LESSON PLAN TEMPLATE

Your Name: Katelyn Lopez

Title of Lesson: Photovoltaic Solar Energy
Grade: Third

STANDARDS
Language Arts:
o (3. W. 6)
With guidance and support from adults, use technology to produce and publish writing (using ke
yboarding skills) as well as to interact and collaborate with others.
Science:
o Strand 1: Inquiry Process Concept 4: Communication
PO 1: Communicate investigations and explanations using evidence and appropriate
terminology.

LESSON SUMMARY/OVERVIEW

After students have learned about solar energy as a renewable energy resource, they will begin to learn what a
photovoltaic cell is and how it captures the suns energy and turns it into electricity. Students will arrange
themselves and their chairs to represent and PV cell and electrical circuit. The students will then become
electrons in the circuit, and will be stimulated by the sun (flashlight), and will move in between the chairs to
demonstrate the flow of electrons by the photovoltaic effect. After learning about how to capture the suns
energy and combining it with their knowledge of renewable energy, they will use strategic thinking by writing
about where these devices should be placed to get the most effect.


OBJECTIVES
Students will be able to describe how light energy of the sun is converted into electric energy through
photovoltaic cells.
Students will be able to define the photovoltaic effect as the effect of sunlight energy exciting electrons
in certain materials, freeing them to flow and thus produce electricity.
Students will be able to explain why solar energy is the most inexhaustible renewable energy resource.
Students will be able to type a letter to a local business of their choice, asking them to consider investing
in solar panels, and provide evidence and explanation for why this is important and how it works.

ASSESSMENT/EVALUATION
Students will write a letter to a business, asking them to invest in solar energy panels, and give
information on the importance of solar energy and how photovoltaic cells work.

PREREQUISITE KNOWLEDGE
Prior to this lesson, students will know that solar energy is a renewable energy alternative to using fossil fuels.
Students will know that solar energy is inexhaustible, and with the right technology we can capture solar energy
and turn it into electricity.

MATERIALS
Picture of solar panel
Picture of photovoltaic cell and circuit
Video online of electron flow in a PV cell and circuit
26 Chairs
Bell
Optional: Sample of PV cells

VOCABULARY/KEY WORDS
Photovoltaic Effect: Occurs when light energy absorbed by a semiconductor energizes electrons, freeing
them from their atoms so they can flow through the material to produce electricity
Photovoltaic Energy: Created when sunlight is converted directly into electrical energy
PV cells
Electrons
Atoms
Solar Energy

TEACHING PROCEDURES
1. Teacher will begin by asking the class what they think the most inexhaustible form of renewable energy
is (the sun). Tell the students that they are going to be learning about how to capture the suns energy

2. The teacher will ask the students to brainstorm on a sheet of paper all of the ways they have seen or
heard about solar energy being used.

3. The teacher will tell the class that they are going to focus on solar panels and photovoltaic technology.
The teacher will show to the class pictures of solar panels and they students will brainstorm how they
think solar panels work. After students predict how it works, the teacher will explain photovoltaic cells
and how the sun stimulates the electrons and captures the suns energy to convert it into electricity.

4. The teacher will then show the class a model online of a photovoltaic circuit with the electrons moving.
The teacher will then explain to the class that they will be modeling a photovoltaic circuit with their
chairs and they will be the electrons.

5. The teacher will arrange the chairs in the class (one per student) to model the electric circuit, and
students will sit in the chairs. Students will then be handed a piece of paper to tape to their chair stating
the part of the circuit they are (silicon in PV cell, electric contact grid, or electric wire). The teacher will
place masking tape on the floor to link the parts of the circuit together.

6. The teacher will then explain each part of the model and how it contributes to the process.

7. The process will start with all students seated in their chairs. The teacher will briefly shine sunlight
on one student electron in the silicon part of the circuit. This student, now stimulated by the suns
energy, moves to a chair of a student near them. The second student moves to the chair of another
student. This continues within the silicon part until a student moves to the electrical contact grid. The
students each move forward one chair, along this contact grid and then the wire circuit. The students
who move past the bell or buzzer rings it while moving past. The flow of electric energy continues
until the circuit is complete, students move through the other electrical contact grid, and the last student
occupies the vacated chair in the silicon.

8. The class will do this procedure a couple times until they begin to understand how electrons move to
create energy when stimulated by sunlight. Emphasize to students that they are modeling the
photovoltaic effect.

9. Students will return their desks and seats back to normal. The teacher will ask the students now they
know how to capture suns energy, use strategic thinking to think a strategic place to use solar energy
(here in Phoenix, due to excessive sunlight). The teacher will ask the students how they think we can use
photovoltaic technology in our community (Installing solar panels on buildings).

10. Teacher will explain to students that they are going to be writing a letter to a local business of their
choice, asking them to consider investing in solar panels, and provide evidence and explanation for why
this is important and how it works.

RESOURCES
SPR. [Teacher Resources (2014). Teaching About Solar Energy in Arizona. Retrieved from:
http://www.srpnet.com/education/solarUnit/

WAYS OF THINKING CONNECTION
In this lesson students learn about how to capture the suns energy. They use strategic thinking by discussing
why it is important for our Phoenix community to utilize solar energy and invest in more solar panels.