Watch Our Watts

Watch our Watts

YEARS 5-6

'Watch Our Watts' - for primary schools in Sydney Region - Stage 3. This 'hands on' program focuses on an understanding of climate change, the link to energy consumption and the development of an energy efficiency plan to be implemented by students using a Science and Technology design brief.

Bookings for this program will be by expression of interest only. This will be offered to schools in Week 9 (beginning 22nd June 2009). There will be a limit on the number of opportunities for schools to undertake this program during Terms 3 and 4. The program is delivered with support from students from a local high school. Energy Australia is supporting this project with online data through Webgraphs.

The program requires the class and teacher to work on the project in class time over six weeks to implement the whole school energy efficiency plan. The high school support team will be involved on the day the project is launched at your school. Each team involved in the energy efficiency plan will be supported with lead in tasks, resources and hands on activities to enhance student outcomes. The class teams in the project include:

bill busters bright sparks carbon cops

Bill Busters Bright Sparks Carbon Cops

cooldudes transformers warming warriors

Cool Dudes Transformers Warming Warriors

The project supports regional and DET targets for both curriculum, student leadership and ecological sustainability outcomes.

To participate in this program schools will need to provide comprehensive background information on energy bills, class lists and school organisational information. Click here to view team reports.

SUMMARY of LEARNING SITES, ACTIVITIES and STUDENT OUTCOMES

LEARNING SITE	ACTIVITY	STUDENT OUTCOMES Students will be able to:	PROGRAM IN ACTION
Your classroom	Pre-visit activities All students are required to work through a computer based self-paced unit found in the Riverina EEC website.	Understand the science of energy production and Climate Change and its impact.	Student initiative to reduce energy
Your classroom	1. Do you want to be a millionaire? Interactive ‘game show’ style introduction to build knowledge around the concepts of Climate Change/Global Warming and Energy Efficiency.	Increase student understanding of the concepts and terminology associated with the program.	'Do you want to be a Millionaire' gameshow
Your classroom	2. The ‘Heat is On’/ Webgraphs/Bill Interpretation DVD focusing on how schools can contribute to energy efficiency.	Have a raised awareness of strategies to include in their energy efficiency plans.	Students examining the Webgraph data
Your classroom	3. Hot Spot Students will learn about the importance of conserving energy to reduce green gas emission to slow the pace of global warming	Understand the effects of climate change e.g. global warming, greenhouse gases emissions etc. and the effect on humankind and environments.	Investigating sources of greenhouse gas emissions.
Your classroom	4. Watts Workout Students will match appliance cards with their respective wattages to determine which appliances use the most amount of energy. A demonstration of a ‘Powermate’ appliance will be used to show how much energy can be saved when appliances are on standby.	To identify appliances which use the most amount of energy and make informed choices when using those appliances.	Matching appliance cards to their wattage.
Around your school	3. Lighting Low Down Students will undertake an investigation of various areas of the school to calculate the levels of light available (in lux) using a light meter. They will determine which areas of the school are over lit to consider in the energy efficiency plan.	Use their experience of engaging in a lighting audit to develop environmentally friendly strategies based on the data collected.	Conducting a lighting audit using a light meter.
Your classroom	5. Energy efficiency plan Introduce a design brief for a school energy efficiency plan. Students will, in teams, work on a design brief template to initiate an energy efficiency plan. This should be integrated into the School Environmental Management Plan.	Understand their role in contributing to ecologically sustainable practices to improve energy efficiency in both at school and at home.	Students calculating greenhouse gas emissions from their travel patterns to and from school.

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