Table of Contents

Unit 1: Energy Basics – Let’s Do Work!
Lab 1: Convection Current in a Cup
Lab 2: Beach Basics
Lab 3: What a Gas!
Lab 4: Shadow Shaper
Lab 5: Mirror Madness
Lab 6: Ramp it Up!
Lab 7: Pendulum Swinger
Lab 8: Slinky Sound Waves
Lab 9: Sound Stopper
 
Unit 2: Forms of Energy and Energy Transformations – Energy is Always Changing
Lab 10: Just Bounce
Lab 11: Glowing Bright
Lab 12: Bubbling Up
Lab 13: Hot Hands
Lab 14: Black and White in the Light
 
Unit 3: Renewable and Nonrenewable Energy Sources
Lab 15: Candy Collector
Lab 16: Chocolate Chip Extraction Competition
Lab 17: Getting the Oil Out
Lab 18: Perforated Perfection
Lab 19: Fracturing Gelatin
Lab 20: Uranium Miller
Lab 21: Wind Does Work
Lab 22: Geothermal Heater
Lab 23: Solar Cooker
Lab 24: Biomass Bag
Lab 25: Dam Fun
 
Unit 4: Using Energy – Do You Have the Power?
Lab 26: Pretzel Power
Lab 27: ElectromagWHAT?
Lab 28: Generate This
Lab 29: Light it Up!
Lab 30: Chip Combustion
 
Unit 5: Saving Energy – Conserve and Preserve
Lab 32: Insulators to the Rescue!
Lab 33: Draft Detective
Lab 34: Lighten Up
Lab 35: Solar Water Heater
Lab 36: Watts That All About?
Lab 37: Fridge Fun
Lab 38: Monitor a Month
Lab 39: Waste Watchers
Lab 39: Carbonation Conundrum
Lab 40: Road Trip
 
Glossary
Resources
Acknowledgements
About the authors
Index
 

About the Author

Emily Hawbaker has always had energy and a passion for science and education. After graduating from Pennsylvania State University with a degree in Earth science and a minor in science education, she began teaching eighth grade science. Her school was chosen to take part in an energy education project where students learn about their energy use and then teach others, with the help of the National Energy Education Development (NEED) curriculum and materials. Emily saw her students come alive with the NEED program, where she is now curriculum director. In this capacity she shares her passion for energy education as a facilitator of teacher and student events and programming across the country and around the world.

Reviews

“An array of simple demonstrations designed to give budding eco-activists an understanding of how energy is stored, transferred, used responsibly, and recycled. Developed by the National Energy Education Development Project and demonstrated here by a cast of dozens of young children…the low-cost projects range from measuring shadows and charting temperature changes to constructing a solar cooker in a pizza box, creating an inventory of home-appliance energy needs, and competitively "mining" chocolate chips from cookies, then trying to reconstruct the cookies.” – Kirkus Reviews

"The NEED Project continues to produce excellent resources for teachers. This book has an excellent variety of energy experiments. The labs are divided up into five units, making it easier to find the energy lab you need for your curriculum. The labs are easy to follow, with step by step color photos. Each lab gives specific examples as to how that specific energy concept relates to students' everyday life. The resource section for teachers helps explain the science behind each lab in the "Energy Explained" section. I also like how the book gives ideas on how to incorporate more technology into students' learning. I look forward to doing the experiments from this book with my students." - National Science Teachers Association Recommends

"Discover the amazing ways in which chocolate syrup, slinkies, and cheese curls can explain everything from solar power to sound waves and burning calories in Emily Hawbaker’s Energy Lab for Kids. Using just a few simple tools and everyday items, experiments focus on the production of all types of energy, the importance of conservation, working as a team and, of course, having fun, all in sixty minutes or less." - ForeWord Reviews

“Color photographs show children taking part in 40 activities involving household objects: readers can simulate drilling for oil using chocolate syrup and straws, create a “biomass bag” with leftover food and yeast, build a generator, and construct a solar cooker using a pizza box, aluminum foil, and plastic wrap. Hawbaker clearly describes the implications of each activity, and sidebars lend perspective on how the labs relate to science...It’s a straightforward guide to energy principles that encourages collaboration and active exploration.” – Publisher’s Weekly

"a great way for children and their parents to bond over something that's both fun and practical"

"Throughout the book Hawbaker does an excellent job of combining an active, visually engaging experiment with real-world learning on energy, explaining how it works and how we can explore and exploit it to enrich our world"
*How It Works magazine*