Trenton Middle School engaged about energy!

Engagement Officer Pam visited Grade 5, 6, 7 and 8 students at Trenton Middle School. Mr. (Shaun) MacDonald organized for the engagements to be in the gymnasium, Grades 5 and 6 together for the first hour-long engagement, and Grade 7 and 8 students together for the second. All students went away with a better understanding of the concept of energy efficiency and how to have better energy-saving habits!

Throughout the presentations, students had some great questions, such as “What does LED stand for?” The answer is: Light Emitting Diode. Pam showed them one of her diodes, and explained how only this kind of light can be powered with as little as a 3V battery, which the students found very intriguing!

Grades 5 and 6 played a quick game of Energy Jeopardy, with the 5’s against the 6’s. It was a close race, and in the end the Grade 6’s had the lead. All of the students received a Green Schools stamp at the end, to thank them for their attention and to promote conservation at home around saving energy.

With Grades 7 and 8, Pam had volunteers test out common household devices with the energy meter, and shared the results with the entire group. The volunteers tested LED Christmas lights, a 100W incandescent light bulb, an LED light bulb, a CFL lightbulb, older style incandescent Christmas mini-lights, a hair dryer, and even a cell phone charger that a student had in their pocket! Each volunteer held one of the devices/light bulbs while facing the group. The group to worked together to arrange the volunteers with their devices in order from least energy to most energy needed. They did great with this, and had most of the devices in the correct order, with the LED lights needing the least energy and the hair dryer requiring the most.  

This activity gave the students a better understanding of our energy consumption, ways to reduce it, and the positive effects that will arise with energy efficiency!