connect energy concepts to real-world use in homes and communities.

• • Home Electricity Audit
  • Recycling Waste Audit
  • Saving Energy, Saving Water
  • Power Down Challenge

Energy Systems & Decision-Making

These activities support students in analyzing energy systems, comparing options, and evaluating trade-offs in real-world contexts.

• • Energy Matchmaking Gallery Walk
  • Energy Production Fair
  • Energy Sources Activity Stations
  • Powering the World
  • U.S. Energy Issues Debate
  • The Olympic Flame: Energy and Emissions CER

Extend Learning with Energy Films

Documentary films can help students connect classroom concepts to real-world energy systems. The Switch and Switch On films explore how energy is produced and used around the world and examine the environmental and technological challenges involved in meeting global energy demand.

• • Switch – The Complete Film & Discussion Guide
  • Switch On – The Complete Film & Discussion Guide

Explore Earth Science with EarthDate

Earth Day is a great opportunity to bring real-world Earth science stories into the classroom. EarthDate is a fast-paced radio program that highlights connections between energy, natural resources, and the planet through short, engaging episodes.

Now available on Switch Classroom, EarthDate episodes can be used to spark discussion, introduce new topics, or extend Earth Day learning with quick, relevant examples from around the world.

Explore episodes in the EarthDate collection here.

Continue Exploring Energy

The resources in this collection are just a starting point for exploring how energy systems and environmental impacts are connected. Browse the Switch Classroom Resource Library to find additional lessons, activities, and investigations that support energy learning across grade levels and subject areas.