From ‘Solar Ovens’ to ‘Solar Revolving Airplanes’, Year 5 has been looking at these renewable resource that has been around for years. Solar cooking uses the sun as the source of energy instead of standard cooking fuels such as charcoal, coal or gas. Solar cookers are an inexpensive and environmentally sound alternative to traditional ovens. Year 5 constructed their own solar oven using a shoe box, oatmeal container, aluminum foil, plastic wrap and a wire coat hanger. They placed a hot dog on the hanger and covered their box in plastic wrap to keep out dust and bugs. The completed solar cooker is shown in the pictures below. They placed the cooker in direct sunlight and checked the hot dog every half hour. Their hot dog was completely cooked in 1 ½ hours! Of course the fun part was eating it.
Yr 5 continued their investigation on solar energy by building a solar powered revolving plane and boat from a kit. The children assembled their own solar panels to create a plane that could also change into a boat. This was an excellent introduction into the basic solar power principles and how it drives the motor. The children began to realise what a great resource our sun is and how we need to take advantage of this renewable resource, especially since they live in the Caribbean.
We hope you continue to read our blogs, as we explore other forms of renewable energy!
